All-Hands Meeting at AOL

(Michael) On November 12, America Online held its All-Hands Meeting. Here's how it goes: around 5000 employees who work at the headquarters in Dulles, Virginia, and the surrounding area gather in a sports hall (not all of them, customer service is maintained), and the top guru, Steve Case, announces the new direction. Employees from branches in Columbus, Ohio; Chicago, Illinois; many other locations; and finally, San Mateo (where your narrator was present) gathered in local hotels where the show was broadcast live via satellite on a giant screen. These annual general meetings are put on as a total show, quite unlike the usual German practices!

It starts with a video, hardcore heavy metal music (Metallica): "Fuel, Fire, Desire!" You see Steve Case, the company boss, behind a stack of envelopes and brochures, seemingly busy stuffing the latest AOL disks into envelopes and getting them ready to send out—until his secretary reminds him that the general meeting is about to start. Case then puts on his fireproof racing suit, dons his helmet, takes the elevator down from his office to the lobby, salutes the AOL motto engraved in the wall, and steps outside where a race car is waiting for him. He squeezes in, starts the engine, and takes off with smoking tires. The AOL doorman watches in amazement as the car speeds through the gate. "Fuel, Fire, Desire!" Pow! Pow! Pow! The Metallica song pounds as Big Steve races down the highway toward the general meeting. Eventually, the race car arrives at the sports hall—and ten seconds later, the live broadcast kicks in: Steve Case jumps onto the stage in his racing suit, the cheering is immense, it feels more like a pop star than a company boss. He quickly changes into jeans, sneakers, and an unbuttoned shirt, as he's known. It's important to note that this man owns several billion dollars. He delivers a TV-worthy speech; the show rolls on for an hour and a half. Bob Pitman, the Chief Operating Officer, comes in wearing a leather jacket and sunglasses—now that's a general meeting I can get behind!