Democratic debate: How it all came together
Noah Cohen
Issue date: 11/9/07 Section: News
Drexel's Office of Community and Government Relations, led by Vice President Brian Keech, was another part of the full picture.
Keech had the job of coordinating with government agencies as well as MSNBC before and during debate day.
The Office of the Governor, State Police, U.S. Secret Service, Philadelphia Police and the Managing Directors Office for the City of Philadelphia were some of the groups Keech collaborated with for the debate, and anything not fitting into those jurisdictions was relayed to Keech and his staff.
"We had to find solutions for every imaginable circumstance from media truck locations and credentials to power outages and street closures," Keech said. "Essentially you act as a central command post and make decisions regarding each independent circumstance as it comes in."
Two challenges Keech mentioned were tickets and cell phones at the debate.
Originally, there was no plan to have a cell phone check in the Main Building, but Drexel worked to set this up when the need arose.
In the days leading up the debate, debate ticket seekers kept Keech's email and phone busy.
Both Keech and Kephart have years of experience at Drexel, but both cited the unique sense of purpose in this event.
"It [the debate] brought a lot of people together," Kephart said.
Keech said, "The most rewarding aspect of the debate was to be a part of something that's bigger than yourself and knowing that it was a great success and without incident for Drexel."
Drexel's opportunity to host the debate came in August with MSNBC making the final decision, according to Keech.
"Drexel has a good history of putting on large media events and MSNBC was familiar with our experience," he said.
Interviewed while surveying the set up on debate day, University President Constantine Papadakis also praised Drexel's past experience with managing large events.
Dartmouth College, which hosted the debate before Drexel, had almost twice Drexel's time to plan their debate.
Keech had the job of coordinating with government agencies as well as MSNBC before and during debate day.
The Office of the Governor, State Police, U.S. Secret Service, Philadelphia Police and the Managing Directors Office for the City of Philadelphia were some of the groups Keech collaborated with for the debate, and anything not fitting into those jurisdictions was relayed to Keech and his staff.
"We had to find solutions for every imaginable circumstance from media truck locations and credentials to power outages and street closures," Keech said. "Essentially you act as a central command post and make decisions regarding each independent circumstance as it comes in."
Two challenges Keech mentioned were tickets and cell phones at the debate.
Originally, there was no plan to have a cell phone check in the Main Building, but Drexel worked to set this up when the need arose.
In the days leading up the debate, debate ticket seekers kept Keech's email and phone busy.
Both Keech and Kephart have years of experience at Drexel, but both cited the unique sense of purpose in this event.
"It [the debate] brought a lot of people together," Kephart said.
Keech said, "The most rewarding aspect of the debate was to be a part of something that's bigger than yourself and knowing that it was a great success and without incident for Drexel."
Drexel's opportunity to host the debate came in August with MSNBC making the final decision, according to Keech.
"Drexel has a good history of putting on large media events and MSNBC was familiar with our experience," he said.
Interviewed while surveying the set up on debate day, University President Constantine Papadakis also praised Drexel's past experience with managing large events.
Dartmouth College, which hosted the debate before Drexel, had almost twice Drexel's time to plan their debate.
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gravel kucinich paul nader
posted 11/10/07 @ 3:31 PM EST
colbert gravel kucinich paul nader [conyers?] united for truth elicit fear smear blacklist.
honesty compassion intelligence guts...
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