Pittsburgh Summit Blog: Preparations All-Consuming

The Pittsburgh Summit 2009

Preparations All-Consuming

By Gordon Duguid | Wednesday, September 23, 2009 | 02:07 PM EST | 0 comments

When just over 30 world leaders come to Pittsburgh on Thursday, we’ll have to make sure that the shared limelight doesn’t get in the way of the very important work that will be done here. That is why locking in media events has been today’s priority. Arrivals at the airport, dinner speeches, press conferences and briefings all have to be coordinated so each nation or organization can explain their views on global finance and economic recovery. The State Department started working on this meeting about four months ago. Not a long time given the scope of the undertaking, but long enough given all of the other concerns President Obama and his counterparts are facing. We are now in the last day of preparation.

Our job right now is to make sure that the media can operate efficiently on Thursday and Friday. Important decisions are taken at meetings such as these and the public has the right to know what happens. The public also has the right to have accurate and timely information, and reporters need to have access to the venue, to the information and to the leaders to ensure that they can tell the story of this summit as accurately as possible. To help journalists do their jobs, we have to get the basics right. So, Foreign Press Center staff have spent a second day distributing credentials to the global media in Pittsburgh - and we’ll do it for two more days as well!

We are not even half way through the process, but until a journalist has his or her credential, she or he cannot work, so getting that small card becomes crucial, and any delay threatens their livelihood. Customer service is the most important part of managing credential distribution for large events. We take on this task regularly at the State Department, and try to have an error-free process each time, but there are always a few glitches in the system, usually transposed passport numbers or names misspelled on applications.

Thursday and Friday, we will deal with the substance of the meeting, but right now, preparations are all-consuming and must build a base for the real work ahead.

About the Author: Gordon Duguid serves as Director of the U.S. Department of State Foreign Press Center. He oversees the Pittsburgh Summit International Press Filing Center.