Highlights and Takeaways from the Democratic National Convention

Like 20 million+ of you, I watched the Democratic National Convention August 17-20 with a great deal of curiosity. As an event professional fully immersed in virtual meetings, I was excited to experience this for inspiration and, of course, to critique. Here are five highlights for me and associated takeaways.

Host with the Most

Of course, connecting with the blinking light of a camera is vastly different than connecting with an audience. There is no laughter, no applause, no encouragement, no boos, even. Add in an earpiece with confusing chatter, stage direction, multiple cameras and prompters, and, not to mention, the frantic waving and commands from the stage crew and your anxiety level has to increase.

The Convention understood this and brought in professional actresses accustomed to these demands and challenges. To the best of my knowledge, there was no mishap where the producers got their proverbial “money’s worth” but that’s the point. These ladies have hours of time logged in front of cameras and experience working with production crews.

Takeaway: Hire a professional. Like insurance and savings, you won’t appreciate the investment until you have to cash it in.

Time Waits for No One

First off, the biggest consideration with event professionals is often how to condense an in-person agenda to a digital or virtual event. How can we possible cut this or that? If a national political party can shave 16 hours off their agenda, I think we can get down to 3, 4, or even 2 hours per day.

For the actual content, the average speech during the Convention was around 2 1/2 minutes. Only five speakers topped 10 minutes. Democratic Nominee and Former Vice President Joe Biden spoke just under 26 minutes. Senator and Vice-Presidential nominee Kamala Harris spoke just under 21 minutes. Former President Barack Obama and Former First Lady Michelle Obama each spoke for less than 20 minutes. Night one moderator, Eva Longoria spoke for 12 ? minutes. Further down the agenda, nine speakers clocked in at 5 to 10 minutes and 33 speakers logged just 2 to 5 minutes.

Takeaway: Whether using a chainsaw or a scalpel: cut it. Be strategic and thoughtful in your messaging with the knowledge that our attention spans are compromised more than ever.

Is It Live or Is It Memorex?

Should we go live or pre-record content? This is the new “age old” question for digital events. The answer? It depends. We know that the Convention featured a mixture of live and pre-recorded content. Some was obvious (I see you Former Governor John Kasich at the crossroads) while others not so much. It’s been reported that there were 49 live speeches and around 300 recorded ones.

For me, I got nervous each transition where there was a delay. Those 5 seconds for the sound to travel can seem like an eternity. Worse is when the speaker got their cue but then doubted themselves after hearing the delay through their onsite monitor and started over.

Takeaway: If you opt to record sessions and have outdoors presentations, record your speakers during the same daypart as when the audience will be viewing. This will help keep your participants engaged and in the moment.

It’s a Couch Potato Not a Couch Participant

OK, this is really the “age old question:” How can we make our attendee feel involved? The DNC did some expected things such as encouraging watch parties, making social frames available for download, creating a soundtrack, and more. I was really surprised with how well some of the engagement strategies worked and was also re-affirmed that we are still without a great answer for others.

A moment of silence? No way, right? But it worked. Applause by “real people” watching from home? Well, that could have remained on mute. Standouts for many viewers was the use of the multi-person keynotes and the re-imagined Roll Call. The later of which, will surely be utilized for in-person conventions going forward.

Takeaway: Having a diversity in people, settings, and formats helps the viewer feel engaged by increasing the chances they can connect with a person or emotion.

Ready, Set, Go

Of course, a lot of money went into the moderators’ set in Los Angeles with the hardscape, green screen, and LED walls, but the location of nearly every presenter was just as rich. There is difference with a message being delivered while standing behind a lectern versus one sitting at the kitchen table, or museum, schoolroom, or even in a field. No doubt, the symbolism was part of a larger strategic choice.

Some segments were buzzworthy such as the block letters spelling out “BLM” during Senator Elizabeth Warren’s speech. Others, to me missed the mark. I am still scratching my head as to why Senator Harris was told to use the presidential teleprompters on either side of the lectern instead of looking directly into the camera.

Takeaway: Reinforce your message by selecting a background or setting to match the intent and tone of the presentation.