Third Way Opportunity 2020 — The Way to Win

June 2019. Charleston, Gaillard Center

Third Way, the national think tank, in conjunction with the Black Economic Alliance and Winston Fisher, gathered Democratic officials, strategists, constituency leaders, campaign staff, and influencers from early and battleground states to chart the way to win in 2020.

Opportunity 2020, The Way to Win, was held in June 2019 at the Gaillard Center in Charleston, South Carolina and built on Third Way’s 2018 strategy session in Columbus, Ohio, where Democrats coalesced around a message of economic opportunity that delivered the House majority and helped rebuild the Blue Wall. Empire installed environmental branding throughout the venue to create a sense of place for all attendees so that everywhere they turned, carefully-curated images would remind them of their goals for 2020. These included a 3D display at the ballroom entrance, scrolling images on built-in screens, and strategically placed banners and graphic walls.

Third Way Opportunity 2020 kicked off with a plenary session in the smaller of the two ballrooms set in a theater arrangement supplemented with soft seating for networking and a custom stage branded for the event. The two-hour plenary featured presentations and panel discussions with University of South Carolina Director of the Center of Education and Equity of African American Students, Dr. Jennifer Reed, Senator Chris Coons, and New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham. Immediately following the session, attendees moved upstairs to the Galleria for an opening reception.

The next day, the plenary was held in the large ballroom where Empire built a three-tier amphitheater to create a more intimate setting for the presentations. Presenters and moderators included Executive Director of the Black Economic Alliance, Akunna Cook, Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger, Congressman Joe Cunningham, President Obama’s 2012 campaign manager and former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina, and former Obama White House Communications Director, Jen Psaki.

The conference wrapped with a reception on the roof deck of the nearby Dewberry Hotel.