Crews and Volunteers Begin Setting Up for GOP Debate, Straw Poll

Matt Sheko, a freelance video engineer, fed hundreds of feet of cable through the back of a loading dock at CY Stephens Auditorium Tuesday.

He expected that his crew would lay 4,000 feet of cable through the doors and around the stage before the live broadcast of the Iowa Fox News GOP debate on Thursday.

Sheko, is one of about 50 people who will work behind the scenes in the televised event. More than 250 other people -- all volunteers -- will help set up Saturday's Straw Poll, said Casey Mills, Iowa Straw Poll spokesman.

Ames residents will begin to see tents go up around Hilton Coliseum and its surrounding facilities at the Iowa State Center on Wednesday, but people have been working inside the Coliseum since Friday. Employees have been hanging curtains and setting up the stage ensuring everything is aesthetically pleasing, said Brooke Croshier-Sidebotham, Iowa State University Athletics director of event management.

Crews set up risers for 200 members of the media who've asked to come inside the 10,000-seat coliseum Saturday. And approximately 40 media outlets wanted space for live broadcasts, she said.

Back at CY Stephens Auditorium, Sheko and others including Michael Ericson, of West Des Moines, took spools of cable from a Mansion Media truck hooking up 10 television cameras for the live debate.

During the debate, Sheko will be responsible for half the cameras' video feeds.

It won't be as complicated as say a football game where the sun might suddenly burst through the clouds, he said. But he will be constantly adjusting the video signal in order to send the best picture.

“Your hands are constantly in motion when you are doing video,” Sheko said.

Video engineers listen to the announcers trying to stay a step ahead of the show making sure candidates look the same from one shot to the next. Mitt Romney can't look green in one camera and blue in the other, video engineers said.