McCormick Place and Savor hosted more than 15,000 ticketed guests, along with media and, of course, President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and their families and friends for election night celebrations on Nov. 6.
According to Connie Chambers, Savor general manager at McCormick Place, the building and staff had about three weeks' notice to prepare to host the event.
“It's definitely a compressed timeframe,” said Chambers, adding that normally they would have several months in advance to get ready. However, McCormick Place had hosted the NATO summit just six months prior, which familiarized the staff with working with and the expectations of the Secret Service. Chambers added that some of the Secret Service agents who worked the election night event were the same who worked the summit, which made things easier. “We're really trained … I hate to say [it's] easy because it really isn't,” said Chambers. “But, certainly we knew who we were going to go to and what their expectations were.”
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