I'm using Vegas 5 and my question is what would be the easiest way to convert my 60i shot project to 24p for playback/rendering.

I've read that some folks will edit their whole projects with one of the 24p templates minus any text or transitions then edit all those things into the rendered file.

Can you simply change the properties template and change the render settings accordingly or what? I've researched and read about the 2-3-2 pulldown and all that but still don't quite get it. Any help is greatly appreciated as I'm way past my deadline and need to get this project finished and out to DVD in 24 frames per second.

Pulldown removal doesn't affect you. That's for when you acquire in 24p in a 60i recorded stream, and you want it back in 24p on the timeline.

You'll (optionally) want to change project properties to preview accurately (performance may suffer), then just render to a 24p template and burn to DVD.

Then, on playback in a set-top DVD player, pulldown will be added in as the player sends a 60i stream to the TV.

End result - more film-over-tv-like cadence, if that matters to you.