To say the air was electric before Michelle Obama took the stage at the American Institute of Architects 2017 conference would be an understatement. Thousands lined up more than an hour early at the doors of the auditorium in Orlando’s Orange County Convention Center. Some sported “When they go low, we go high,” t-shirts. Even AIA president, Thomas Vonier, was giddy. “This is really happening,” he told a packed house of more than 10,000 architects.

The former first lady of the United States, in her first public appearance since leaving the White House in January, was more pragmatic. She told Vonier, “It’s good to get out of the house.”