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Signs, Signs, Everywhere Signs

Every time I catch some online video of the DNC convention, the audience is always a sea of signs. Every major speaker had a sign associated with them ("Hillary", "BIDEN", etc.) and everybody in the audience had the same sign. Sometimes, the signs would change in the middle of a speech. The convention must have huge teams of people runnning through the hall handing out signs and taking signs back. This looks great on video, but it must be a logistical pain in the neck. Apparently, the sign team members are called "visibility whips". Do some searching around, and you'll find them blogging about how hard it is to distribute four waves of 10,000 signs each throughout the convention hall.

I'm also reminded of a GOP convention in 1988 or 1992 where the delegates started holding up hand made signs. It was clearly part of somebody's plan, but it made the whole party seem more personable. This DNC convention was all about party unity, so presenting unified signage to the cameras was important, but I wonder if it's going too far.

2008.08.28 at 12:30pm EDT

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