Ten Observations About Denver During the Convention

Here are ten of my observations, from a vantage point on the east coast, about how the Denver Region came across during the convention and how the region was/will be impacted by this historic event:

1) As a native Coloradan from the Denver Region, I took tremendous pride that Denver was able to successfully host the 2008 Democratic Convention.

2) I am very relieved that there were no major negative surprises which occurred during the event. The tornado in Parker on Monday was in inauspicious beginning.

3) Denver came across very well in the television and print media coverage. I was surprised by how few shots there were of the Rocky Mountains and how many there were of the bustling urban cityscape. I wonder how much of this was planned by city officials and how much was based on organic, independent decisions by the media outlets. There were also numerous mentions of Colorado's sunny weather and natural beauty from Bill Hemmer, Tom Brokaw and other national media figures.

4) I loved the MSNBC set which used day and night views of Union Station and the "Travel by Train" sign and the contextualism of the Gates headquarters building as an exciting urban backdrop.

5) All the public investments in downtown Denver - the Pepsi Center and Invesco Field at Mile High, the light rail, the convention center and the Hyatt hotel, the Hamilton wing of the Denver Art Museum - really paid dividends during the convention week.

6) In addition to the short-term economic bump, there will be a hard to measure but real flow of benefits to the Denver Region and Colorado from this convention. This will happen slowly over time in the years and decades to come in terms of brand awareness and an increase in Denver's global profile, in-migration, job attraction, tourism, capital flows and in other unknown ways.

7) I loved the fact that the football stadium's spiritually true name "Mile High Stadium" rolled off politicians and media members' tongues so much more frequently than "Invesco Field" did.

8) The City of Denver will be forever linked with a great American historic milestone - the nomination of the first African American for the office of President of the United States by a major political party.

9) Colorado's emerging green energy cluster is perfectly poised for rapid growth, particularly if Barack Obama wins the presidential election and channels $150 billion over the next ten years toward alternative energy development.

10) Both the Pepsi Center and particularly Invesco Field at Mile High came across as incredible venues.