Yesterday, I took you though the preparation and process of being an audience member of CNBC’s Fast Money. When we last left, I was just arriving at the Computer Science Museum at 12:20, ten minutes before I was requested to be there and an hour and a half before the live broadcast starts.

• 12:20 – I get out of my car in a business suit (as the dress code stated). Before I take two steps, two young men, probably not far out of college if out at all, comment about their lack of dress after seeing me. They aren’t dressed poorly, but no tie or suit as I expect business attire to be. I didn’t catch their names, so let’s call them Jack and Mike.
• 12:22 – As I get towards the entrance, I see more people that are more casually dressed than me. I’m starting to get nervous now
• 12:23 – I step inside. I was unaware that the Computer History Museum was a Disney theme park. I’m amazed to find no roller coaster, but everyone waiting to get into show. There’s line snakes around on the current level for awhile and then goes up some stairs and out of sight. So much for showing up a full 7 minutes before they requested. If not for this blog, I’d turn around and go home.
• 12:26 – There’s a gentleman that seem to be ushering people to the front of the line. Maybe my “ticket reservation” (see yesterday’s article for explanation of that) pay off and I’ll be able to skip this line.
• 12:27 – No such luck. Charles Schwab has invited some special guests and they don’t have to wait in line it seems. For the first time in my life I’d like to “Talk to Chuck.” I’d have a few words that can’t be written in this space. (Later on I’d change my stance on this.)
• 12:35 – Jack and Mike directly behind me in line, become my “entertainment.” Entertainment, like most things, is a relative turn. It seems that Jack is a software engineer for a medical start-up. He says the company has a bunch of shell companies and corporate faces, but it’s all legal and necessary. To paraphrase him, “if you didn’t know better you’d think we are doing shady business.” Also, the doctors submit funny bug reports. I feel you need to know these things.
• 12:42 – I love Google Reader. I catch up this article from The Simple Dollar. It’s a great article, so I star it for later.
• 12:51 – I’ve reached the stairs – not bad for nearly a half hour. It’s only two two flights before I get the space that I can’t see past.
• 12:53 – Mike shorted the market on the previous Monday. It was a bad move and he couldn’t get out because he wasn’t near a computer. He was afraid the market was going to open negative the next day and he’d lose more money. Again, you really need to know these things.
• 12:54 – Keeping in mind that entertainment is still relative and everyone is quite bored, a female staff member gallops in slow motion down the stairs. Jack probably explained it best to Mike, “I’ve never seen someone so enthusiastically bounce down a set of stairs and yet take so long.” Every heterosexual male noticed as well.
• 12:56 – The female staff member returns up the stairs. My notes for this entry simply reads, “Bouncy Girl 2.0”.
• 12:58 – I look down at the line behind me and longer than when I got there. I notice a guy with a shaved head, ZZ Top goatie, and an Oakland Raiders game day jersey on. He must have missed the line about the a dress code, but no money in the world is going to make me break it to him.
• 1:01 – I reach the top step! Better yet there’s a check in desk in front of me. There are only about ten people between me and the finally being done with this line!
• 1:02 – A staff member informs the ten people in front of me that they are out of seats and that they are trying to add more, but we’ll have to be considered as “on standby” and there are no guarantees that we’ll get to see the show. So much for the people that actually showed up when they were supposed to. At this point, I wish they simply had tickets that were giving out to people who requested them online first.

Will I be part of the audience? Or will I have to do the rest of series by watching the DVR? We’ll have to find out in Part 3.

I leaked information last Friday that I was going to be in the audience for the live broadcast of CNBC’s Fast Money from Silicon Valley. This was to be my first experience as part of a live audience. Living in Boston for most of my life, the opportunities for being part of something on TV were limited to Spenser For Hire and, well that’s about all that I can remember, but I imagine other things were filmed there. This was a special event for me because it was the first time that I could do something fun while working at home.

For those unfamiliar with Fast Money, as I was, the show is similar to a post-game wrap-up of the day’s markets. It’s largely about trading stocks over the short term rather than buying and holding. They may talk about Microsoft hitting 32 by next Friday for example. There are 5 people in a discussion panel headed by Dylan Ratigan. He’s one of the hardest working CNBC employees as he seems to be everywhere at once. The following four people each have specialties that combine to form a vast knowledge of the markets. Guy Adami has expertise in the commodities market. Jeff Macke built up a company from scratch and seems to zig when the market is zagging. Pete Najarin is the options guru and former linebacker for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Minnesota Vikings. Karen Finerman runs her own hedge fund and sexes up the panel (whether she likes it or not). If you are interested you can read more about the panel here

I thought of a few ways I relate the whole experience, but I settled on keeping a diary like my favorite sportswriter, Bill Simmons, would do. Here’s how it all played out:

Pre-Show Process

• Friday, October 12th – I hear about Fast Money coming to Silicon Valley. Free tickets clinch my interest. I quickly go to CNBC and sign up.
• Saturday, October 13th – I receive a response about the taping asking me for additional information about myself. It asks that I include a picture of myself or bring ID to the show for “security reasons.” I opt for the later, since I carry ID everywhere I go. The show airs at 2PM local time, but the letter requests that I arrive by 12:30. Seems like a lot of downtime.
• Thursday, October 18th – I receive a reminder of my ticket reservation the show requiring my response if I’m still interested. I reply back that I am.

Day of Show:

• 10:00 AM – Time for me to prepare for the show. This means printing out the waiver form as well as the ticket reservation letter.
• 10:05 – Going through the waiver… no cameras, no cell phones, no communication devices of any kind to prevent trading before the end of the show. Did I mention that this is airing live and after trading hours? At most there’s a 5 second delay before the panel says something and it is broadcast. Also note that these people have no inside information that they can talk about.
• 10:06 – Going through the ticket reservation letter… I notice that this is my “reservation for 1 FREE ticket” and that “Since tickets are free, we honor a first-come, first-serve policy. THIS IS NOT A TICKET.” Seriously, look at this letter. In the words of Jerry Seinfeld, “You know how to take the reservation. You just don’t know how to hold the reservation. And the hold is the most important part of the reservation! Anyone can just take reservations!”
• 10:07 – Hmmm, “dress code is business attire.” I wonder if that’s New York business attire or Silicon Valley business attire. There’s a huge difference there. I’m going to assume New York, but this could be interesting
• 10:45 – I get my suit from the closet. I haven’t needed it since I moved to Silicon Valley. Where is my white dress shirt? Oh there it is. Wait this doesn’t fit! It’s one of my wife’s military shirts. Good fun, but I still can’t find any of my dress shirts. After trying on 2 more shirts, I find something that can pass as long as I wear my coat the entire time.
• 10:46 – 12:20 – Everything with getting dressed and going to the Computer History Museum goes very uneventfully, but that’s all about to change… in part 2.