A cross-campus look at Otterbein’s debate debut As told to Gillian Janicki ’20
W
hat started out with discussions of a simple town hall with CNN, turned out to be one of the biggest, most publicized events brought to Otterbein University: the 2019 Democratic Presidential Debate in Westerville, Ohio. Though it was a pleasant surprise for Director of Events and Conferences Matthew D’Oyly, he recalls the amount of planning that took place behindthe-scenes to pull off this 50-minute spectacular. “I remember when we found out that it was the debate that we’d be hosting. There was a small group of us on a conference call with one of CNN’s senior vice presidents. They started by saying, ‘Everything we’re about to tell you is something you cannot share with everyone.’ Then we started signing the nondisclosure agreements. It was really exciting to have that opportunity and to know that eventually, everyone would find out Otterbein would be the location of the debate.
22 April 2020
When it came to preparing for the event, the biggest thing was making sure we had all the right players at the table. Originally, CNN took a few site visits in early August with about 30 people from different areas of the company, like the lighting team, the building team, logistics and producers. We also wanted to make sure that all the right players were representing Otterbein and Westerville. The next big thing was overcommunicating and doing whatever we could to make sure everyone knew what the plan was and how we were going to execute it. We really wanted the messaging to different audiences to be clear and concise. Although CNN had to approve our original press release, we were able to craft our later messages together as a team to make sure we were hitting all the different points in a timely way. During the debate itself, the first hour was a little interesting. We hit a fire code and were at maximum capacity for people in the Rike Center. I was in
charge of getting CNN talent into the building by switching other people out. The Rike Center can normally hold more people, but because of the platforms and other additions, the occupancy level was decreased. At the same time, there were a lot of other logistics happening, like popping in some extra chairs at different places throughout the building. No one in the audience was allowed out of their seats during the event because of the distraction it could pose to the candidates, so we had to go through back rooms to get from one spot to another without ever being seen on television. Now that the debate is over, I still do a lot of logistics for Otterbein, but I have less pressure and more time to plan. Honestly, it’s a little hard to go from a constant pace where you’re working 20 hours a day to having plenty of time to respond to an email, but I really did enjoy my job.” ■
Photo provided by Otterbein University
Debate debrief
