The Heroes

For decades I have watched our kids at work.  They learned when they were children at the Sunshine Children's Theater.  They learned how to set up a stage and how to take it down at the end of the show  It's a lesson they have never learned.

Any time there is a big (or small) gathering they are the ones who set up...but more importantly, they are the ones who clean up at the end.  

I remember all those people who were so eager to help my mother celebrate her 90th birthday, especialy Peach and her husband, who took me aside as things were breaking up and laughed, "we're getting out of here before we have to clean."  At the end it was, as it always is, our kids doing what they do bet--cleaning up and making sure everything gets put away.  They are also the ones aware of what is going on throughout the event, often working behind the scenes, making sure that things go right.  Technicians are the unsung heroes of any big event that few people ever think about.

I thought about that last night as i was watching the convention.  I thought about the whole tech part of both of the conventions.  I am fascinated by the signs.  Thousands of signs that change throughout the hall in a second, like the card section of a college football stadium.  How do they choreograph turning this

into this, seemingly instantly.

Is there a rehearsal.  Does each person in the hall have a whole box of signs and at a simple signal they all change their signs instantly?

When someone comes out with a soundbite from the stage, suddenly signs appear in the hall.  How was that all planned?

If you look at the whole convention just from a technical point of view, it's fascinating.

But then think about it.  Thousands of people eating popcorn, spilling drinks, throwing away unused signs, those ballons that drop at the end, and all the ... hey can I use the phrase? ... detritus of jollity (!!), and then they leave and out come the real heroes.  The clean-up crew.  By the time the conventioneers arrive the next day the hall is all pristeen and ready to be assaulted once again.

Let's give a big cheer for the technicians who direct the conventions and especially for the guys who stick around after everyone has gone home to clean up the mess.