Afterthoughts of the Myrtle Beach debates

The fanfare is over; the red carpet is replaced at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center; the “Mount Myrtle” sand sculptures of the Republican and Democratic Presidential hopefuls are demolished. All is pretty much back to normal in the day-to-day of Myrtle Beach goings on. Looking back, it’s pretty amazing how smoothly those two events, so close together on the calendar, came off.

Having been a part of the hospitality industry for many years, I was keenly aware that there were opportunities- big ones- for little details to fall through the cracks, and become very big eye sores for organizers. I knew that if each area of volunteer work was not properly developed, checked, and rechecked, and if the right leaders were not in place to get all of that done, there could have been some pretty obvious flaws in the program. No questions… lots of eyes were on Myrtle Beach. So as I look back at these events today, I can say “bravo”, and really mean it. Organizing 600 volunteers alone- their schedules, their job duties, their training in preparation, and the communication among them during the events, is alone major planning. I know, because the organization that I worked for- The Myrtle Beach Area Hospitality Association- managed 200 volunteers, organized the contributions of 600 businesses, and worked as the central organizing entity that delivered a million dollars worth of Grand Strand vacations to ground zero workers and their families in New York City over the course of four weeks. These debates were much bigger… and even more involved. Add on top of the volunteer efforts of the debates- the political players and their very large needs, the influx of hundreds of media representatives from all over the world, and the security matters- you have a recipe for meltdown. That never happened, at least not before my eyes. In fact, most everything I witness was remarkably executed.

Now… for the impact. It amazed me to watch the Democratic Debate unfold before my eyes. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the opportunity to witness first hand the Republican event. But I did get into the Democratic event, and so that “up close and personal” vantage point was fantastic. And I never would have imagined that Hillary and Barrack would have duked it out in such a heavy-handed way. It monopolizes my memory of the event. At the same time, it was a big winner for Myrtle Beach. That debate seemed to get more airtime across media in the days that followed than any other debate I can recall. The controversy of their bickering, and the dominance of it in the debate grabbed a lot of attention, and therefore, a lot more attention for Myrtle Beach than was likely planned. We kept hearing –“You can’t buy that kind of publicity”, and I believe it. For the ones who invested the time, the money and the politicking to get the debates here, it’s just icing on the cake.

As far as the politics are concerned, it was pretty interesting to see how many state level politicians showed up outside where the media was stationed during the GOP event. Several made their rounds from one television station tent to the next, looking for press opportunities, and we were literally solicited by some of their media representatives. It actually felt pretty strange to be in the middle of editing a story, to be interrupted by the same staffer of the lieutenant governor twice (I guess he forgot he had already asked me the first time). He wanted us to interview Andre Bauer on senior citizen issues, which he said would be ignored during the debates.

In a comparison of the events overall, the Republican Debate event seemed much more closed and controlled. The SCGOP actually identified and managed its own volunteers, so the vast majority of the local 600 volunteers were used on the Democratic events, not the Republican. And even though there was more security and apparently more Secret Service at the Democratic Debate, that event just had a feeling of welcome.

Overall, what a stressful time for so many, but what an exceptional opportunity for the Grand Strand to shine big! When the CNN Washington Bureau Chief announced they would like to make Myrtle Beach a stop on the campaign trail every four years (for its debates), the audience took a collective sigh, and cheered loudly. That is a big thumbs up from the big cheese of CNN, and should be received as a huge compliment to the community as a whole. Over the years, Myrtle Beach has always seemed to step up to its challenges and opportunities, and January 2008 will long be viewed as the biggest step up so far.

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