Working the Crowd with Larry King

I spoke at the Gold Show at the Mirage Hotel, where there were 2,000 people in attendance. My workshop was jammed, but the biggest thrill was appearing on "Larry King Live" as the guest interview.

At first I was told that CNN's Larry King was going to interview three experts on the mining industry. I was relieved I would have some back-up, since I don't consider myself a mining expert.

But when Larry arrived, I looked around and saw that there were no other guest interviews, only me. The pressure was on.

Larry warmed up the audience with a few stories, and introduced me, but mispronounced my name.

I went up to the stand and said, "Judging from your mispronounciating my name, you obviously don't know anything about the mining industry!"

It threw him off guard but he responded with relish. "What's the mining industry doing to minimize damage to the environment?"

I responded, "Frankly, Larry, nobody here in this audience cares about the environment!"

He said, "I can't believe that."

I then turned to the audience and asked, "How many of you think the environment is important?" They responded in unison, "NO!" Then I asked, "How many of you are just here to make a buck?" They yelled loudly, "YES!"

Though it sounded like we were all a bunch of right-wing crazies defending the unfettered free market, the interview was intense, funny and very interesting.

After, Larry said it was a great interview that he really enjoyed. Dozens of attendees came up and told me that my appearance was perfect. "You said everything I've always wanted to tell Larry King."