GOP Convention Organizers Prep Volunteers

Hundreds of volunteers, both young and old, were on hand Saturday afternoon for the final orientation for the upcoming Republican Convention in Tampa, which is now just 16 days away. The session was conducted at the Straz Center in Tampa by the 2012 Tampa Bay Host Committee, Inc., a nonprofit organization charged with all of the events outside of the convention center. The Committee has been holding similar sessions in past weeks, but this was the final orientation.

Organizers are anticipating over 50,000 guests to the event which includes GOP delegates, Republican officials, support personnel, and a sizeable press corps of over 15,000 people. This will result in an estimated economic impact of 175 million dollars to the Tampa Bay area. For example, there will be over 75K booked room nights at area hotels. It will also be one of the largest televised events, second only to the Olympics.

To support the event, over 7,500 volunteer roles have been created thereby creating the need for orientation events such as today's. Volunteer tasks include airport greeters, hotel greeters, distribution center assistants, event crew, and office administrative assistants. Tampa Bay Republicans answered the call and are now ready to make this an exceptional event. During the training, it was emphasized to showcase the people and businesses of the area. Hospitality, of course, is of paramount importance.

Following the orientation, the group took a break around the Straz. I took this oppotunity to walk around where I heard people talking about a variety of political subjects, such as today's naming of Rep. Paul Ryan as Governor Romney's Vice Presidential nominee, the economic future of the country, the fate of Israel, and even the upcoming Pinellas County Sheriff's race. It was all rather interesting to listen to the concerns of the volunteers and why they were there.

The session was concluded with a Pep Rally which many more volunteers joined. In all, there were approximately 2,000 people in attendance. The rally was kicked off by a squad of USF cheerleaders, joined by the USF Bull mascot, and "Raymond" of the Tampa Bay Rays.

Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn welcomed the volunteers and proudly proclaimed, "This will be the time Tampa Bay turns a page, and will make it happen." In honor of the volunteers, he proclaimed today as "Faces of Tampa Bay Day." This was followed by Clearwater Mayor George Cretekos making the same proclamation, as did St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster. Cretekos went out to express his confidence in the event, "This will be the best!"

Ken Jones, the President & CEO of the Host Committee made many other introductions and comments before turning the microphone over to Jack Harris of 970-WFLA who chaired a special singing contest for a local person to become "The Voice of Tampa Bay." The Voice will be asked to sing the National Anthem at an event during the convention. Three fine young ladies did a superb job with their renditions: Brielle Carter, Lisa Casalino of Hyde Park, Erica DiCeglie of Indian Rocks Beach. As good as the ladies were, they were blown away by Ryan Julian of Seminole with a majestic opera voice that stunned the judges and attendees. He has a fabulous voice which the Tampa Bay area will be proud of.

In all, the day served to adequately train the volunteers and put them in the proper spirit for making this a successful convention.

Keep the Faith!

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Tim Bryce is a writer and the Managing Director of M&JB Investment Company (M&JB) of Palm Harbor, Florida and has over 30 years of experience in the management consulting field. He can be reached at timb001@phmainstreet.com

For Tim's columns, see:   timbryce.com

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Copyright © 2012 by Tim Bryce. All rights reserved.