“It’s a huge part of what we do,” said Reince Priebus, chairman of the host committee. “We want to have people feel like as soon as they get to their hotel, or as soon as they walk off the plane, that they feel like ‘Wow, these people in Milwaukee love that we’re here.’”
That means finding volunteers.
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It’s been estimated about 6,000 volunteers will be needed to help delegates, media, visitors and other guests at the July 15-18 convention.
So far, the committee is a third of the way there.
“We’ve got about 2,000 (volunteers), so far, identified,” Priebus said during a recent virtual meeting with local businesses. “We’re working with businesses, big businesses, small businesses. If any of you would like to volunteer or have family, relatives, friends, enemies that you want to have volunteer; anybody you know that is someone that you think would make a good volunteer for us, contact us on our website.”
People interested in volunteering can sign up at mke2024host.org/volunteers.
“A lot of times it’s not just being helpful, but it’s just having a smiling face,” Priebus said. “Someone that says ‘Welcome to Milwaukee. Welcome to Wisconsin. We’re so happy you’re here. Is there a question you have?’ That goes a long way when you have all of these people here in our state.”
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Priebus said having quality volunteers and friendly workers can have a ripple effect for the city and the area that extends beyond the convention.
“They’re going to tell other people about this awesome experience they had here because then it’s going to bring more business,” Priebus said. “That’s a big part of what we have to do. Aside from the money; aside from communicating, is recruiting those volunteers.”
Peggy Williams-Smith, president and CEO of Visit Milwaukee, said the city has already seeing potential economic gains because of the convention.
“We’ve already seen a doubling of our lead volume for conventions interested in our city as their host,” Williams-Smith said. “This surge in interest speaks volumes to the appeal and readiness of our destination to accommodate such large events.”
Pop-up venue details to come
Aside from finding volunteers, the host committee and Committee on Arrangements are looking for areas for small businesses to sell goods, services and have tastings.
Priebus and Anne Hathaway, chairwoman of the Committee on Arrangements, said organizers also are looking at areas that could be home to “pop-up” venues such as restaurants and activities.
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“We definitely see some type of vendor, exhibitor pop-up, just working on the details,” Hathaway said. “As you can imagine, there’s all kinds of details as relates to security and where might be the most advantageous place to do that in a way that the most delegates and most of our guests can be able to take advantage of it and make is safe and secure for everyone.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: RNC Host Committee has 2,000 volunteers for Milwaukee convention, 6,000 needed
