Former president heads to Sin City to address interior and furniture trade show.
Bill Clinton really came into his own after leaving the White House. Though always garrulous and ambitious, the former President has spent the past decade building his philanthropic political group, the Clinton Global Initiative, and serving as a United Nations Special Envoy to Haiti.
But he’s also spent plenty of time behind the lectern, speaking to groups around the globe on diverse subjects like health care, poverty, and the Republican Party’s war on voting rights, and amassing over $75 million in the process.
That lecture circuit today takes Clinton to Las Vegas, where he’ll be speaking at the Las Vegas Market Show, a furniture and design expo. Yes, that’s right: the former president is speaking at an interiors event.
“The group sought out Clinton for his expertise in globalization, and hopes to gather insight about what the world marketplace looks like from the former president’s post,” the Associated Press reported.
While Clinton no doubt has more than enough experience to speak about the international marketplace, this gig just seems… Odd. Perhaps even a bit beneath a man who once led the free world.
I mean, what is he going to do before and after his hour-long harangue? Pick out new throw pillows and tea pots? Or will he just count his money?
We may never know: the event is not open to the public, and what happens in Vegas — well, you know the rest.
August 04, 2011 at 7:17 am, M.Brown said:
This piece of crap will do anything to hear himself speak…they really know how to suck every dime from us suckers don’t they! Furniture shows….really?I mean really?
August 09, 2011 at 7:36 pm, Katie_hatch said:
As an ATTENDEE of this market (#LVmkt), which represents the International Home Furnishings Market, which….is a billion$$ market that was directly effected by the housing bubble then crash, I think that Pres. Clinton was a wonderful choice for a Keynote Speaker.
Please do not sell the intellect of the attendees short. This market has 100k+ attendees from all over the globe. Our industry has been manufacturing in the USA, and sourcing and trading in emerging markets for generations, and were one of the first industries to move production from Taiwan to Southern China.
One topic President Clinton discussed is the anti-dumping claim against Chinese Wooden Bedroom imports to the tune of 2-198% duty. This is an insane policy in my view (see my related blog posts: http://katie-hatch.blogspot.com/2010/10/business-enough-with-protective.html, http://katie-hatch.blogspot.com/2010/11/business-articles-of-interest-from.html, http://katie-hatch.blogspot.com/2011/01/business-anyone-can-be-innovative.html)
I would love to discuss in further detail with you and your readers why (1) Why he was the perfect keynote speaker, especially for August 2nd, the date the debt ceiling limit was reached and (2) why in my opinion President Clinton stands among the best leaders the US has had.