PSU Magazine Fall 1995

The biggest burden of preparing fo r the conference fe ll on the PSU Fac ilities Depa rtment. While some department staff concentrated on keep ing the rest of the campus running, about 80 percent of the department's employees shifted their attention to transforming Smith Center in to a specialized confe rence fac ility. C rews put all planned summer maintenance of Smith at the top of their work list. Painte rs tackled the hallways, conference rooms-even elevators. Rooms were continually added to the "must-paint" list as conference demands oozed out to include areas or breakout sess ions, The camera-savvy backdrop for the conference was designed by Professor Glenn Gauer, theater arts. eparate "holding" areas for the pres i– dent, vice pres ident, and cabinet members, and other special needs. About that time, White House organizers requested a custom-built, U-shaped conference table with a 40-foot diameter and pockets around the pres ident's spot to accommodate bullet-proof steel plates. PSU carpen– ters feverishly began cutting and nail – ing--cloing in a week what would typica lly be scheduled fo r two. Meanwhile, crews fo rk -Iifted rented stage materi al onto the Smi th Center balcony, then hammered it together in the ball room to crea te an 18- inch high stage fo r the conference table. C rews laid 600 yards of new ca rpet on the stage and ba ll room. (The carpet later was removed and used in classrooms and offices schedul ed to be recarpeted this year.) Glenn Gauer, professor of theater arts, designed and commissioned a camera-savvy backdrop depicting the Pacific Rim (which will be used for other conferences). Risers for select media blossomed along a wall. (O ther reporters watched the proceedings on closed circuit television in the cafeteria. ) Smith Center Ballroom was well lit to accommodate the media. Prodigious amounts of special wiring and telecommuni cations equip– ment were insta lled. To accommodate media cameras, the en tire Smith ball– room was lit as precisel y as a stage production. Parkway Common, the ground -leve l cafeteria, became the media war room with more than 200 telephones, faxes, and other special telecommunications equi pment installed. Rob Daasch, assoc iate professor of electrica l engineering, put his own twist on communications by arranging to use a campus compu ter to display the conference li ve over the In te rnet, a first fo r a pres identi al confe rence, he believes. About a week before the confer– ence, advance teams from Washing– ton, D.C., flooded the campus. More than 100 strong in all, there were 10-person advance teams fo r the presi– dent, vice president, each cabinet member, the White House press corps, the general media, the site, telecom– munications, and safety. With their arri va l, preparations moved from fast track to hyperspeed. Dec isions came down continually, and changes followed almost hourly. The 4,500 potted flowers placed around Smith Center for color were later planted throughout the campus. Facilities staff met daily to ensure that word of the changes reached the righ t ears-like the decision days before the event to re-orient the arrangements in the ballroom by 90 degrees. Stage, risers, table, carpeting, all shifted one– quarter tum. Meantime, grounds crews began sprucing up the ex terior, concentrating on Smith Memorial Center and the views the media and top officials would see as they stepped onto the ba lcony for a break or stood on the FALL 1995 PSU MAGAZINE 5