Craziness Abounds: A Day in the Life at the Big Tent: Denver '08

by: LiberalLucy

Thu Aug 28, 2008 at 11:11:52 AM EDT

As many of you know from previous posts and through my micro-blogging on Twitter, I've spent most of my time in Denver working at the Big Tent.

There are over 500 bloggers from around the country (including some of the territories) that are using the Big Tent as a Ground Zero of sorts. A ticket at $100 gets a blogger 4 days of access, 2 great meals a day, free smoothies and chair massages from the Google Retreat Center, free local micro-brewed beer not to mention the opportunity to network with other bloggers like you've probably never done before. That's on top of the Digg Stage on the 2nd level of the Tent (no, it's not a magical Harry Potter tent) where panels run all day long. The Tent features air conditioning (with almost a zero-carbon footprint thanks to water-cooled air, versus Freon) lots and lots of couches, and wireless. All in all, it's not a bad gig.

The Big Tent is something that's never been done before. And because you've got all these bloggers in one place, it's still very much a novelty to the rest of the world. So the media, both local, national and abroad, come in droves. So do the celebrities. And that's where my job comes in.

I'm very lucky to know many excellent bloggers all across our national blogosphere. The folks at the Big Tent have put that asset to use when they put me on the Media/VIP Team. As VIPs and various press come through the Big Tent, it's my job to introduce them to various bloggers that are relevant to the stories they cover. Today I introduced someone from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette to the credentialed blogger from Keystone Progress. Earlier, I had led a TV crew from NYC to meet Philip from The Albany Project. Other times, they just want to stare at the marvel of all these bloggers under one roof. It is a pretty amazing sight. 

And then there's the VIPs. Whether it's a Tent sponsor (there's over 50) to legislators (Speaker Andy Dillon stopped by yesterday) to panelists (Bobby Kennedy Jr., actress/activist Darryl Hannah, WA Gov. Christine Gregoire, etc) they all want to see what the Big Tent is all about. Sometimes bloggers like me take them over to the YouTube stage, shoot an interview, and upload it right there at the kiosk. Othertimes, it looks like an old fashioned press box with bloggers whipping out small notepads and pens and quickly scribbling while the VIPs talk. Sometimes it's just a handshake and two people who've known each other from afar finally get a chance to meet, offline. There's a constant buzz in the place, and it's not coming from the portable batteries that keep the powerstrips juiced or the drone of the laptops. The buzz is the energy and adrenaline that run through the air like a current. It's addiciting and exciting and tiring all at the same time. 

As a worker bee, it's not all fun and games. Sometimes it's near impossible to track that one blogger in the entire haystack. Other times it means showing them all the features of the tent, introducing them to all the bloggers they want to meet, and still sticking to their impossible time schedule. Other times it means running up and down 4 flights of stairs 20 times a day (not easy to do in high altitude!). I leave each night exhausted and sore, but also jazzed up. The very idea that citizen journalism has been recognized on this type of level where major corporations drop upwards of $250,000 for sponsorship, or that we can command Arianna Huffington, the CEO of Google, and Rachel Maddow, well it's pretty darn cool.

Needless to say the last three days have kept me on my toes. I haven't gotten much of a chance to see the sights around the town. Today I'm making a point to get out, see as much as I can take in of all of the craziness that makes up the DNC. 

Speaking of seeing the sights, I got quite a taste of excitement last night as my friend and I left the Big Tent so exhausted that we tried to head home, even before Biden had started his speech. As we walked towards the parking lot just a block or two away, we were stopped by a federal officer, decked out in a flak jacket  informing us that there was a suspicious package in the parking lot. To kill time, we walked a block to the MSNBC stage and made it just in time for the Biden speech to start. As we waited for Biden's son to be introduced, we were treated to a very long motorcade that streamed right past us. Was it Obama? He wasn't scheduled to be in town. Sure enough, a long line of black SUVs goes by and there's one Barack Obama, with his head sticking out of the window like a little kid, waving at all of us. We whooped and hollered and jumped up and down with excitement. Obama's in Denver and we're the first to know! 

Most of the rest of the story you know - Biden gave an incredible speech, Obama showed up and surprised everyone and our night was made.

The part you probably didn't hear about (unless you followed me on Twitter) is that not too long after the motorcade passed, a group of 100-200 anarchists (anarcos are they're called out here) took to the street on their bikes, got off their bikes, lifted them into the air, and started an anti-war chant. By blocking the street, they had under 3 minutes to clear before the police started pulling out the tear gas.  The group was too small, too weak and too disorganized, so thankfully they dispersed before anything serious happened and the crowd went back to watching the TV's courtesy of MSNBC. 

As my friend and I headed back to our car, we were informed that a perimeter had been set up, a 2 block radius to be exact. I knew what that meant. Whatever suspcious package that had been found was going to be detonated. Sure enough, with a very loud boom the package (probably some poor sap's forgotten backpack) went bye-bye and the crowd freaked out, but just a little. We were told it could still be hours before the area was clear, and with that news, we dragged our tired bodies to the nearest street and grabbed a cab at the tune of $40. 

Denver's an exciting place to be, perhaps at times a little too exciting. In the last three days I've met some incredible leaders/celebrities, had my picture taken with Arianna Huffington, had Markos Moulistas (Kos of DailyKos) offer me a copy of his book (I had no idea he knew who I was!!) been featured in a funny video on MSNBC, been taken out of context by a Canadian reporter from the Globe-Mail and watched Obama wave me to me and a crowd of 400-500 as his motorcade flew past. It's not an experience you get just any day, but I guess it's just another day in the life of a blogger at the Big Tent.