The Boss Comes To Town

It’s been a while since I posted anything, but I figured a visit from the big boss was a good reason to get back in the game. That’s right folks, Secretary Kerry made it to Algiers. We had a false start in November, when he was all set to come until urgent matters in other parts of the world caused him to postpone. This time, though, he touched down – for about 24 hours. He was in town for something called the “strategic dialogue” which is basically a fancier way of saying “high level bilateral talks”.

As you might imagine, a considerable amount of preparation precedes a visit from the Secretary of State. A whole team of people travels ahead of him and works with Embassy staff to arrange a detailed schedule of meetings, events, and working meals with various important people. Down time does not seem to be a thing when the Secretary is traveling. So much planning is required that just about everyone in the Embassy has to jump in and help. My job was to organize the Embassy Meet & Greet, where S comes to the Embassy and gives a speech to Embassy staff. (“S” is the State Department acronym for the Secretary. We love our acronyms. S is pretty much the easiest one).

Anyway. In the grand scheme of things, the Meet & Greet is a relatively straightforward job. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t a billion details to worry about and questions that need answers. Podium or no podium? Risers or no risers? How many flags should we have? Where should they be? How should they be positioned? How far away should the event attendees stand from the podium/risers? How early do they have to be in place? What are the security requirements? Where is S coming from directly before the event? Where is he going afterwards? And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

As for the rest of the visit, each event has it’s own individual set of those questions and variables. The whole thing is pretty complex. To try and help keep everyone on the same page, we had daily countdown meetings to go over the trip.

At the end of the day, though, you really only have time to focus on your event. I’m not sure how the rest of the visit went, though I hear it went well, but S’s brief appearance at the Embassy was a success. He came in, gave a good speech, kissed some babies, shook some hands, took some photos, and moved on to the next thing. During the event my job was basically to stand in the background, be on microphone duty, and try to stay out of the camera shots. I was mostly successful, but didn’t quite escape the lens of one of my colleagues. So here it is, me and S: