Opportunity Only Knocks Once
For PDA that knock came from the proverbial top of the food chain. In his first nationally televised speech about 9/11 outside of Washington DC, then President George Bush chose The Citadel as his venue. PDA got the call to provide production support for the event and the rest, as they say, is history.
Almost 10 years later, PDA has helped produce over 100 events for two sitting Presidents, two past Presidents and three Vice Presidents. Every one of these events has been an honor and a challenge, while at the same time providing a unique glimpse of the Office from behind-the-scenes. Whether it’s standing on the South Lawn of the White House at 7 a.m. watching President George Bush start his work day, or standing amidst 3,000 US Army soldiers while President Obama thanks them for their role in bringing Osama Bin Laden to justice. We’ve loved each and every event.
We learned very early in our relationship with the White House that we had to be very flexible and creative with the services we would provide because we could never predict what would be asked of us. We’ve created an entire event using Caterpillar equipment to hang our lights and sound system from. We’ve built stages to hold military equipment along with the President. We’ve even staged an event with a B-2 bomber in the back drop. Needless to say, working around an airplane that cost $2.2 Billion dollars increases the stress factor exponentially.
But for all the stress that goes with producing these events, we’ve always kept one thought in mind. For many people, this would be their only chance to see the current President of the United States in person, and that no matter what obstacles may arise, our production needed to be as close to perfect as possible.