VANCOUVER - It was a rock concert for capitalists Thursday as Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve held court in Vancouver. But instead of teenagers in jeans and t-shirts at a typical show, the uniform was a dark suit and a conservative shirt and tie.
"We're talking to a god of banking so his insight is going to be helpful for everybody," Vancouver businessman Brian Jessel said as he clutched his copy of Greenspan's book, Age of Turbulence.
Jessel didn't get his book signed, but he was still grinning from ear to ear as he waited to hear Greenspan speak.
"It will be interesting to see what his viewpoint is on where we are now and where we came from, but most importantly where we're going," he said.
The Vancouver speech was Greenspan's first public appearance since the recent turmoil in the markets and since the Fed's unexpectedly slashed a key interest rate by a bold three-fourths of a percentage point earlier this week.
Before the luncheon speech, Greenspan attended a much small private reception where the privileged guests had the opportunity to rub shoulders with the man before he spoke to a crowd of 1,450 crammed into a hotel ballroom on Vancouver's waterfront.
Another 1,000 people were on the wait list to hear the Maestro speak.
Called by some as the greatest central banker who ever lived and the second-most important person in Washington, Greenspan was met by awed silence by the audience when he took the stage.
He was quizzed for an hour about the global economy by Sherry Cooper, global economic strategist at BMO Financial Group, the event's sponsor.
Warren Wong of e-commerce company Elasticpath had been looking forward to coming to the speech for weeks.
"Mr. Greenspan has a lot to say just given the current environment and the current situation in the United States and the global economy," Wong said.
"It kind of reinforces Vancouver as a strategically important business centre and it's not often that you have Mr. Greenspan come out here to speak."
