Successful Meetings - October 2008 - (Page 48) Fortune 1000 > A Tale of Two Cities “We did this in the middle of a working shipyard on the banks of the Mississippi River, with shipyard workers who were building this ship while simultaneously rebuilding their own homes. —Sandy Pagnotti, P.W. Feats platforms and entertainment staging; solved logistic puzzles that led to a series of barges and temporary bridges to create red-carpeted walkways that enabled the VIPs to travel from the podium to the bow of the ship for the official christening “moment;” and masterminded the sixcamera shoot for media feeds, and a live two-and-a-half-hour webcast. “We did this in the middle of a working shipyard on the banks of the Mississippi River, with shipyard workers who were building this ship while simultaneously rebuilding their own homes that they lost during our nation’s worst natural disaster,” says Pagnotti. Emotions were lifted by featured entertainment from (once more) the Liberty Belles, with the addition this time of young country singing and song-writing star Rebecca Lynn Howard, as well as famed veteran performer Charlie Daniels. Not to be outdone, the U.S. Navy Band also performed. But it was a special perform- ance by the Emerald Society, a pipe and drum band made up of New York police and fire fighters, that stirred the audience with the traditional hymn “Amazing Grace.” The $1 billion, 684-foot-long New York is what is known as an amphibious transport dock ship, employed to land Marines using landing craft, helicopters, or vertical takeoff planes (the rear half of the ship resembles an aircraft carrier). The formal Navy christening ceremony included speeches from U.S congressmen from Louisiana and New York, corporate executives, and U.S. Navy admirals. Speeches by Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England and his wife, ship sponsor Dotty England, led to the traditional cracking of the Champagne bottle across the New York’s bow, and the confetti flew. The ship’s bow insignia, gracing the molten and reformed steel from the fallen Twin Tower Two, was emblazoned with the motto, “Never Forget.” successfulmeetings.com Pagnotti remembers that “magic happened” when FDNY fire fighter Frank Pizarro closed the program with the stirring song, “You Raise Me Up”: You raise me up so I can stand on mountains, You raise me up to walk on stormy seas, I am strong when I am on your shoulders, You raise me up to more than I can be. “Our tears joined those of proud veterans, Navy admirals, U.S. congressmen, corporate executives, and shipbuilders who witnessed a moment in history like no other,” Pagnotti remembers, of the emotions during the song. “There was not a dry eye in the house.” McCallam sums up the event compellingly on behalf of Northrop Grumman: “It is rare that we have the opportunity, in our day-to-day jobs and lives, to make history,” she notes. “In all the years our shipyards have been doing christenings, there has never been, and for years and ships to come there will never be, a christening like this.” OCTOBER 2008 SUCCESSFUL MEETINGS 48 http://www.successfulmeetings.com
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