Welcome to the age of the virtual convention

Political conventions were once central to the presidential nomination process before the actual nominating became a formality. They’ve since morphed into multi-million dollar, made-for-TV political infomercials. In 2020, though, we could be witnessing the next stage in their evolution, into on-demand, multi-platform conventions built for the attention economy.
Even without the pandemic, conventions today have to be designed for more than just TV. We consume media in chopped-up bits across multiple screens and apps. The virus only accelerated this trend but it’s also transformed the way conventions are produced.
Selling the candidate is still the same ultimate goal, but rather than a multi-day event televised in front of a live audience, the 2020 conventions are being condensed into what amounts to nightly political telethons set to include a mix of pre-recorded and live segments. Rather than spacious arenas, the settings will be more intimate.
Democrats got a head start planning for their own virtual convention when they announced they were going remote back in June. Meanwhile, Republicans held off at the request of President Trump, who hoped for an in-person celebration until that was scrapped last month.
The evolution of the national convention began in the mid-20th century when parties changed their rules around the nomination process, giving primary voters more control over picking the nominee. Neither party has had a brokered convention where a candidate failed to receive a majority of votes after the first round of voting in nearly 70 years, meaning voters knew the presumptive nominee by the time the convention started.
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At the same time, television was transforming convention visual aesthetics. Two weeks after speakers at the 1948 Republican National Convention came across as washed out and wilted on TV screens, Democrats worked to not repeat the same mistake. They hired makeup artists who touched up speakers before they went on stage, according to the Washington Post.
Today, the concern for speakers is less about professional make up than it is about applying a basic foundation and knowing how to operate a decent ring light. But that’s not the only thing that’s changed.
One announced speaker, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), was given just 60 seconds to deliver a pre-recorded address, according to Business Insider. Ocasio-Cortez responded to the news by tweeting out a poem that the late Rep. Elijah Cummings read when he was sworn in in 1996: “Only a tiny little minute, but eternity is in it.”


In truth, Ocasio-Cortez’s speech has the potential to echo more widely than a longer speech by a higher ranking Democratic politician because of her celebrity and large social media following. Sixty seconds isn’t long, but it does fit into an Instagram post without having to use the IGTV feature that forces users to click “Keep Watching” to finish. Going viral can matter more in 2020 than whether or not you’re scheduled to speak in prime time.
Conventions have long been a crucial moment in the American presidential campaign calendar. They mark the beginning of the home stretch, the final months before Election Day when people who don’t pay much attention to politics start, and when those who have been paying attention get hyper-engaged.
Conventions give parties a chance to make their case to the American people and put on their own shows, but this year there won’t be crowds, in-person applause, or balloons falling from arena rafters. The tropes of what conventions are supposed to look like are gone, to be replaced with virtual equivalents.
There’s the chance that remote conventions will be more boring and awkward than in-person ones, or perhaps they’ll work out just fine and elements of the virtual convention set-up will outlast the virus. Regardless, 2020’s conventions will look different than any that have come before.
Top photo credit: illustration of Lyndon Johnson and Hubert Humphrey at the 1964 Democratic National Convention by Franklin McMahon via Library of Congress
Additional research by Seth Riker