EMPIRE DIGITAL SIGNS AT THE DNC: PART 1

Last month, our team had the privilege of facilitating the Democratic National Convention during, arguably, one of the most unique election years of recent history. Our very own Kevin Childs traveled to Orlando, FL to provide the Democratic National Committee with the Live Audience Response System that would drive their Platform Committee Hearing. The votes taken via the system in Orlando would then be used to determine what would be included in the Democratic Party’s platform in the July 2016 convention in Philadelphia. Below, Kevin recounts his experience during the event.

KEVIN CHILDS | ORLANDO, FL | JULY 8-9

DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM COMMITTEE HEARING

Thursday

As the day before the platform meeting, Thursday was used to set up and organize everything to make the event go as efficiently as possible. Before the event, we needed to attach every keypad with each delegates’ name. This would make the live feed possible. So if “Delegate A” voted yes, you’d be able to see “yes” appear next to their name on the display. My job was to get each of the keypads for the voting system matched up with the correct delegates’ credentials to make registration run smoothly for the following day. Lesson learned here – alphabetize keypads before leaving for the event.

Friday

Prior to the convention, I tested our voting system to ensure it was operating perfectly on both my own and a backup laptop. However, when I plugged in my laptop, the screens started flickering. I tried a different HDMI cord, a different switch, and the backup laptop, but no matter what I did the screen still flickered. We were able to switch to a spare computer, a Surface Pro.

The Surface Pro had no issue displaying on the screens, and only exhibited one minor problem: the timer on the voting system would shift its position whenever it was reopened. We came up with a simple fix by manually moving the timer before the screen was switched to the voting system.

With the setup complete, I explained the instructions for operating the voting keypads, which the DNC chairmen would read to the delegates before the meeting. Voting was to be done by a show of hands, but when there was no clear majority, the chairmen turned to our voting system to determine the results. After an unexpected change of plans, I ended up on stage giving the instructions instead!

At first it took me a moment to realize what they had just asked me to do. I have done public speaking before many times but, nothing that compares to speaking to the men and woman who lead our communities. I was nervous only for the time that I was able to be seeing as the entire situation was happening within a minute. Then I was on stage, and ill prepared for this brief moment, to explain how the keypads worked. Being shaky at first didn’t stop me from explaining the ins and outs of what the delegates needed to know for voting.

The energy in the room was positive and strong early on. The meeting pushed on until the early hours of Saturday and ended with high tensions at around 2:00 am.

Saturday

More of the “hot item” amendments were being voted on during the second day. Things like; fracking, education, and foreign affairs. Each of these areas caused the guests in the audience to start an uproar, expressing their opinions based on the outcome of each amendment.

There was a minor issue on this day- Two delegates switched keypads with one another. We quickly were able to solve that issue as all of the keypads were labeled with the delegate’s information. After that, the day went flawlessly. The final hurdle was making sure I recovered all the keypads. I did this by opening a vote and pressing “1” on every keypad I received back. Once I collected all the keypads, I realized that I was still missing two. Sure enough a few delegates had accidently packed up the keypads with their things, but were promptly sent back to our office!

Final Thoughts

I have to say – being a part of the convention and watching how the entire process worked was enlightening. I awoke on Sunday morning at 5:00 am to board a flight back to Rochester and to share my experience with my team. Though I was looking forward to getting home, I couldn’t help but to feel empowered by the events of the past few days. With playing such a key role in something as monumental as the Democratic National Convention under my belt, I walked back into the EDS office ready to make big strides. Not just for Empire Digital Signs, but for historical events across the country.

For more information on Empire Digital Signs’ Audience Response System used at the Democratic Committee Platform Hearing as well as the Democratic National Convention, see our press release here.