DNC volunteer training begins with a simple 'hello'

DENVER - With less than a month to go before the Democratic National Convention, the Denver 2008 host committee is well under way with training its more than 10,000 volunteers.

Even for a convention, the training is far from conventional, at least at the beginning.

The first major training session for DNC volunteers began with an interactive presentation led by Dale Carnegie Training of Colorado. Volunteers learned about the importance of greeting and listening with an honest intent.

"We've got 50,000 people coming to Denver and everyone wants to be part of it," said Bob Nogueira, an area director with the Denver 2008 host committee.

"What makes this convention unique is the people of our city, and we want to ingrain that into the volunteers before they begin learning about their specific tasks during the event."

Those estimated 50,000 people coming to Denver include 15,000 media personnel and 5,000 delegates, as well as tourists and visitors temporarily migrating into The Mile High City.

During other portions of Saturday's training session, volunteers learned about the importance of enthusiasm and accuracy, particularly when answering questions or providing directions to DNC delegates.

"Oh, I'm very excited, but I will be working extremely hard," said volunteer captain Jones Iziomo.

"I have to make sure everything is in order. We want to prevent any chaos," Iziomo said with a laugh, "And we want to make sure we're bringing people in with friendliness."

In the final four weeks leading up to the DNC, the host committee will assign specific tasks to volunteers, who will then meet in smaller groups for more detailed training.