Home of the 2012 Republican National Convention | August 27-30, 2012

Tampa Bay Business Journal

Posted: December 7, 2011

By: Margaret Cashill

For a Tampa Bay area reporter covering local efforts to prepare for the Republican National Convention, attending the Dec. 6 Fall Media Walk-Through with media from outside the region was an instructive experience.

About 500 members of the media gathered on the floor of the St. Pete Times Forum to hear Republican National Committee officials speak about workspace, credentialing, transportation and other logistical details pertinent to media covering the event.

The experience gave a glimpse of how vastly the Forum, fresh off a $40 million renovation, will be transformed for the RNC Aug. 27-30. In addition to the giant screens, balloons and other pageantry, coordinating media presence will be a massive undertaking at the 670,000-square-foot Forum.

The Tampa Convention Center meanwhile, will be the “media center.” A press conference and briefing room, a press filing center and “Radio Talk Show Row” will be part of a total of 600,000 square feet available at the Convention Center.

Unlike past conventions, this RNC will have no outdoor media workspace. A covered walkway and shuttle system will connect the Forum and the Convention Center.

The event has been billed as a “convention without walls” for its use of technology to provide access to behind-the-scenes preparation. From setting up furniture to installing media cable to accommodating roughly 15,000 media in town, the details are endless.

Tours of the St. Pete Times Forum and the Convention Center followed the briefing, with buses shuttling media between the sites. An evening reception at the Convention Center, hosted by the Tampa Bay Host Committee, concluded the walk-through.