Calling the community to forums -- part of the job of the DNC Host Committee spokesman

July 21, 10:25 PMDenver People ExaminerErnie Tucker

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Chris Lopez...
Still smiling

Events are beginning to pile up ahead of next month’s Democratic National Convention, and Chris Lopez is one of the main people doing the heavy lifting to get the word out. Lopez, who spent nearly seven years as a reporter and editor at the Denver Post from 1993-2000, was a career journalist until last October, when he stepped into the role of communications director for the Denver 2008 Convention Host Committee. Now, after months of preparation, the rata-tat-tat pace of press releases and media inquiries is intensifying as the Aug. 25-28 convention nears.

Today, for example, he’s helping spread the word about five community forums designed to spark conversation regarding the upcoming Convention. These outreach events, beginning July 26, are designed to give everyone a chance to find out about what is happening during the week of the Democratic National Convention. Attendees will get previews of what's happening here as Sen. Barack Obama's nomination unfolds.

Artist's rendering of the American Presidential exhibit

“The purpose is to create a dialog with the residents,” Lopez explains, adding that when something as large as the DNC comes to town, “It should always be a two-way conversation"  with those impacted.

And so, Community Forums are scheduled at these locations throughout the metro area:

Central
July 26, 2008
Curious Theatre
1080 Acoma St.
12:00-2:00 p.m.

Southeast
July 28, 2008
Temple Sinai
3509 S. Glencoe St.
12:00-2:00 p.m.

Southwest
July 29, 2008
Southwest Improvement Council
1000 S. Lowell Blvd.
5:30-7:30 p.m.

Northwest
July 30, 2008
North High School
2960 N. Speer Blvd.
5:30-7:30 p.m.

Northeast
August 6, 2008
Montview Presbyterian Church
1980 Dahlia St.
5:30-7:30 p.m.

Lopez and his staff have to make sure those interested know that they should RSVP to Krista Leben at Krista.Leben@denvergov.org, especially if there are special needs. Forum guests will, for example, learn about the opening of the American Presidential Experience exhibit, scheduled to begin Friday, Aug. 22. However, Lopez notes, tickets ($15-$10) are on sale now at Ticketmaster outlets and via the web. The American Presidential  Experience, which will be set up at in a parking lot at Mile High Field at Invesco, is billed as the largest traveling show of presidential memorabilia. Visitors can have pictures taken at a replica of the Oval Office, get a sense of the inside of interior of Air Force One and peek at a presidential limousine. Perhaps some future George W. Bush, Bill Clinton -- or Hillary Clinton will be inspired.

But for Lopez, who had been asking questions on the other side of the media fence for years, these hectic times are also heady ones.

”It’s been what I anticipated and expected,” he says – presumably even when his phone rings late on a Sunday night with another journalist’s inquiry, disrupting family routine. Still, Lopez  is pleased with this challenge. “As a lifelong journalist, it’s been my way of getting behind the scenes to see how a national political event is pulled together. I will take away great insight and a new type of experience that I can carry with me into my next adventure.”

So the 1983 Adams State College grad prepares to tackle the expected arrival of thousands of journalists here, he stays upbeat, declaring "it's been a unique, once-in-a-lifetime experience.”