Cleveland's Convention Committee Gives Advice To Philadelphia Ahead Of DNC

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Cleveland's Convention Host Committee just finished what Philadelphia's Host Committee is bracing for. David Gilbert is the head of the Cleveland group, following a smooth convention in Cleveland, Gilbert has some advice for Philadelphia and the DNC.

"It's like falling off a cliff," he said. "You've done all the preparation and all you can do is hope for a soft landing."

Gilbert had a soft landing. After two years of intense planning, the Cleveland host committee CEO pulled off a convention that went better, from a logistics standpoint, than anyone expected.

"23 arrests, zero property damage, for any convention, particularly in this crazy climate, is astonishing."

Gilbert said there were a lot more pleasant surprises than problems, including the way Cleveland came together to make it a success and the mutual respect between police and visitors.

He expects Philadelphia will find the same, and he had just one piece of advice for his counterpart here, Kevin Washo: Enjoy it...

"It's not something that's easy to enjoy when you're in the middle of it, but every once in a while, take a look around and appreciate what has gone into it."