Event Venues

The Javits Center Does 7 Things at Once

A striking time-lapse video shows the New York City venue's build-out for Hillary Clinton's Election Night event — in the midst of hosting six other shows.

Transformation from ron antonelli photography on Vimeo.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, how many is a striking one-minute time-lapse video covering a 17-day span worth? At least as many as it takes to tell the story of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City from Oct. 27 to Nov. 12, when the building was staging Hillary Clinton’s 22,000-person Election Night event in its 15-story, 65,000-square-foot Crystal Palace — while simultaneously hosting six other shows right before, during, and after, including the New York City Marathon Health and Wellness Expo, Sneaker Con New York City, and the NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) Show.

“Inside any convention center, the environment is very much a city within a city,” said Tony Sclafani, Javits’ chief communications officer. “Every day of the week, we have customers moving in, moving out, and open for business. The purpose of the time-lapse footage is to convey how much work goes into constructing and coordinating an event in the Javits Center, but also how quickly those events can be deconstructed and preparations can begin for the next event.”

Christopher Durso

Christopher Durso formerly was executive editor of Convene.