Billy, Governor Harris and me prior to the Prayer Breakfast
THE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION in ATLANTA
As President of the
Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau
(ACVB) I was very involved in getting the political convention to Atlanta, hosting the huge meeting and press from around the world
I was hired as President by the ACVB in part to help
change the image of ATLANTA
that was hindered greatly by the
Atlanta Child Murders
- Wayne Williams missing/ murdered children crimes. This gave Atlanta the image of the murder capital of America. Prestigious conventions were pulling out of Atlanta... American Bankers, American Dental, etc...
I called a meeting of the State officials, local officials and business leaders to pursue a
Republican or Democratic Convention.
This goal of hosting a convention would provide 13,000 members of the media from around the world to descend on the city...The press would be a captive audience and their articles would focus on the convention. However our press kits would contain all the positive things to do and see in Atlanta and Georgia..for some of their articles and features.
As I proposed this plan to the leaders a few begin to tell the group why it wouldn't work- that we'd never be selected because of our image and other reasons. After about 5 minutes of it appearing like the proposal was doomed....
I said in desperation..."In my office I have a sign that quotes one of my favorite verses- Proverbs 14:4....
'Where no oxen are the stables are clean'
...The footnote says,
'No manure, no milk'
- there is a price to accomplishment"
NO ONE LAUGHED OR SAID ANYTHING FOR AN ETERNITY
(approximately 20 seconds)...
Finally, a man we respected greatly who represented the business community, Dan Sweat said with a chuckle,
"You know, Ted is right- no city has a perfect package...let's go for it but it definitely will have some challenges!"
We got the Democratic Convention and got over a billion dollars of positive area promotion from the 13,000 members of the media
...it was a stepping stone of eventually getting the Super Bowl and Olympics
I
CREDIT
the truth of PROVERBS 14:4 as the reason we went after and got the political convention