A convention's in the city!

How much do you know about the cities where the conventions are held?

Identify

Identify the cities where the Republican National Convention (RNC) and Democratic National Convention (DNC) will be held.

Map it!

Can you find them on a map? Use Google or another mapping tool to locate the cities and the locations of the convention activities.

Research and analyze

Research and then compare and contrast the two cities.
How old is each city?
How many schools? What is the population? What are their professional sports teams, major businesses, and attractions, etc.?

Selecting a city

Why were these cities chosen for the conventions?

Impact

How does a convention impact a city? Think about impacts on businesses, residents, transportation, children and other factors. Do you think a convention is good for a city? Why or why not?

History

Where have conventions been held in prior elections?

Selling the convention

If you were a city leader, how would you persuade the convention organizers to come to your city? How would you inform your citizens about, and involve them in convention preparations? What would you tell the media? Would you emphasize the good qualities or benefits of the city, or your support for a specific political party?

Working together

When a city hosts a convention, who do you think is involved in making the plans and preparations? How many people does it take? Do you think that people of different political parties work together to make it happen? Why or why not?

Learn more

K12in2012
Road to the White House
Ways kids can learn about conventions (without being political)

Conventions vocabulary

Political conventions are fun to watch and read about. It helps to know the vocabulary!

Convention

A political convention is a meeting of a political party, typically to select party candidates.

Delegate

A person sent or authorized to represent others, in particular, an elected representative sent to a conference.
Bonus question: Did you know the word delegate is a verb and a noun? Can you delegate to the delegate? What are some other words that work like this?

Democracy

A system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives.

Election

A formal and organized process of electing or being elected to political office.

Keynote

A prevailing tone or central theme, typically one set or introduced at the start of a conference.

Nomination

The act or an instance of submitting a name for candidacy or appointment.

Platform

A party platform or platform is a list of the actions which a political party or candidate supports in order to appeal to voters. "Party planks" are individual topics that make up the platform, for example issues such as education or healthcare.

Political Party

A political party is an organization of people with similar views who seek to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office.

President

The elected head of the United States. The President serves in a 4-year term.

Vice President

The person selected by the presidential candidate as a running mate and as the person who could potentially take over if the candidate is elected President and is at any point unable to serve.

Learn more

K12in2012
Road to the White House
Ways kids can learn about conventions (without being political)