PEF Convention 2021

That's a wrap from Niagara Falls. Got home yesterday around 330pm. The delegates must have been eager to leave as well. They blew through about 10 resolutions in the 2.5 hours they had on the agenda Wednesday. All in all, with nothing to compare it to, I'm told it was a "very smooth" Convention. Personally, with my live production experience, I took note of a dozen ways we could be better, but I've also noticed the union takes a perverse pride in pulling things together at the last minute and then congratulating everyone for getting it done. Anyway, a few photos. These are from New York Governor Kathy Hochul's press office. She gave a speech on Monday -- the first sitting governor in more than a dozen years to accept our invitation.  I didn't get to shake her hand, but we did meet eyes and wave.  I sat about 6' from her as she spoke. Told Carey she definitely has that undefinable political charisma.  It wasn't quite what I felt being close to Bill Clinton in 1997, but it's more of an aura than you get just standing next to a run-of-the-mill CEO, if that makes sense.  Or put another way: At least half of our 500 delegates blame every problem they experience at work on her, but none of them booed, so that's something.

During the week, in addition to sitting up on the dais and trying to keep our president (the man to my right, Wayne Spence) on message and on time, my team shot and produced a handful of videos that played at the opening of each session. Looks like I can't embed them due to settings on PEF's Vimeo page, but here are the links:

Fund Our Future for a Thriving New York (That was the Convention theme and this was the video that introduced that theme on Monday morning.)

Highlights from Day 1 of the Convention

Sizzle reel from the "Fund Our Future" booth (We asked state workers to share their stories and how difficult their jobs are when New York doesn't provide the resources and funding necessary to do it right.)

All in all, happy to be home. Enjoying some comp time today and tomorrow (yay, unions!) and then the weekend, when we're headed to Middlebury for Homecoming.