What’s it like in Room 19A (or is it 19B), the extremely well-hidden lair for panelists awaiting deployment? Nobody’s huddled on the floor around the available outlets, for one thing. There’s a TV that isn’t even on.
But it’s the little touches–the abstract sculpture, the potted plants, the tiny Perrier–that makes a visitor sad to leave through the back exit and travel deep into the bowels of the Convention Center, only to emerge on a different floor in some far-flung arm of the building.
This article appears in March 9 • 2007.