Yesterday was my first time at a United States party convention. For those of you who have attended conventions before, please excuse the remarks of a newcomer. For those of you who haven’t, I hope you’ll join me as I try to encapsulate my first thoughts after a long evening in the Quicken Loans Arena. What a day it was!

And what an Arena! As a member of the non-major press groups, I was stuck up in the “nosebleed” section, looking all the way down to the tiny shapes below and feeling constantly thankful for the powerful microphones and the massive televisions before me. I arrived a little after the proceedings had started (getting through the security perimeter was a pain, but trying to park was worse), so the floor of the arena was already full of delegates and press. The ground level is exactly as you would expect, with a suitably “yuuuuuge” stage and the delegates seated by state (the Texas delegation had kindly dressed in matching Texas shirts and white cowboy hats so they, at least, were easy to spot a mile away).

One thing that immediately struck me was the constant flow of motion around the arena. Even as Republican darlings like Rick Perry and Rudy Giuliani were on stage, there was a continual stream of people in and out of, as well as through, the seating areas. The various speakers never seemed to mind however, and after a while I barely noticed the movement.

The speakers themselves were all over the place in their effectiveness, albeit not in their political views. It was fascinating to learn which news channels like CNN were showing the speakers live and which were interviewing other people. The speakers were interspersed with videos, all pointing fingers at the Obama administration and/or Hillary Clinton. The theme of night was “Making America Safe Again,” and the recurrent mentions of Benghazi and Fast and Furious certainly played into a Republican narrative about how relatively dangerous the United States is under a Democratic president.

The actions of the media were also a surprise to me. I was sitting far away from any recognizable faces (the row in front of me was typing out news reports in Swedish), but it was perhaps even more interesting to get a feel of how everyday news media behaves at an event like the RNC. Firstly, no one clapped, grimaced, booed, or otherwise did anything to change their stony countenances. Neutrality was the name of the game. Occasionally there was laughter, and certainly side conversations between members of the same media group, but otherwise the media sections — sections 232 and 233 for anyone with an arena map — were continually silent.

However, all in all, the biggest impression was the one deliberately choreographed to be that way. Trump’s surprise appearance, introducing his wife Melania, was a drawn-out and dramatic affair. Even though news that he would be introducing her had already broken to the major news sites and whispers of “he’s already here” by delegates abounded, the crowd still obligingly acted shocked when he walked out on stage. The strobe lights and long build-up certainly helped. But, as with the obligatory mentions of Ronald Reagan, every delegate in the house stood together and cheered loudly for both the presumptive nominee and his wife.

This evening, the main speaker will not be a member of the Trump family (although two of his children are speaking). Ben Carson will be headlining the event, but Jacob will be covering from inside the arena, while I will be reporting from the press center. I hope you’ll join us.