sports event management - FIFA/CIES International University Network

IMPACTSPORTS RECRUITMENTSPORTSEVENTMANAGEMENTTHE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO THE BUSINESSAT THE HEART OF GLOBAL SPORT

IntroductionWELCOME TOSPORTS EVENTMANAGEMENTCONTENTS08 Event Management overviewWhy event management deservesgreater recognition10 Event PlanningFail to plan and you plan to failWHEN LONDON last hosted the Olympic Games in 1948, Britain was still underthe shadow of the Second World War. Rationing remained in force and, in an ageof austerity, no new facilities were built for the Games.Instead of an athletes’ village, competitors were accommodated in armybarracks or colleges while the British athletes were expected to stay at home.That year 4,104 competitors from 59 nations took part in the 136 events ofthe Games.Next year London will once again host the world and things will be verydifferent. Although austerity is again in the global lexicon, the city will welcome10,500 athletes who will compete in 300 events. A state-of-the-art Olympic Parkhas been created in one of the city’s most spectacular regeneration projects and300 events will be contested in venues throughout London and around the UK.London 2012, which will be covered by some 20,000 broadcasters andjournalists, has been a massive, hugely complex multi-billion-dollar projectwhich has made enormous demands on those involved. It is a project which hasits roots in regeneration and which is expected to deliver not only a smoothlyoperating Games but a significant legacy for future generations.In fact London 2012 represents the leading edge of sports event planning andmanagement. But for how long?Sports event management involves an ever-evolving set of individual planningand management disciplines which have to mesh around an immovable deadline.Today’s major events are on a truly epic scale and as Organising Committeesand their funders continue to demand higher standards, the event sector is underconstant pressure to be more innovative, creative , efficient and cost-effective.From the way an event looks to the management of media and thetransportation of the public and athletes, event management is a complex web ofindividual projects, each with its own milestones and hurdles to overcome.Projects are challenging, demanding and often exhausting for those involved.But without events there would be no sports business as we know it today andthe sector deserves recognition.This supplement is designed to do just that by providing a taste of some of thekey disciplines, the leading players in the sector and the work they do. We hopeyou find it useful.16223236404246505460Event DesignHow effective design is key to eventsand legacyOverlay and Temporary StructuresThe art of transformation and sustainabilityPersonnel and StaffHow effective recruitment is at theheart of successful eventsTechnologyIntroducing tomorrow’s world of eventtechnologySecurityFacing up to the ever changingsecurity challengePress OperationsMaking the most of the media coveringyour eventPresentation and CeremoniesHow openers can be show stoppersPower and lightingProducing the power to run eventsEvent LookHow an event and its partners are unitedby great designTransport and LogisticsGoing the distance to make special deliveriesKevin RobertsEditorial DirectorSportBusiness Group64Environmental ServicesThe importance of effective wastemanagement solutionsSPORTS EVENT MANAGEMENT3

PartnerProfilePOPULOUS14 Blades Court, Deodar RoadLondon, sw15 2nu, ukTelephone +44 (0)20 8874 7666Fax +44 (0)20 8874 7470tom.jones@populous.com1125 17th Street, Suite 1550Denver, co 80202, usaTelephone +1 303 382 2780Fax +1 303 382 2781jerry.anderson@populous.comWWW.POPULOUS.COMSochi 2014 Olympic Stadium Aerial - © POPULOUSPopulousPopulous is a global design practice specialising in creatingenvironments that draw people and communities togetherfor unforgettable experiences. For more than a quarter of acentury we have made a difference through our comprehensivedesign services, including sports architecture, conference andexhibition centre architecture, interior design, environmentalgraphics and wayfinding, events planning and overlay,masterplanning, sustainable design consulting and facilitiesoperations analysis.We are a world leader in the design of sports andentertainment buildings, having worked on over 1,000 sportsand entertainment projects around the world. With a portfolioof over 400 major event venues, we are also recognised as aworld leader in overlay design, procurement and construction.Our experience on major events covers the preparationof bid documents, the development of venue briefs andmasterplanning, the design of sporting venues and theprovision of overlay – which ensures a coordinated approachto our work.We have worked on a large number of Olympic Games,including the architectural designs of Olympic Stadia forSydney, London and Sochi, the overlay design work forLondon and Sochi and masterplanning of the Nanjing YouthOlympic Games. We have also designed other high profilesports and entertainment buildings including WembleyStadium, Yankee Stadium, Soccer City Stadium, MelbourneCricket Ground, and the award-winning O2 Arenas in London,Dublin and Berlin. We also work on a range of smaller projects,including training grounds, community sports centres andcollegiate sports facilities.Across our international offices we have a team of acclaimedinternational event professionals qualified to plan, design,operate and implement all aspects of major special events.Each member has extensive experience with many of theworld’s most celebrated facilities, events and festivals– including Summer and Winter Olympic Games, YouthOlympics, Universiades, Commonwealth Games, FIFA WorldCups, ICC Cricket World Cups, IRB Rugby World Cups, MLBAll-Star Games and the NFL Super Bowl – which Populous hasbeen involved with since 1983.We are deeply interested in the operational and planningrequirements of major special events, as well as the worldclass buildings which we design for sports, leisure andentertainment. For each project we undertake a detailedassessment of the event that is going to be created, thevenues associated with it, and the ancillary spaces that arenecessary for the successful management of the operation.We study how they will interact as a whole, their potential tobecome sustainable places that become embodied in thecommunity and the legacy that they provide for the fabric ofthose communities.In this context we understand that live entertainment, sportand events go beyond simply the venue, the concert, or agame’s final score. It is about an event experience that leavesa lasting impression and impacts everyone involved in theevent. For each visitor, that experience is unique: it is theemotional response evoked not only from the performanceitself, but from the anticipation of the event, the journey to andfrom the venue, and the memories that can only come fromsharing the experience with others. In this way, the events thatwe work on draw people together; from transport to ticketcheck, concourse to seat.Populous is also proud to be the Official Architectural andOverlay Design Services Provider to the London 2012 Olympicand Paralympic Games. Our involvement in the developmentof the design for these Games started with an initial siteinspection in August 2003 and has subsequently moved ontohelping with the preparation of the winning bid documents,development of the Olympic Park masterplan, design of theOlympic Stadium and provision of overlay design for all theOlympic venues.4 SPORTS EVENT MANAGEMENT

PartnerProfileFor further information contact EPG’s ClientRelationship Manager David Cook atdcook@eventplanninggroup.net FCycling Road Race at 2004 Olympic Games AthensEVENT PLANNING GROUPBORN out of the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000, EventPlanning Group is a leading major event planning and deliverycompany providing a comprehensive package of expertiseavailable to support Local Organising Committees of majorinternational sporting events.The company has been involved at every Summer and WinterOlympic Games since Sydney as well as Commonwealth andAsian Games, and Cricket, Rugby and Football World Cups.The company’s main areas of expertise are in supporting theLocal Organising Committee in the planning and delivery of:Venue overlay and infrastructureVenue management and operationsManagement of logistics and catering operationsIn each of these areas EPG offer a menu of services including:• Concept Development• Cost Management• Value Engineering• Commodity Procurement• Contract Management• Supply Chain Assessment• Risk Management• Event Overlay Planning• Procurement and Delivery• Project Management• Health and Safety Co-ordination• Operations• Re-instatementEPG’s partnership with global property and constructionconsultancy Rider Levett Bucknall has further strengthenedthe company’s range of services. By utilising Rider LevettBucknall’s 100 offices across the globe EPG now has thecapability to deliver its expertise through local offices and localpeople.“We always fully respect that an event belongs to the host cityand country and see our role as being a provider of specialistevent services who, working in conjunction with local staff,enable the Organising Committee to both plan and deliver thevery best event possible.“We have access to a global resource base so can providecoverage across the world and deliver projects anywhere atanytime. Our clients benefit from the huge pool of internationalexpertise at our disposal and from the legacy of knowledgewe deliver. Our office network allows us to provide not only theskills of the most experienced event practitioners in the worldbut also local input from people who understand the situationon the ground and have empathy with the client. We have apolicy of leaving a local skills legacy.”EPG supplies flexible resource solutions to provide the bestoutcome for its clients. This can involve secondment intoOrganising Committees for extended periods, working withthe project teams on behalf of the client to enable them todeliver the best results possible or, on a straightforward projectdelivery basis.As EPG’s client base continues to expand so Cook sums upthe reasons for the company’s success;“All our people are specialists with experience of majorinternational event organisation. This means they require notraining and can hit the ground running, delivering immediateresults for an Organising Committee.“We have a strong service commitment and liaise veryclosely with our clients to ensure we provide the best andmost suitable people whether we are delivering a project orproviding resource.”David Cook, Event Planning Groups Client RelationshipManager, explained the company philosophy;SPORTS EVENT MANAGEMENT5

PartnerProfileIRB Rugby World Cup 1995 - Getty Images SportRUSHMANSRUSHMANS is a multi-skilled, broad based sports businesswhich provides wide-ranging services to clients around the world.From consultancy on event bidding and the most complexsports projects to the planning and world-class delivery ofmajor events, Rushmans has built its reputation during morethan a quarter of a century engaged at the top level of sportsevents and projects.Rushmans was founded to service the events which drive over90 per cent of the revenues of sports governing bodies and wehave contributed to the success of hundreds of events on everycontinent.We work across all functional areas and have specialist skillsin accreditation, press operations, IT and communications,training and integration, event operations and volunteerprogrammes among others.We are able to fulfil complete turnkey major event managementsolutions over a period of years or single management assignmentsRushmans is also able to deploy experienced senior andfront line management in all major event disciplines rapidlyanywhere in the world.Working with partners, to develop techniques used successfullyby global corporations, Rushmans has developed a unique systemfor planning, aligning functional areas and delivering events.RMEa unravels the complexity of an event to allow optimisation ofresources and capabilities, avoid duplication of effort and engageand motivate personnel.By plotting a journey from inception to completion, identifyingissues and obstacles along the way and allocating appropriateresources to overcome them, RMEa helps ensure the successagainst the tightest of deadlines and leanest of budgets.IMPACT SPORTSRECRUITMENTIMPACT SPORTS RECRUITMENT is a specialist recruitmentconsultancy serving the international business of sport.We find outstanding clients for organising committees,governing bodies, agencies and other sports sectororganisations.We understand that sport is a truly global business and weare committed to sourcing the best qualified, most experiencedand appropriate staff for our clients, no matter where in theworld they may be located.As a member of the Rushmans Group of Companies, Impactshares a heritage of more than 25 years experience at thehighest level of international sport.Impact Sports recrtuiment is uniquely experienced and wellconnected in events. We are the official recruitment servicefor Sports Crowd and sit at the heart of a global network ofhundreds of qualified, experienced and motivated eventsprofessionals.Impact Sports Recruitment is unique because it was bornout of a sports company, not a recruitment business which sawopportunities in sport. Our understanding of the sports sectorand connections within the industry are second to none.We understand that sport is a truly global business and weare committed to sourcing the best qualified, most experiencedand appropriate staff for our clients, no matter where in theworld they may be located.Impact Sports Recruitment is truly global, uniquelyconnected and utterly committed to your success.Contact Andy Clark+44 (0) 1264 852010+44 (0) 7768 448765aclark@rushmans.comwww.rushmans.comContact Richard Graham,Executive Director+44 (0) 1264 852 014+44 (0) 7879 448954rgraham@impactsportsrecruitment.comwww.impactsportsrecruitment.comIMPACTSPORTS RECRUITMENT6 SPORTS EVENT MANAGEMENT

Industry OverviewMAJOR EVENTSTHE LIFEBLOOD OFTHE SPORTS BUSINESSGetty Images Sportmajor events arecritical to thesports business.So why is there solittle recognitionof the role of eventmanagement?Events are the lifeblood of the multibillion-dollarglobal sports business.Without them there would be nothing...no tickets sold, no massive TV rightsdeals, no huge sponsorships to report.Events provide the stage on whichsporting heroics are performed and thedramas, triumphs and tragedies of toplevel sport are played out in front of liveaudiences and millions more watchingon televisions.Major sports events grip the public’simagination like little else. At the verytop end of the scale, the world more orless stops during the Olympic Gamesand FIFA World Cup as we bask in anextended celebration of sport at itsbest. Elsewhere the impact is inevitablymore polarised and localised but thefact remains that sports events havebecome one of the few remaining trulyshared experiences in an increasinglyfragmented world.Over the years the scale andcomplexity of sports events haschanged significantly. Today’s majorevents have become massive projectswhich demand levels of leadership,management, creativity and innovationnormally associated with running aworld-leading corporation. It should,therefore, come as no surprise thatplanning and management techniquespreviously used in commerce andindustry are increasingly beingemployed in event management.The reasons are plain to see. Sportsevents have become so much morethan the events themselves. Biddingto host major events has itself becomea major business sector. Programmesare planned and executed with all ofthe strategic guile of major politicalcampaigns and national interests oftendetermine that budgets are huge.The re-discovery that sports eventscan play a major role in creating orre-shaping perceptions of cities andnations has placed a premium on hostingmajor events. But winning the bid is nolonger enough. Organising Committees,normally working in conjunction withgovernments, are anxious to make themost of their moments in the globalspotlight. Consequently every effort ismade to raise the bar and stage eventswhich reflect the ambition of the hosts.The fervent desire is to be considered theSPORTS EVENT MANAGEMENT7

Industry Overviewbest event ever…until the next time.Naturally this has driven new levels ofsophistication and professionalism withinthe event management sector, many ofwhich are reflected in the pages of thisspecial supplement.Estimates of the value of sportsevents are vast even when taken inisolation from the other major revenuesstreams of sport. The industry entertainsmore people than any other categoryof attraction; it employs tens ofthousands of people across the globeand is certainly watched by a majorityof the world’s population each yearon television.Yet for all its status the sports eventindustry goes almost unrecognised. Ithas no trade association, no recognisedqualifications and no standardvocabulary. It appears on no financialanalyst’s charts and its major globalplayers rarely make the pages of Forbes,Fortune or the Financial Times.Events have always played a vitalpart in the success of sport but recentyears have seen a mushrooming inthe number of competitions, leagues,championships, tours and gamesacross the spectrum. Add to this eventscreated by sponsors and a revival ofsome historic and traditional rivalries andthe sector has clearly boomed.Even to the casual observer it is clearthat the number of and attention given tosporting events has grown enormously.The drivers are, of course, sport itselfbut the proliferation of dedicatedsports channels on television has alsoboosted growth. Put simply, sport sellsnewspapers and pay-TV subscriptionsand delivers the eyeballs requiredby advertisers.FUELLING GROWTHSports events rights holders have grownused to an inexorable rise in eventrevenues and have benefited from aboom in the demand for their product. Asevents have attracted greater investmentfrom sponsors their desire to entertainclients and put on a show that matchestheir brand ambitions have pushed upthe level of complexity. Broadcasterswho have paid richly for the right totelevise sport are looking for a visualfeast and fans expectations of value forthe inflated prices of their tickets havealso been raised.Event organisers have matched thesedemands with ambitions of their own.They put on more and more impressiveshows and used the full portfolio ofstaging, lighting, media and venuetechnology currently available.Against the backdrop of higher riskit is vital that event organisers examinehow they go about their business.Sports events have traditionallysuffered from a number of factors whichcontribute to risk and there is a pressingneed to consider whether there might bea better way.The first of these factors is the lackof understanding, experience andprofessional expertise among manyof the initiators of sports events. Poordecision making at the outset canplague events throughout their lives andinevitably bring time and cost overruns.As events have a fixed delivery date,these errors are rectified by throwingmore money at projects, having staffwork around the clock or paying higherfees to contractors to ensure that theshow actually goes on.The second factor arises from thevery complexity of events themselvesand the differing perspectives of thevarious stakeholders. For sporting bodiesawarding events to cities or countries,there is a clear interest in certaintyof revenues to meet their financialobjectives and obligations. For the hostcity, region or country the interest may bemuch more to do with economic impact,8 SPORTS EVENT MANAGEMENT

Industry OverviewPictures - Getty Images Sportplace branding or local employment. Forevent sponsors they need the hospitality,activation or product placementopportunities they have paid for andwhat works in the stadium may be atodds with the needs of broadcasters fora TV audience.A failure to reconcile these interests andagree a primacy of purpose can result inbitter wrangles and unmet expectations.Critically there is a tendency toreinvent every aspect of the event fromscratch every time. While the largerproperties have made efforts to transferevent knowledge between organisingcommittees, the majority are content togive over a high degree of responsibilityto local organisers. These in turn aredetermined to make their mark and keento deliver on promises to award contractsto local companies. In combination thesecan produce a mentality of suspicion ofanything which is not ‘invented here’ anda woeful amount of reuse of temporaryfacilities and equipment. Tendering rulesare held up as a reason for this but theprofligate use of resources that results iswasteful and expensive.This last tendency has also produced aposition in the sports event managementindustry where there is very littlestandardisation. With every organiserinventing each aspect of their event, theuse of standard techniques, approaches,materials, structures and terminology ispractically non-existent. Granted thereare differences between events butindustries with far higher variability havefound ways of achieving the gains ofstandardisation and they are available tosport too.Events are often judged to have beena success or failure on very subjectivemeasures with no attempt made tocapture lessons learned. Progress ismonitored closely in the run up to and forthe duration of the event but afterwardsthe emphasis is on shutting up shop asquickly as possible.MEASURING SUCCESSA count is kept, of course, of ticketssold, viewers of TV coverage, winner’smedals etc. but this provides only onetype of assessment. When events andcompetitions are sold to potential hosts,to sponsors and broadcasters and tothe live audience they are promised anexperience of a lifetime. But too ofteneveryone moves onto the next eventand little or no time is spent working outwhether the event really delivered.Measurement is never the most sexyactivity but it is vital to learn lessons,assess results and drive improvements.One difficulty is simply the range ofstakeholders with varying objectives.An event brings together many differentparties each of whom are involved fortheir own specific reasons and normallyeach will be expected to review how theevent worked for them. Sponsors will notexpect event organisers to assess theboost to their brand, neither will athletesneed a report from organisers on theirperformance.The event organising team will,however, gain vital insights fromunderstanding the experience of allparties. They will have planned toaccommodate hospitality services,camera crews, medal ceremonies andVIP guests and should be keen to knowwhether each groups needs were met.One main stakeholder group oftenignored in the afterglow of an event isthe local community. They will havebeen promised that the disruption andexpense of hosting will bring lastingbenefits but typically the rights holder willmove on and the organising committeewill disband leaving locals to pick up thepieces. Studies will be done into legacyand great claims made but rarely willthese really capture the experience ofthose directly affected.SPORTS EVENT MANAGEMENT9

Event Planningin association withPLANNING TO SUCCEEDTHEY SAY THAT IF YOUFAIL TO PLAN YOU PLANTO FAIL AND THAT’SCERTAINLY TRUE IN THECOMPLEX WORLD OFMAJOR SPORTS EVENTS.RACHAEL CHURCH-SANDERS, AUTHOR OF THESPORTBUSINESS ULTIMATESPORTS CITIES, REPORTS.ALTHOUGH SOME CITIES havebeen accused of not giving enoughconsideration to exactly how to organisesports events after winning hostingrights, most major ones now have themodels in place to prevent mistakes ofold being repeated. A danger howeverremains that less-experienced citiesentering the hosting game for the firsttime may still make those errors andwould clearly benefit from an injection ofreal event management expertise basedon experience.Jon Coxeter-Smith, who works forAECOM’s Davis Langdon – a businesswith over five decades of experiencein planning and delivering majorevents – and who is a director in theAECOM Global Sports Group, believesthat successful event planning isn’tnecessarily a given now the industry isostensibly more sophisticated. “On theone hand best practice, ‘state of theart’ [event planning], is being movedforward and London 2012 provides manyexemplars of this,” he explains. “But onthe other hand we can see that somecities continue to struggle with the scaleand complexities of the challenge. Theongoing reporting of Brazil 2014 [FIFAWorld Cup] and the recently publishedComptroller and Auditor General ofIndia’s Performance Audit on the Delhi2010 Commonwealth Games providesoverwhelming evidence of this.”The huge sums of money involved inrunning a major event mean they arealways going to attract their fair share ofscrutiny. “Running a major event is bigbusiness after all,” says Andrew Sharp,partner of Event Planning Group. “It’sgenerally all about public money in termsof the high profile events. Therefore thereis a level of accountability in terms oforganising committees and governmentbodies to really deliver something thatnot only performs for the event but alsohas an ongoing legacy for the communityand the country.”Working under the strapline ‘GlobalReach, Local Focus’, Event PlanningGroup offers a range of servicesand resources to a wide variety oforganising committees of many majorevents globally. The company’s CVincludes work on the Rugby World Cup2003 and 2007, the 2006 MelbourneCommonwealth Games, the 2007 CricketWorld Cup, Beijing 2008 and the England2018 World Cup Bid. It is currentlyworking on several high profile eventsdue to happen in the next few years.Sharp believes that more considerationis now being put into planning an eventthan previously. “Particularly in the lastdecade, the industry has become muchmore knowledgeable in terms of how todeliver an event,” he says. “Knowledgetransfer exists and is documented fromevent to event more thoroughly so there’sa planning model that can be adapted toevery event. But the delivery model isn’talways the same. It does depend on alot of things such as local environment,capability and event profile. The planningmodel and the framework to get to thatdelivery process is continually evolvingand can be applied across all events.”But why would an organisingcommittee come to a company suchas Event Planning Group for help?Sharp explains: “We have experienceof working across this landscape formany years and understanding therequirements and demands placed uponan organising committee. Major eventsstart up from scratch so the knowledgeand experience isn’t always in the coreteam of executives that were part of thebid for example. So they may look tofind expertise externally. Where we reallyadd value is being able to justify andchallenge some of the requirements ofthe external stakeholders.”Rushmans is another highlyexperienced company offering majorevent planning expertise to organisingcommittees and event organisers. Nigel10

Rushman, founder of Rushmans, believesthat the industry throws up multiplechallenges that need addressing. “Today’smajor sports events are massivelycomplex projects which carry the hopesand expectations not only of theirorganisers but of entire nations,” he says.“While event experience is essential andknowledge transfer a key asset, the fact isthat no two projects are identical meansthere are no one-size-fits-all solutions inevent planning and management.”Davis Langdon’s Coxeter-Smith agreesthat there can never be a ‘perfect fit’model to running a major event:“Breaking an event down into modules forexample is a fairly classic way of ‘eatingthe elephant’ but it all needs to cometogether in one, comprehensive plan atthe top level. There are many examplesover history of problems arising out offragmentation, of treating each piece asif it is the only piece. While the classicchallenges are constant – i.e. Leadership,Capacity, Ability, Skills – levels of each arevariable from place to place, so solutionsneed to be bespoke in recognition of theresources available at each location.”Paul Bush OBE, chief operating officerfor EventScotland, currently workingon the 2014 Glasgow CommonwealthGames and 2014 Ryder Cup, agrees:“There are always basic logistical andplanning elements to all events but eachwill have their unique requirements toobased on the type of event, its locationand scale.”Brendan McClements, chief executiveof Victorian Major Events Company(VMEC) in Melbourne, provides anotherhost city view: “While there are commonelements to all events – functionalareas like operations, finance, media,commercial, transport and so on – it’simportant to take the time to understandthe event, what’s required to deliver it andthe benefits it has the potential to deliverto the relevant sport and to the host city.”Nigel Rushman has spent manyyears listening to event organisers andlooking at the mechanics of a majorevent, but recognises event planningis not an exact science: “Without theaid of a very large piece of paper andan almost inexhaustible pen, it is nearlyimpossible to envision all of the different,Rushmans RMEahighly-specialised and often inter-linkedfunctions which have to work in harmonyto make an event happen,” he explains.“Each is an individual project and eachinvolves lots of people and lots of egos;a combination which means that rationalthinking and decision making all toooften goes out of the door.”Rushman believes an holistic approachto planning and delivery should beadopted by event organisers, requiring“the elimination of the ‘silo mentality’that exists in so many events and usinga joined-up collaborative approach toidentifying and solving problems in thecause of achieving the final objective.”To that end, Rushmans has introduced‘Rushmans Major Event Architecture(RMEa)’ to give organising committeesaccess to the same sort of planningtool that some of the world’s biggestand most successful corporations fromindustries as diverse as aviation andIT have been successfully using forsome years.“Working with our partners, we’veharnessed 25 years of specific eventsexperience to a system which effectivelySPORTS EVENT MANAGEMENT 11

Event Planningin association withunravels the complexity of an event toallow optimisation of resources andcapabilities, avoid duplication and tomotivate staff and stakeholders,” explainsRushman. “In essence RMEa is a uniquevisualisation technique which draws allstakeholders into a truly collaborativeenvironment which ensures understanding.It eliminates assumption andmiscomprehension and fosters a sense ofpurpose and unity among the event team.In that way we can plot a journey frominception to completion, identify obstaclesand challenges along the way and findingways of overcoming them.”Such a journey should start immediatelyaccording to VMEC’s McClements – andby immediately he means at bid level. “Torun a successful bid, you need a clearvision and a high level approach to eventplanning.“You often need to be able to painta picture of what the event will looklike, where and when it will be held, theprinciples that will underpin delivery andthe expected legacy, as well as who thekey players will be. This only comes withevent planning.”Coxeter-Smith of Davis Langdon agrees:“Planning is an iterative process with eachiteration exploring new levels of detail. Ata high level at least, there should be a planin place at the time of bidding.”“We start planning for some eventsup to 10 years in advance,” adds Bushof EventScotland. “The bidding processcan have positive impacts on legacy andsustainability, along with the impacts ofthe event itself years later.”Planning and running a major eventmeans negotiating an ever-changingobstacle course according to Rushman.“That means having the vision and thetools to be able to look at a projectfrom a range of different angles, identifywhat needs to be achieved, the barrierswhich will be faced, the path which mustbe followed and the impact that anydecisions or actions will have on otherparts of the project.”In terms of facing such barriers, whatsorts of things can go wrong when itcomes to planning an event and howcan you best manage them? “Anythingand everything can go wrong,” saysMcClements. “When the wheels fall off,you discover just how solid your eventplanning is. Last year, for example, ournational football code [AFL] Grand Finalended with a tied score for the first timesince 1977.“No one expected it, and you couldn’treally plan for it. This meant that oneweek later, 100,000 people turned uponce again at the Melbourne CricketGround to replay the Grand Final – whichhappened to be the same weekend as theUCI Road World Championships women’sand men’s road races were held locally.”Having a good crisis management/risk assessment model in place is vitalaccording to Bush: “Things to considerinclude financial viability and closemonitoring of cash flows; unexpectedglobal activity such as the ash clouds andriots and the general economy. Your crisismanagement plan should factor these inand then it’s a case of putting itinto practice.”When it comes to the successfulplanning and running of an event,McClements believes it is critical to haveabsolute clarity on what the event isand what the host city/country is tryingto achieve in hosting the event. “Themanagement consultant’s mantra –strategy, structure, and staff – rings true,”he explains. “Whether you’re runningRushmans RMEaa global consumer goods business ora major sporting event, if you get thestrategy, structure and staff right, you willhave a world class major event onyour hands.”Rushman stresses that teamworkis vital to success: “Perhaps the mostimportant aspect of the management ofany complex project is ensuring that everysingle key individual involved is aware ofthe goal and their role and that they areempowered to contribute fully and franklyto the process. That means leaving egosat the door and becoming part of a teamdedicated to problem-solving andpositive action.”Davis Langdon’s Coxeter-Smith hashimself identified several elements thatare crucial to the smooth running of amajor event:“Strong leadership and governance;absolute clarity of objective – why are wedoing this, what is it for?; the right people;the right processes; sufficient time andthe effective use of time are all essential.”The final word goes to Event PlanningGroup’s Sharp who agrees that timeis a critical issue. “Many organisingcommittees focus so hard on the deliveryof the event and don’t spend as muchtime on contingencies for when thingsdon’t go according to plan,” he says. “It’sabout making sure there is time within theplanning phase to really focus on suchmatters. The most successful events arethe ones that spent a great deal of timeon risk assessment and contingencyas even the best planned event neverruns strictly according to plan. It’s aboutbeing trained and ready and having thatflexibility to respond accordingly.”12 SPORTS EVENT MANAGEMENT

EventPlanningEVENT PLANNING GROUPMarathon Start - 2006 Doha Asian GamesEvent Planning Group (EPG) has extensive experience in thecomplexities of planning and delivering major international eventsand tournaments. EPG has provided services to Local OrganisingCommittees (LOCs) of Summer and Winter Olympic Games, Asian andCommonwealth Games plus cricket, rugby and football World Cups:EPG’s service range is extensive and tailored to the requirementsof a particular Organising Committee with the flexibility to respond tolocal environments.The following details some of the services EPG has provided tomajor international sporting events over the last 11 years.Cost ManagementThe company has the ability to become involved at a very early stagethrough its Event Cost Management partner, Rider Levett Bucknall. Thefirm has been appointed to manage Venues and Infrastructure budgetsand costs at several major events soon after a LOC is formed.Through this involvement at previous events, including the Sydney2000 Olympic Games, overlay cost expertise already exists alongsideunique historical cost databases built following many years in thesector. This enables fast and accurate benchmarking of costs inthis highly specialised area for both long term legacy and short termoverlay options.The company always commits senior cost management executivesto provide the highest service levels possible and this has resulted inthe development of a strong team of event cost experts who workclosely with LOC management to control and reduce costs.Health and SafetyHealth and safety is increasingly a critical area of focus at majorevents. EPG made an early commitment to develop and train a teamof specialists and can provide health and safety support to a LOC’sFunctional Area teams, including fire safety and prevention andincident response.Supply Chain Management and ProcurementThrough its involvement at various major international sports events,EPG has gained considerable knowledge of the event supply chain.This knowledge has proven invaluable in helping LOC Procurementand in ensuring a balance between the best commercial outcomesfor a LOC and suitability of supply in evaluating the most suitablecontractors / suppliers for a particular project. In essence, EPG actsas the LOC’s advocate when dealing with this unique supply chain.Overlay PlanningThe event sector is providing innovative and exciting solutions tovenue overlay issues, for example the development of temporaryvenues. As this concept develops there is an increased requirementfor overlay knowledge and experience.14 SPORTS EVENT MANAGEMENT

PARTNER CASE STUDYEPG has expertise across operations of all LOC functional areasand has an established and proven track record in the planning anddelivery of overlay solutions to support these operations. The team hasworked with LOC’s to develop the most practical and financially viablesolution for each location and integrated with procurement, architectand engineering teams to plan and deliver the concepts.Catering ManagementThe provision of catering and hospitality to all customer groups at majorevents, within the venues and locations, is an enormous challenge. EPGcatering experts can design the concept along with operational planningand management to ensure the provision of a high quality service toall customer groups within the venue / location. Commercial value isretained by the event organiser and not by the food service provider.Logistics ManagementThis critical discipline encompasses procurement, storage,distribution, management, retrofit and disposal of all materials andassets for the entire event platform. EPG logistics experts have awealth of experience in this highly specialised area and can design,plan, deliver and manage complex and critical solutionsProject ManagementEPG’s Project Managers bring a wealth of experience to LOC’s, fromnumerous major events across the globe.Using knowledge gained working at competition and noncompetition venues around the world EPG Project Managers workalongside LOC teams to coordinate input from all LOC departments.The Project Managers coordinate a team of architects, quantitysurveyors, engineers and construction managers (internal andexternal) to deliver venues that will operate effectively for Games Timeand work within national legislation, design framework and budget.In addition, PMs support the individual sports with the necessaryinformation/plans to gain approval from International Federations. Theysupport the monitoring of overlay procurement, venue constructionand overlay installation to ensure games-time requirements are metand will also support the monitoring of overlay removal and venuereinstatement post games.Finally, EPG PMs monitor and manage the health and safety obligationthroughout the venue design and delivery process and report on statusof costs associated with the event overlay, including management of thechange control process during the entire project cycle.Media and Athlete VillagesProvision of media and athlete accommodation facilities at majorinternational events is a complex component of event deliveryrequiring a unique and detailed skill set and knowledge base. EPG hasbeen instrumental in delivering both media and athlete villages at manyOlympic and Commonwealth Games.Operational ReadinessAs a LOC moves into delivery mode so Operational Readinessbecomes increasingly important. EPG staff have experience ofmanaging this programme to ensure a smooth transition from theplanning to the operational phase for all functional areas.Main Operations Centre - 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth GamesVenue Security InfrastructureEPG offers LOC’s a team, including very experienced project and costmanagers, who are responsible for several aspects of physical securityat major events including the planning, programme management andcost management of the process. This service also involves closeliaison with a LOC’s security team plus all the multiple stakeholdersinvolved including government security agencies.Overlay Contract ManagementWorking as part of a Venue Development team, EPG can providehighly experienced PMs to lead the management of the constructionas well as contract management resource.As this develops, the primary responsibility will be in themanagement and coordination of these contracts with an emphasison temporary construction contracts such as site works andconstruction management agreements.EPG staff act as the key client contact for suppliers on a day-todaybasis to ensure that the LOC objectives are met and also developstrong and effective working relationships with suppliers to ensure thatthey deliver on their contractual commitments.Venue ManagementEPG provide senior staff to support LOC Venue Managementand Operations. These roles oversee all aspects of Games Timeoperational planning and involve considerable liaison with all relevantauthorities and other stakeholders in relation to Venue Precinct andVenue Management operational matters.The key priorities in these important roles are to develop and leada cross functional team and to put into place processes to ensure thesafe and effective planning and operation of the venue at Games time.There is a considerable level of responsibility in these positionsand the company’s most experienced personnel with many years ofGames experience are involved in ensuring the successful delivery ofthe Games.For further information contact EPG’s Client Relationship Manager DavidCook at dcook@eventplanninggroup.netEPG Event Planning GroupSPORTS EVENT MANAGEMENT 15

Event Designin association withDESIGNS ON SUCCESSEffective design notonly defines majorsports events in theeyes of the worldbut plays a key rolein ensuring legacypromises are met.The successful acquisition of amajor sporting event offers a host cityor nation the opportunity to revitaliseand reinvent itself in front of thewatching world.Of course accommodation andtransportation infrastructure can beupgraded, but there are plenty ofquestions to ponder to ensure thesuccessful delivery of the facilities thatwill make and define the event itself.In these difficult economic times afirm design vision is needed to ensurethe massive investment involved isnot wasted.Bearing responsibility for thedesign of the Olympic Stadium andarchitectural and overlay services,Populous is playing a major role in thedelivery of the London 2012 Games.And Ben Vickery, a senior principal atthe company, believes the delicate actof balancing permanent and temporaryvenues presents the greatest challengeto major event organisers.“Obviously it’s only worth buildingsomething permanently if it’s going tohave a longer term life beyond just a oneoffevent,” he says.“For the London Olympics, somevenues that are not needed in the longerterm are wholly temporary.“So for example, the Hockey Centre onthe Olympic Park will be a 16,000-seattemporary venue, as will beach volleyballat Horse Guards Parade.“The use of temporary rentedaccommodation has given theopportunity for events to be held aroundthe city in a way you wouldn’t be able toachieve with permanent buildings.“So the beach volleyball will be right inthe heart of the city at a historic location.This is only made possible by the facilitybeing temporary, but it means a fantasticatmosphere and location for that event.”Legacy has become the buzz wordfor major event hosts in recent years asthe need to identify long-term benefitsfrom staging global sports gatherings hasbecome ever more important.The issue of future-proofing sportsvenues is the most critical challengeevent designers have to overcome,according to David Manica, presidentand owner of MANICA Architecture.“Too often, venues are designed andconstructed under the intense pressureof a world event that may last a matterof weeks – while their long term viabilityis easily overlooked, ill considered, orotherwise dismissed,” he says.“Issues related to location, capacity,and sport event configurations that maybe related to the specific requirementsfor the large event are difficult to sustainafter the circus has left town.“I have found that the best venues aredesigned from the start to be successfulfor the long term, and then modified ona temporary basis to accommodate theneeds of the major event.”Taking a different approach to thelegacy challenge is the epic SingaporeSports Hub project, which is scheduledto open in 2014.With a new 55,000-seat stadiumanchoring the estimated US$1.9 billionproject, Clive Lewis, senior associateof Arup’s sports business division,believes it will set a new standard forevent design.“This is not being designed with anyspecific major events in mind, which isa unique approach for projects I haveworked on,” he says.“From day one, we are looking at theSports Hub as a venue that is aboutlegacy without a major event being therefrom the beginning, which I think is acompletely new way of approaching thedesign of a precinct which is going tobe about more than one venue.“It’s going to have a stadium andaquatics centre, along with 12,000-seatand 3,000-seat indoor arenas all onone precinct.“They are thinking about the long-termgoal for sport in Singapore and theyknow there is a range of events they canhost there after they have built it.”From a general perspective, Lewismaintains event design must tie in withthe creation of transportation facilities.“The biggest thing for me in all ofthis is to ensure there is a focus ontransportation and access infrastructure16

Singapore Sports Hubfrom the outset,” he continues.“If you think of Brazil, this will be thebiggest challenge they face for the FIFAWorld Cup.“Brazil could probably have benefitedfrom having the Olympic Games in Riobefore the World Cup. “They could havegot their heads around what they neededto do to improve the infrastructure andhow this would work across thewhole country.“The long-term legacy of a major eventprecinct is always going to be muchbetter if it is on an integrated city networksystem, where people can easily get tothese facilities every day of the year.”Populous is currently working ontemporary installation for London 2012,with Vickery stating that next year’sOlympics will set new design standardsin the areas of sustainability andspectator experience.The company’s overlay architectureremit is split into three main categoriesincluding the use of temporary elementswithin existing facilities, such as archeryevents at iconic cricket venue Lord’s.The Olympic Stadium itself is a perfectexample of a new facility which includestemporary elements, while the use ofcompletely temporary venues can beillustrated by beach volleyball at HorseGuards Parade.“I would say that like many thingsin the world right now, environmentalsustainability is very important,”says Vickery.“In terms of major events such asthe Olympics, using temporary facilitieswherever you can is crucial.“There are many different sides toreducing impact on the environment.Lowering energy use in all its differentaspects, making buildings temporaryand allowing them to be moved from onelocation to another is critically important.“Besides that there is also the needto improve areas such as spectatorexperience and comfort.“At the London Olympics we hopeto create a more enjoyable event bydistributing the sports across the city.MANICA Architecture’s VTB ArenaPark project aims to not only become acentrepiece for Russia’s hosting of the2018 World Cup, but also dramaticallychange the way sport and entertainmentprojects are designed and built aroundthe world.Valued at over $1.5 billion, the projectin the heart of Moscow encompassesa new 45,000-seat stadium and a15,000-seat indoor arena, alongwith commercial, residential andentertainment offerings, with completionset for 2016.“This project is a good example ofa venue that is being built first andforemost for the city, its people, and itslong term financial success,” explainsManica.“Its ability to host events as partof Russia’s 2018 World Cup is purelytemporary. The site, concourses, andsupport areas will change dramaticallyafter the tournament is over.“Even the capacity will be reducedby 12,000 seats – leaving only the mostdesirable seats for future generations ofMuscovites to enjoy.“Of particular interest in Moscow isthe indoor multi-purpose arena whichwill actually drive more event days peryear than the stadium – making theentire complex more successful.“Finally, we are seeing that sportsfacilities are often paired withcommercial retail development in orderto create a more dynamic synergy andexpand the spectator experience 365days per year. Again, our project inMoscow is a good example of this kindof development.”SPORTS EVENT MANAGEMENT 17

EventDesignLondon 2012 Olympic Stadium - © POPULOUSLONDON 2012 OLYMPICAND PARALYMPIC GAMESA DECADE IN THE MAKING: HOW GLOBALDESIGN PRACTICE POPULOUS HASHELPED IN THE CREATION OF THE LONDON2012 OLYMPIC AND PARALYMPIC GAMESWhen, as a host city, you first start thinking about an Olympicmasterplan, the numbers are staggering: 26 Olympic sports and 21Paralympic sports across 33 venues in 27 days - the equivalent of 451concurrent days of sports competition. Add 10,500 athletes, 4,200Paralympic athletes, 8.8 million ticketed spectators, 4.3 billion TVviewers, 20,000 media and 70,000 volunteers and it’s clear that thechallenge is a complex one, to say the least.So where do you start? For the London 2012 organisers, thedecade leading up to the games has been a series of steps, from thefirst plans for the bid to the completed Olympic stadium, in all of whichPopulous has been proud to assist.Developing a winning bidNine cities set out to become the host city for the 2012 Olympicand Paralympic Games. In London, Populous joined a consortiumof designers and other experts to work with the London 2012 BidCompany to meet the challenge of coming up with a bid that wouldpersuade the IOC to select it ahead of those other competing cities,by delivering a proposal that had vision, but was also technicallyrobust.A key initial requirement was to outline all the proposed venues for theGames. The site for the Olympic Park itself – the Lower Lee Valley - hadbeen identified some years before by the British Olympic Association.For the remaining venues, it was a question of analysing what alreadyexisted, what needed to be built and what could be purely temporary.The organisers were also keen to use the city of London as a backdropfor the event. “We thought about the symbols of the city that could bebrought into play,” says Populous Principal Jeff Keas. “Places like HorseGuards Parade and Greenwich Park are internationally-recognisedlocations, so in order to mark these Games as belonging to London,they needed to be incorporated into the plans.”Alongside physical locations, a key consideration in the planningstages for any major event is the people involved. For the OlympicGames, there are numerous user groups including broadcasters, themedia and spectators, but the most important is of course the athletesthemselves. They spend years in training, reaching their peak for this oneevent, so the conditions and facilities need to be at optimum level. Thiswas key to decisions such as how the venues might be clustered andPopulous helped to develop a masterplan that ensured that no athleteshould have to travel for more than an hour to reach his or her event.After the announcement in May 2004 that London had made theshortlist, Populous was part of the all-important evaluation process,taking part both in evaluation visits and in the presentation to theIOC, where Senior Principal Jerry Anderson helped convince the IOCEvaluation Committee that the London bid had the right approach tocreate a memorable event.18 SPORTS EVENT MANAGEMENT

PARTNER CASE STUDYIn July 2005, the nation held its breath to see if London would beawarded the Games.Turning the vision into realityAfter the euphoria of being announced as the host city, the hard workreally began. The London Organising Committee of the Olympic andParalympic Games (LOCOG) was set up and the concepts and plansoutlined in the Bid Book had to be developed into master plans andvenue plans that would allow ideas to be transformed into reality.Populous worked with LOCOG to review the venue plans in detailand found that some of the venue proposals within the bid could beadjusted to enhance their staging of the event. For example, at LordsCricket Ground, we worked with the International Archery Federationto realign the Archery course along the axis between the main pavilionand media centre, which has actually enhanced the venue for bothathletes and spectators, while remaining true to the original concept ofusing the historic setting as a backdrop to the event.At this stage, LOCOG also had to prepare design briefs foreach venue, prior to awarding the development to the competingcontractors. Populous was able to draw upon the experience it hasgained from working on many previous Olympic Games to help withthis, as well as with design and operational reviews.Much like the hours that an athlete spends in training, relyingon that core work to let them achieve their best in the competitionitself, the detailed plans worked on during these 18 months are thefoundation on which the 27 days of the Games themselves rely.Designing the venuesThe Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) was then established to developand build many of the key venues and infrastructure and in anyOlympic Games, the focal point of the event is the Olympic Stadium.It’s here that the Opening and Closing Ceremonies take place and thatsome of the most eagerly anticipated Athletics events, such as the100m, take place.In January 2007, Populous was delighted to be appointed asarchitects for the main stadium, as part of the Team Stadium consortium.“We were very aware of its significance to the London 2012 Gamesas a whole” explains Populous Associate Principal Tom Jones, “so wewent out and consulted with the public through talks in town halls, openstakeholder sessions and technical fora. These meetings were a veryuseful way to get feedback on the design that we were developing.”From a technical perspective, the brief’s main challenge was to createa structure that could be both temporary and permanent - capable ofholding 80,000 spectators during the Games themselves but becominga more manageable 25,000 seat stadium after the Olympics.“This scale of reconfiguration had never been attempted before,”says Populous Senior Principal, Rod Sheard, “and so we had to‘embrace the temporary’ and re-think the way we design a Stadium,exploring materials, structure and operational systems in a completelydifferent way.”After 130,000 architect hours spent on the project, the completedstadium was handed back to the ODA in March 2011, ahead ofschedule and reflecting a wonderful team effort from all involved in theproject.Getting ready for the showAs the ODA started the handover of the main venues to LOCOG, thefocus then shifted to getting these venues ready to host Olympic andParalympic events. Populous was appointed by LOCOG to lead theTeam Populous consortium, which had responsibility for designing allof the overlay works for the Games.Often, overlay design is the unsung hero in major events, with thefocus being on the main projects. But for these Games, PopulousSenior Principal John Barrow was keen to develop the overlay in sucha way that the temporary venues provided as many of the showcasesas the permanent venues.There are many advantages to overlay. Firstly – most obviously – itmeans that you avoid being left with any ‘white elephants’, permanentstructures that have no use once the Games are over. Secondly,it gives freedom: it’s thanks to overlay that we’re able to stageequestrian events at a world heritage site in Greenwich Park. Thirdly,it adds flexibility to permanent structures, as with the Stadium itself. Avenue can be expanded to meet the Games’ requirements, then revertto a more manageable size thereafter.Overall, London 2012 will have temporary structures equivalent tothe number of permanent structures built for the last three summerGames, including 250,000 modular seats, 165,000m2 of tents,140km of fencing, 250 km of crowd barriers and 100,000m2 oftemporary sports surfaces.As part of our appointment as official Architectural and OverlayDesign Services Provider, Populous has also helped LOCOG to designthe test event configurations. These crucial events are conducteda year before the Games and test, venue by venue, issues such aswhether the field of play is right for the athletes, the movement ofspectators and the sequencing for building a venue. The test eventsallow any final adjustments in design and operations to be made ingood time.Delivering a lasting legacyIn August 2013, the new Royal Park will be reopened to the public, apermanent legacy of London hosting the 2012 Olympic Games. TheGames will be a catalyst for urban regeneration in East London, fasttracking 25-30 years of planned work into just a decade and creatinga vibrant, thriving place to live and work.For people like Populous Associate Principal Chris Jopson, it willalso represent a decade of work, starting with initial site explorations in2003 and running through to the opening of the park in 2013.Populous is proud to have worked with the London 2012 organiserson so many of the steps in this Olympic journey, drawing on a broadbase of skills to assist them in delivering what we feel confident will bea truly memorable Olympic and Paralympic Games.Tom Jones (Business Development Manager)tom.jones@populous.com; +44 (0)20 8874 7666;www.populous.comSPORTS EVENT MANAGEMENT 19

EventDesignBRINGING DREAMS TO LIFECommonwealth Games, Delhi 2010‘Every Dream has a Design’ is the founding philosophy ofDESIGNSPORT, a sport architecture and event design consultancydedicated to the development and promotion of sport throughArchitecture, Design and New Media.Led by Founder and CEO, Samantha Cotterell, this innovativeand dynamic company of master planners, architects, ex-athletes,designers and filmmakers is at the forefront of event design.With proven experience at some of the world’s largest sportingevents it has built a reputation as one of the leading event designcompanies through its work at the 2010 Commonwealth Games andthe 2011 Asian Football Cup.DESIGNSPORT’s marketing and communications department,FILMSPORT, is active in film, video and animation work for promotingall aspects of sporting events.“The last few years we have been very busy with our work on theAsian Football Cup and the Delhi Commonwealth Games,” addsCotterell. “It has been a steep learning curve for our growing team anda very enriching adventure both personally and professionally.”Cotterell boasts 17 years of experience as a professional architectworking on large scale international projects including Athens2004 Olympic Games, Doha 2006 Asian Games and Delhi 2010Commonwealth Games in venue overlay design and development andhas had several consulting and advisory roles.Her ties with Qatar’s sport industry were established when sheworked as Head of Design for the Doha 2006 Asian Games andsubsequently as Design Director, Senior Architect and co-authorof bid files on behalf of and in association with the Qatar NationalOlympic Committee, including the winning bid files for the Qatar2011 Asian Football Cup and the 2010 World Indoor AthleticsChampionships.The company is based in Melbourne, Australia, and Doha, Qatar,and has affiliates in Italy, Greece, Australia and India.DESIGNSPORT is currently involved in major projects in Qatar suchas the Doha 2011 Arab Games and the Qatar Sports Venue MasterPlan for the Qatar Olympic Committee.INDUSTRY INNOVATORDESIGNSPORT has a clear strategy for taking this industry to the nextlevel and creating the most exciting sport events of the future.Researching and working with pioneers from some of the leadinguniversities in the world, DESIGNSPORT is investigating ways toimprove on current overlay and event design practices, such as how20 SPORTS EVENT MANAGEMENT

ADVERTORIALmodular buildings and design technology could positively challengeand affect the outcome.“After many years in the profession we have identified gaps in theevent business that require focused design attention and strategicdevelopment. Among the various fields we seek to influence throughdesign are new technologies and how to use tailored solutions toimprove the way things are done,” says Cotterell.“Event design is not just about the event itself, its about how youimpact the urban context, the existing community and the lives of thepeople, how you respond to their cultural needs, how each cultureinterprets its opportunity to host a sporting event.“I always remind our architects that while we are in the studiodesigning, the athletes are out there training for the moment ofa lifetime, perhaps a moment in history….we are responsible fordesigning the stage that will host these moments and for enhancingthe atmosphere that will make these moments memorable – nothingcan be left to chance!“There is a difference between designing an event which simplysatisfies the utility requirements and designing something that alsocreates an exciting experience.“Our design for the 2009 FINA World Diving Championships was anexample of how good design might influence the event. Traditionallythe look and feel of an aquatics event is one of a range of blues with asplashing of sponsor boards – we took the opportunity to interpret thesport with its dramatic heights and elegant acrobatics and to designthe diving arena as a theatre stage dressed in purples and a limegreen with oversized graphics of a diver composed of Arabic script.“When the athletes saw it they were taking photos like tourists asthey expressed their amazement at the space in which they wereabout to compete.“FINA wrote to us, thanking us for the exceptional work sayingthey had never seen anything like it. Spectators and participantsalike benefited from our use of design to influence the competitionexperience.”CREATING A LEGACYBecause events are a matter of national pride, it is DESIGNSPORT’sexperience that local professionals deliver the highest quality andcommitment to an event, and to that end, DESIGNSPORT’s core teamrecruits, trains and mentors locally.Our legacy is illustrated in our involvement with the Delhi 2010Commonwealth Games project, in which DESIGNSPORT trained 25local architects, most of who were recent university graduates or hadlittle professional experience.The local architects developed from shy students to managersof major contractors on large scale sporting facilities, dealing withdelivering major construction works with an extremely punishingtimeline. Most have now moved into positions with sporting authoritiesor events including the Indian Premier League, Formula 1, SportsDoha Asian Games, 2006Authority of India and more.DESIGNSPORT retains the control of its end product by ensuringits core team are present on the ground at all times to foster a oneon-onerelationship with the Client representatives and with the localteam. This personal approach is valued by the Client, enhances thequality of our service while also enriching the company’s core.A fundamental interest of DESIGNSPORT is the development of theprofession of the ‘sport architect’ and how this role supports biddingcities, host nations and all sporting authorities of the industry.Our philosophy allows us to research innovative, competitivesolutions with a strong commitment to intelligent and visionaryresponses to evermore demanding requirements. This has resulted inthe successful delivery of major sporting projects worldwide.“Design sport is very much about the collaborative approach,” saysCotterell. “We recognize that event management requires expertsin many different fields, and we continue to collaborate with ourcompetitors in order to achieve a shared goal.”DESIGNSPORTP.O. Box 13715Doha, Qatar+974 44 47 67 94designsport@designsport.orgwww.designsport.orgSPORTS EVENT MANAGEMENT 21

Overlaysustainable solutionsWhat exactly doyou do with a majorsports venue longafter the Olympicsor World Cup hasleft town? OwenEvans speaks to theoverlay specialistssolving thesustainability dilemmafacing organisingcommittees.IN ORDER to understand how theimportance of temporary structures hasgrown in the past 15 years, you need tolook a closer look at beach volleyball.Not only is the sport far easier on theeye than poles and tents, it is also thesort of event overlay specialists usebest when it comes to creating sportinglegacy in just a fortnight.Since it joined the IOC’s schedule atthe 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, beachvolleyball has become one of the mostpopular tickets at the Games.But do places like London and Beijingneed permanent 15,000 seater stadiumsspecifically for beach volleyball long afterthe Olympics has finished?Last month saw the sport’s test eventfor the 2012 London Games take placein one of English capital’s most famouslandmarks, the Horse Guards ParadeSo perfect is the location thatPrime Minister David Cameron couldhave watched the stars play from hisoffice window.This would not have been possiblewithout overlay and next summer’sGames will set a precedent for theamount of temporary structures it will use.Jeff Keas is Principal Architect atPopulous, who alongside Allies andMorrison and Lifschutz DavidsonSandilands make up the consortiumselected for the £350 million contractto convert existing 2012 Olympic andParalympic venues.Their contract will cover 36 permanentand temporary competition venues aswell as the Olympic Village and mediacentre developments.“If you take the three previous summergames (Sydney, Athens and Beijing)and you combine them, London istheir equivalent in terms of overlay,”says Keas.“People hear that and go ‘Wow,why so much overlay? Why so muchtemporary?” and I think that is prettysmart from London 2012 to have takensuch a very sustainable approach to nextsummer’s Games.“We were talking with them at theplanning stage and they were sayingthey would have a look at all the existingvenues first, so they could work out whatthey needed to build new.“The way you figure that out is to ask‘what does the city need?’ It has to besustainable.“If there isn’t an existing structure andyou don’t need a legacy venue, you thenbuild a temporary structure.”Keas said he sat down alongsidehis LOCOG colleagues with a list ofLondon’s most iconic landmarks andthe IOC’s sports schedule and played a“matching game” when deciding whatsport to put where.He told SportBusiness InternationalRoyal parks like Hyde Park wereearmarked to host beach volleyballbefore Horse Guards Parade got the nod.“The Atlanta Games was the firstOlympic Games to host beach volleyballas an event,” added Keas.“I was fortunate to be an overlaydesigner for those Games. If you lookat that venue and where it was located,there was quite frankly very little context.“It was about an hour’s drive south of22

BEFORE...AFTER...Horse Guards Parade in the heart of London is transformed as a beach volleyball venueAtlanta. I don’t think anybody thoughtat the time how popular it was going tobecome.“Move on to the next Games andSydney was really smart and put beachvolleyball on Bondi Beach. You can’t geta better location than that can you?“But if you look at the way it wasmade, it was kind of designed to be aseating bowl 360 degrees in the roundwith no views out. Beijing and Athens didthe same thing.“The problem with that is even thoughthe players and spectators at BondiBeach were only ten or so metres fromthe ocean, they couldn’t really see andexperience it.“One of the things we have done inLondon is create a lower bowl so we getthe atmosphere around the field of play.However, the upper tier has actually beenturned into a horseshoe shape that focusestowards Horse Guards itself. So anyonesitting there can always understand thecontext and where they are.“It’s what people are understandingabout overlay now. It can help brand acity and create memories in people’sminds.”Overall, London 2012 will haveapproximately 250,000 modular seats,165,000m of tents, 140km of fencing,250 km of crowd barriers and 100,000mof temporary sports surfaces.ENVIRONMENT Vs LEGACYOn the face of it, the debate on whethertemporary structures are more ecofriendlythan permanent stadia seemsSPORTS EVENT MANAGEMENT 23

Overlayfairly straightforward. Short-termstructures negate the need to demolish ordrain energy on-site for decades to come.But if you have overlay that requires9,000 litres of fuel a day to heat, is it asgreen as first thought?“There is a big increase in demandfor people wanting to use temporarystructures so they come under thesustainable umbrella,” says DavidTunnicliffe, Sales Manager at De Boer,which has supplied flexible, modularstructures to events ranging from theOlympic Games to meetings of G8political leaders.“I’m not sure how genuine people arewho use those (eco-frendly) statementsonce they realise it could end up costingmore money.“Temporary structures can be knockeddown but I have seen a lot of projectswhich have used a lot of timber, andobviously that is not ideal.“The last two years are the busiest wehave ever had. I don’t know if that is ledby people trying to be eco-friendly or not.“It is a difficult industry to be in aswe try and be eco-friendly and use biofuel generators and it just doesn’t workbecause ultimately the crowd don’t carewhether it is bio-fuel or not. Essentiallythey don’t want to be cold and they wanttheir food to be hot.”Arena Group is responsible for a numberof truly transformational overlay projectsincluding the AEGON Championshipsat London’s Queens Club which sees asuburban members tennis club becomea world class venue for a week each year.The company’s directors share the beliefthat no two events are the same.“Every event presents its own uniquechallenges, which may vary from adaptingto local working practices, regulations,socio-political sensitivities or simplyweather conditions,” a spokesman said.“At the AEGON Championships thechallenge is using limited space andArena Group transforms the suburban Queen’s Club into a world-class tennis venue for the AEGON Championshipshelping the sponsors achieve maximumbranding opportunities. The companydelivered a fresh look for the tournamentin 2011.”Arena Group is developing fast andis taking an international approachto establish resources strategicallylocated around the globe and alliancesand partnerships with specialist eventcompanies in key territories. Thisallows the company to supplementresources locally, limiting the amountof specialist equipment that needs tobe shipped.In addition the company is investingin new temporary structures and a newdemountable seating system that mark astep-change in event infrastructure withregards to improving spectator experienceintroducing better sightlines with moregenerous seat spacing.Francois-Regis Picolet, Director ofInternational Development at GL eventsis encouraged by the trend towardssustainability, and the internationalstandards that are setting top-end overlaycompanies apart from the crowd.“This is a very important matter,”says Picolet.“We will be ISO 9001 and ISO 20121(management systems standardsrequiring identification of key sustainabilityissues like venue selection, operatingprocedures, supply chain etc) certifiedbefore June 2012.“ISO 20121 is a norm which comesdirectly from the London 2012 effortto elevate the level of sustainability ininternational events.“So yes, we can say that the wholeindustry benefitted from the strategy puttogether by London 2012.“We are one of the first players ready toapply strict ISO sustainability rules to ourproject management and to our deliverymanagement processes.”Major sporting federations are alsocoming round to a sustainable wayof thinking.In the past leading football governingbodies have been left embarrassed bypurpose-built stadiums lying empty aftertheir flagship tournaments have ended.Nussli were appointed to createtemporary structures for the fifa WorldCup in South Africa in 2010.Stefan Helfenstein, Head of BusinessUnit for Special Events, said he noticed achange in attitude from football’s premiergoverning body compared to previousWorld Cups.“In South Africa we did stadiumextension,” says Helfenstein.“It was to extend the capacity for the24 SPORTS EVENT MANAGEMENT

OverlayCeltic Manor, Wales, becomes a fitting Ryder Cup venue with sophisticated overlay from Arena Groupstadium in Cape Town by 10,000 sothey would not be left with an arena theycould not fill after the event.“This was a new strategy forFIFA as in the past they have askedorganising committees to build fullypermanent stadiums.“I think now there is pressure onall organising bodies to be moresustainable.”One way in which Nussli hasattempted to improve the cost andsustainability of their projects is to recruitand resource locally, which they havefound not only to be an effective charmoffensive but also a good way to keepcosts down.“For example we worked on theCommonwealth Games in Delhi and hadas few as seven containers of materialsthat had to be shipped back from India,”said Helfenstein.“Everything else was sourced locally.Not only did that help us reducetransport costs but it allows us to bemore competitive locally.“If you are bringing in materialsfrom Switzerland or Germany itbecomes expensive.On the issue of whether the priorityshould be sustainability or legacy, Keasbelieves you can have both if youare smart.He describes the iceberg theory inrelation to construction and overlay- what you see above the water lineequates to the initial costs of building astadium or permanent structure.Subsequently all the mass belowthe water line represents the costs ofmaintenance after it is built.“So for us when we design a stadium itis about reducing that carbon footprint,”says Keas.“The bottom line is London does notneed a permanent 15,000 seat beachvolleyball stadium.“A piece of architecture can be builtand stick around for decades, or evencenturies, and it gets instilled in peoples’minds. But with a piece of overlay, itis only going to be up for a couple ofweeks before it is taken down again.“So in that respect we face a biggerchallenge in that we have to make animpression very quickly and that isdifficult using just scaffolding and tents.“The way we arrange and assembleour structures combines with the iconicelements of the host city and determinehow we are going to be remembered.”TEMPORARY CHALLENGESWhile London 2012 has nailed its flag tothe temporary structure mast, overlay isnot without its challenges.Timing of tenders, access to resourcesand extreme weather has a direct impacton how the leaders in this field operate.“Logistics are usually the biggestproblem with what we do,” saysHelfenstein.“Technically overlay can be relativelyeasy, but because of the late order andthe huge amount of work it is adifficult issue.“The problem of overlay work is it isnormally one of the last tenders to comeout. Then they put into the overlay tendereverything that is remaining. Often wedon’t have a contract until four, five or sixmonths before a Games starts. So it is alogistical problem at the end.Probably the main challenge liesin the difficulty to conciliate the largerequirements for resources, be it humanfrom project management down tolabour, or equipment, coming from majorinternational events and those comingfrom recurring business,” added Picolet.26 SPORTS EVENT MANAGEMENT

OverlayGL EVENTS DELIVERY OF OVERLAYSERVICES AND TURNKEY EVENTSOLUTIONS – FIFA WORLD CUPSOUTH AFRICA 2010GL events were contracted to deliver thefull scope of Overlay Services for the FIFAWorld Cup South Africa 2010. The turn-keysolution provided to the South African LocalOrganising Committee (SALOC) covered alltypes of Overlay Services required for thedifferent functional areas of the event.SCOPEGL events was appointed as the GlobalOverlay Contractor on all ten Stadium Venuesfor the FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa.This is the biggest contract signed by GLevents in the world of major sporting events.Our role was to design, develop, deliver andinstall solutions for the complete range ofevent specific temporary requirements forall functional areas. Temporary Infrastructurerequirements for functional areas coveredby the main contract covered Media,Broadcast, Administration, Public, Ticketing,Accreditation, Logistics and Security.The SALOC contract covered all 10 Host CityStadia of the FIFA World Cup; Soccer City– Johannesburg, Ellis Park – Johannesburg,Moses Mabhida Stadium – Durban, PeterMokhaba Stadium – Durban, GreenpointStadium – Cape Town, Bloemfontein Stadium– Bloemfontein, Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium– Port Elizabeth, Royal Bafokeng Stadium –Rustenburg, Loftus Stadium – Pretoria andMbombela Stadium – Nelspruit.In addition to the main contract to theSALOC, GL events secured subsidiarycontracts to 19 end users over a further 12Non Competition Venues bringing the totalturnover for GL events South African overlayservices during 2010 to over 53M€.DELIVERABLESThe GL events project team undertook thedesign, installation and implementation,maintenance, dismantling and removal ofmultiple commodities incorporating:62,533 sqm of Tent structure, 15,002 sqm ofscaffold, 150,000 sqm of carpet, 9,528 linearmetres (lm) of modular partitioning, 1,222 lmof Exhibition walling, 712 lm of dry walling,132 simple doors, 2,508 Media Desks, thatincluded 7,223 sqm of shutter ply woodfor platforms, 12,250 self drilling screws tofix the platforms to the steel bases, 15,048side/front panels, Field of play equipment,60 goals delivered, 80 corner flags, 60 Teambenches, 40 Presentation studios, 1.458sqm of frosted glass, 173 Flags installed/removed, 100 Office containers, 200 storagecontainers, 700 Modular Containers/OfficeContainers/Prefabricated Buildings, 1 WorldClass trophy podium, 20,000 Outlets of alltype used, 1.300 Distribution boards, 100Km of Electrical Cable, 58 HVAC Rooftopsand 599 Split Units for a Cooling Capacity ofalmost 15,000 kW, 3,700 Fluorescent Lights,212 Floodlights Halogen, 730 Floodlights andHanging HQI Lights, for more than 600,000Watts of Lighting, 283 Portaloos, 61 FemaleToilets Containers, 63 Male Toilets Containers,Support to approximately 200 PressConferences, 65.000 sqm of Fire detectioncoverage, 97,279 pieces of FF&E, with themost important being 54,869 Chairs, 16,819Barstools, 8,863 Tables and 3,200 Lockers.The functional areas and end users coveredby our contracts were Media – Stadium andTeam Media Centres, Media Catering facilities,Media Tribunes, Mixed Zones and PressConference; Broadcast – The BroadcastCompound and host broadcast house,Camera Platforms, Presentation and TVStudios, Cable bridges and pathways; Foodand Beverage – Beer Gardens, TemporaryConcessions and Preparation Areas;Hospitality – Back of House PreparationAreas, Internal Fittings and Furniture toVillages, Suites and VIP Areas; Fan Fests –Temporary accommodations and equipments;Logistics – Log Points and Remote Search28 SPORTS EVENT MANAGEMENT

advertorialParks; Security – Infrastructure andMagnometers; Ticketing – Stadium TicketingCentres, Host City ticket collection centresand Ticket Clearing points; Accreditation –Stadium Accreditation Centres and facilities;Volunteer Centres; Special requirements suchas the Trophy Podium.GL events fulfilled the role of supply andproject management through the co -ordination of in house products and services,meaning core products originating from GLbusiness units within the group networkglobally, and subcontracted items andservices procured locally.GL EVENTS APPROACHAfter the success of the ConfederationsCup, GL events acted as SALOC’s partnerwith early involvement and co-ordination,from the project design stage to projectrealisation, to deliver the most professionalservice. We are a multi-specialist Overlaysolutions designer and provider thereforewe are experienced in delivering projects ontime and to specification by utilising our inhousesolutions or by working with our manysubcontract partners.The key organization principle of theGL events Project Team was a “matrixorganisation chart” with a Team based on aProject Director and support services (legal,quantity surveyor, financial controller), withCommodity Project Managers and SiteManagers:• Operations: 1 Operations Director, 10 SiteManagers, 10 Assistant Site Managers, SiteForemen, up to 2500 workers• Technical: commodities covered byTechnical Project Managers• Design Team• Supported by a Logistic Manager, LogisticsTeam, Finance and Administration Team, QS& Contract Management Team, ProcurementTeam, Business Development TeamOur onsite Team comprised of severalnationalities (27 in total) including British, localSouth Africans, French, all of whom Englishwas their first language or were fluent in it.Our Team was responsible for:• Contract administration & closemanagement of claims and variations• Health, Safety and Regulations: Thanksto our experience in installing temporarystructures and Overlay, GL events were ableto meet local standards and regulations.The knowledge was incorporated intoensuring that our workforce and partners fullyunderstood and complied with standards.• Sub-contractors audits and follow-up:The detailed audits undertaken were toguarantee that sub-contractors respectedand understood the requirements of theClient. These were reinforced by monitoringand regularly checking the work methods fordesign, production, logistics and installation.• Client reporting: Our management Teamreported to SALOC on a regular basisto ensure that the project matched therequirements and expectations of theclient. Our approach resulted in a positive,memorable and lasting experience for all ofthose involved.KEY CHALLENGES• Regulations: compliance with localregulations and standards including healthand safety• Respecting local culture and conditions• Employing and training local workforce, leavinga legacy of skilled and semi skilled labour• Design and installation constraints e.g.ensuring that the Overlay would be deliveredon time and to the right specification• Combining the project management of GLevents’ core businesses and subcontractedcommodities• This was more a Project Management rolethan a Supplier roleThe main challenge was to coordinate thedelivery to multiple venues, and manageGL core business commodities (50%) andsubcontracted commodities (50%), in auniform and consistent manner with totaltransparency for the client.OUTCOMEThis project required us to adapt our solutionsin order to cope with a multi-site layout andchallenging Overlay inventory. 3 weeks priorto the start of the tournament, GL eventswere proud to confirm that the Overlayproject was on time and within budget.This experience showed that GL events canassure product knowledge initiating in theDesign department, improved reactivity andcontingency planning, guaranteed delivery,flexibility in providing effective solutions.GL events offer one single point of referencefor all Overlay demands and needs of theOrganizing Committee, End-Users andvarious Stakeholders.SPORTS EVENT MANAGEMENT 29

OverlaySuper Bowl XLII, University of Phoenix Stadium, Arizona - Getty Images SportNFL SUPER BOWLCREATING THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH: HOWTHE POPULOUS TEAM HELP THE NFL STAGE THESUPER BOWLThe Super Bowl is one of the most culturally significant sporting eventsin the world. The championship game of the professional Americanfootball league takes places on the first Sunday of February each yearand enjoys the status of an unofficial American holiday.Everything about the event is on an extraordinary scale: it’s the secondbiggest day of the year for food consumption in the States, afterThanksgiving. A single 30 second advertising slot costs $3 million.There are activities, parties, hospitality and gatherings of all typesorganised around the game day extravaganza. For a standard seasonfootball game around 200 media people attend. For the Super Bowl,the number goes up to 2,000 – and that upsurge is matched in everyother area of the event.In 1983, when global design practice Populous first started work onthe Super Bowl, the event was still predominantly a national one, witha mostly US-based television audience. Now ‘Super Bowl Sunday’attracts TV audiences around the world. In 2011, when the 45th SuperBowl saw the Green Bay Packers beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, thegame was watched by an average of 111 million viewers on the Foxnetwork, an increase of 4.5 million on CBS’ figures the previous year.In fact, the Super Bowl accounts for 9 of the top 10 most-viewedprogrammes of all time in the USA.An event of this scale obviously demands unparalleled levels oforganisation. For the past 28 years Populous has been proud to workwith the NFL in staging this spectacular annual event. Populous’role is broad-based, starting with the development of the site-widemasterplan and then moving onto the venue and temporary facilitydesign, procurement, overseeing construction, operations planning andimplementation, utilities and technical planning, signage planning andimplementation, and event scheduling.30 SPORTS EVENT MANAGEMENT

PARTNER CASE STUDYExceeding the boundariesThere is no stadium that can hold the Super Bowl within the confinesof its permanent infrastructure. Every aspect of the event, from thesize of the audience, to the number of concessions, to the media andbroadcast facilities, exceeds the boundaries of the venues in whichit’s held. This means that event overlay has been taken to almostunparalleled levels of complexity, quantity, and detail by the NFL andPopulous to support the event.Essentially, the challenge is to construct an entire town, with all itsrequired facilities and amenities, but one which exists for just a single day.The Super Bowl XLV, staged at the Cowboys Stadium in Texas, had over90,000 spectators on site, alongside 18,000 square metres of tents, 12kilometres of fencing, 900 metres of concrete barricades, 260 portaloosand 42,000 metres of electrical cable.Event planningPreliminary work for Jerry Anderson and his team starts up to three yearsin advance for each Super Bowl, assessing what each city and stadium’srequirements are and helping the NFL in their initial awarding of thecontract. For the entire year leading up to the game, Todd Barnes leads ateam on site, which means that as soon as one Super Bowl finishes, thePopulous team are thinking about the next. The team works on drawingsand layouts and, as the year progresses, the team increases in linewith the scale of the work. Three weeks before, the delivery and set-upcommences. On game day itself, the team is at its peak.To manage the work, “a fully integrated event plan is crucial,” saysAnderson. “The plan takes all the existing features of the stadiumcampus and marries those with a temporary commodities plan.”The plan also joins together the aspects of facilities design withtransportation planning, crowd flow and management, and operations.Super Bowl XLIV, Sun Life Stadium, Miami, Florida – Getty Images SportIntegrationOne of the most critical aspects of the plan is the true marriage ofoperations with facilities; by making sure these two aspects are properlyintegrated, Populous is able to support the NFL by delivering the mosteffective use of the venue, the staff, the schedule, and the equipmentthat supports every part of the event.The overlay plan uses significant quantities of temporary commodities.This generally includes tens of thousands of square metres of tents,hundreds of portable trailer structures, kilometres of fencing andbarricades, scores of massive generators and 45 kilometres of electricalcable. From trash cans to thousands of temporary signs, no detail isconsidered too small. And all of these commodities have to deliver acohesive experience that reflects the NFL brand.Raising the barEach year the Super Bowl not only tests the current applicationsand technologies available in the temporary commodities and designmarketplace, but also pushes the envelope to create even greater andmore memorable experiences.As well as the physical dimensions of the stadium, some of the keydrivers behind the Event Plan are the people involved - the participatingteams, the US and NFL Broadcast networks domestically and thenumerous international broadcast networks who form a significantpresence at the Super Bowl. There are also over 3500 accredited mediato consider, the sponsors and of course the spectators, ranging innumber annually from 70,000 to 90,000.The Super Bowl has come to be about far more than sport – theHalftime Show attracts some of the world’s biggest music stars includingBruce Springsteen, U2, Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson and, mostrecently, the Black Eyed Peas. There are also huge hospitality parties onthe grounds including the NFL Tailgate Party and On Location program.A gathering of such significant numbers, with so many celebritiesinvolved, demands high levels of security – the Super Bowl is a level oneNational Security Special Event, as designated by the US Department ofHomeland Defense. This is the highest security rating given to any eventin the US. As a result, there are significant facilities created to fulfill thesecurity programme.Populous has raised the bar on planning over the past 27 years. Wenow use the most advanced methods of 3D and animated drawings,renderings, scheduling and estimating software developed in houseexpressly for the Super Bowl.No event is watched or scrutinised as much as the Super Bowl.Populous is honoured to have been a partner of the NFL for more thana quarter of a century, working with them to create this unparalleledexperience, which has become a standard bearer for the highest levelsof achievement and quality in a sports event. The delivery of the eventplan carries the highest of expectations and Populous is proud to haverisen to the challenge each year.Jerry Anderson (Senior Principal)jerry.anderson@populous.com; +1 303 382 2780www.populous.comSPORTS EVENT MANAGEMENT 31

Personnelin association withIMPACTSPORTS RECRUITMENTPEOPLE POWERSTAFF ARE THE BEDROCKOF ALL MAJOR EVENTSAND EFFECTIVERECRUITMENT STRATEGYIS CENTRAL TO SUCCESS.IN EVENTS, nothing happens without theright people.An Organising Committee maycommission the finest stadia, state-ofthe-artpractice facilities and the mostluxurious athlete accommodation butwithout the human software to create,operate and co-ordinate these and themyriad other functions that make anevent tick, not a ball is kicked, tacklemade or race run.The point is not lost on RichardGraham, executive director of ImpactSports Recruitment which specialises inrecruiting staff for major events.“From the CEO of an OrganisingCommittee to the volunteers directingtraffic, events are about people,” he said.“The growing demands on eventorganisers to raise the bar mean that theexperience and quality of event staff issimply critical to the delivery of event.And that in turn impacts on the way itis received by athletes, spectators andtelevision viewers.”“In an age when governments investhuge sums to bid for and then stagemajor sports events, ensuring that theyrun smoothly is critical to ensuring returnon investment. If the world perceives anevent as shambolic, perceptions of thehost clearly suffer.”The staffing requirements of majorsports events are simply mind-bending.The task has often been likened tosetting up an organisation on the scale ofa Fortune 500 company, operating it for afew years and then dissolving the wholething within months of the event ending.And like any major corporation,organising a major event draws on a hugerange of managerial, technological andfinancial disciplines sets as well as theevent specific skills required to ensurethat every functional area operateseffectively and achieves its targets.Richard Graham believes the key isensuring that all critical roles are filledby individuals with genuine experienceof the particular dynamics of the eventsbusiness. But, he says, the expandingnumber of events around the worldtoday, means that the experience base isstretched thin.“The biggest events, such as theOlympic Games, Asian Games andPanAm Games tend to have first pickof the experienced staff that travels theworld from event to event while countrieswith a long established event-hostingtradition will have a constant pool oftalent available. But there are difficultiesin emerging nations which need to attractexperienced talent if they are to deliverworld class events,” he said.Impact Sports Recruitment sits at theheart of Sports Crowd, a specialist socialnetwork for events professionals, manyof whom fit Graham’s description of the‘event gypsies’ who traverse the globe,taking their skill and knowledge fromevent to event.“In many ways these people are thebackbone of the industry,” he said.“They move from job to job, addingto their own knowledge base but also32

leaving a legacy of event skills among thelocal people they work alongside.”But, he adds, there can be pitfalls foremployers.“It is in the nature of the events worldthat there are a lot of people out theremoving from project to project andsometimes making unsubstantiatedclaims about the level of real experienceand capability they have. That meansone of the difficulties employers face isverifying those claims in order to hire thebest people.“There are around 30 operational areasinvolved in delivering an event and simplyaccepting what is written on a CV can behazardous. A claim to have been a ‘venuelogistics administrator, for example, mayin reality relate to someone who didthe photocopying or whitewashed thestadium wall,” he explained.Graham believes that Impact’s focuson event personnel and its connectivitywithin the events world gives it a headstart in this area.“We are part of the network andnot only have a unique understandingof what is required by OrganisingCommittees but the ability to check-outCVs and verify the credentials of everyclient,” he said.While the notion that experience isa key attribute for event personnel isunquestionable, it cannot be applieduniversally. It may seem somewhatparadoxical but the man – or woman –at the top of an Organising Committeeis routinely the least specificallyexperienced of any of the senior staff onthe team.According to Simon Cummins,managing partner of the internationalsports practice at Odgers, this is anentirely predictable and positive situation.“It is true that many top positions areheld by people with no previous eventsexperience but that is largely inevitableand does help ensure that the overallmanagement of events is in the handsof those with wide-ranging experienceof running big, complex enterprises,” heexplained.Cummins, who has recruited seniormanagement for projects includingSPORTS EVENT MANAGEMENT 33

Personnelin association withIMPACTSPORTS RECRUITMENTthe London 2012 and Vancouver 2010Olympic Games and is currently workingon behalf of the Rio 2016 OrganisingCommittee, says that the approach tosenior roles has changed significantlyover the years.“Everybody wants to benefit fromknowledge transfer and adopt bestpractice but there is also a desireamong some Organising Committees toinnovate and do things their own way.Consequently they are often looking forfresh blood with new ideas.“There are also issues aroundgovernments becoming involved in theprocess and, in some cases, insisting onusing local people rather than recruitingfrom the international talent pool.“The outcome is that, in general,the very top roles go to people withsuccessful track records outside ofevents while the middle managementtier brings the specialist knowledge ofindividual functional areas.”“The people at the top of OrganisingCommittees have to be tremendouslybright, capable and ahead of the curve.They must have experience of dealingnot only with major projects but with acomplex set of stakeholders and theability to understand the public as well asthe private sector. In addition, the oneswho do well are those who are used tooperating at a certain scale and operatinginternationally.”“Over the years the sector has becomemore appealing to quality businesspeople because it is now viewed as a realbusiness challenge.“In fact, we now spend a lot of timetesting motivation because there arepeople who apply for roles for the wrongreason. There is a lot of passion in sportand while that is important, it has to becontrolled and it is easy to get the heart/head balance wrong.Chris King of Sports RecruitmentInternational agrees that search andrecruitment in the events sector isbeing driven by the need for greaterprofessionalism across the board.“Events are such a big commitmentand the risks can be high. That meansthat leadership is critical, not justacross entire projects but in each of theindividual areas which make up an event.“There has been a significant evolutionin recruitment in the sector and a moresophisticated approach has emerged.London 2012, for example, adopted avery process driven approach to eventmanagement and in many instances hiredfor capability rather than direct experience.They recruited for the entire journey andexpected people to change jobs within theorganisation along the way.”But, says King, circumstancesinevitably differ between events.“If you to somewhere like Qatar, which ismaking such an impression on the eventsstage, they have a small population anda skills base which is still developing.They will need help to recruit from theinternational talent pool even if theappetite is, where possible, to hire locally.”Will Lloyd, founder of the onlinecareers and recruitment serviceGlobalSportsJobs is equally convincedthat recruitment is the most importantelement of the event management mix.“The important thing is to recruit forthe right blend of experience, skills andattitude across the team,” he said.“As I see it the biggest mistake, madeby some Organising Committees is tohave too rigid a recruitment strategyfrom the outset. It is vital to have aflexible attitude to allow you to deal withsituations as they arise. For example,there is a tendency for OCs to believethey are thinking globally while actuallytaking a local approach to hiring.“That may be understandable fromthe perspective of wishing to create atalent legacy. But while a talent legacy isimportant and can be a lucrative exportif approached correctly, focusing on thisrather than a successful event can havedisastrous consequences.Lloyd has three key pieces of advicefor OCs.“It may seem obvious but it is easy toforget that an event is only as good asthe people you hire to deliver it,” he said.“You have to start early, and get thebest professional advice you can todeliver a watertight strategic plan andensure that you get the good blend ofexperience, skills, attitude, languageand culture.”34 SPORTS EVENT MANAGEMENT

TechnologyTomorrow’s World…alex miller takesa look at howtechnologycontinues to enhancethe organisation,performance andspectator experienceof sportS events.Advances in technology havebecome increasingly evident in everycorner of sports stadia, from electronicscoreboards and advertising hoardings,to high-resolution replay screenswith crystal clarity and concert-levelsound quality.It was only as recently as theBarcelona Olympics in 1992 that thefirst PC was used for recording data butsince then there has been exponentialgrowth throughout the industry. The levelof importance has changed too. Wherein the past technology was viewed asan enabler for organisers of events, ithas become an increasingly importantelement for commercial parties,spectators and other stakeholders.Outside of stadia, it is the same story.The term ‘armchair sports fan’ isbecoming increasingly dated as fansare able to tune into games or highlightsservices while on the move via theirlaptop or mobile phone.Within stadia, the material andinstallation budgets for audio andvisual improvements at major facilitiescan run to tens of millions of Euros.But these technologies generally havethe capacity to generate revenue aswell as enhancing the experience ofwatching sport.Pay back comes in many forms fromthe ability to host creative advertisingand branding (with a sponsor’s messageat the push of a button) or by allowingsponsors to have their message featuredon electronic advertising at key momentsin a game.Technology is also enabling greateruse of facilities. At the New MexicoState University’s Pan American Centerin Las Cruces for example, organiserscan mechanically tilt or adjust the lowerlevel of stadia seating to provide betterviews depending on the type of eventtaking place.Cisco rolled out two technologies atLivestrong Sporting Park in Kansas Cityover the summer, designed to furtherenhance the match experience for itsMLS fans.As a result, Sporting KC fans can nowconnect to stadium Wi-Fi to wirelesslyharness high-speed Internet through theirmobile devices. Having installed 196 highdensityrouters, Cisco provides access tomobile applications (such as the team’sapp, Sporting Explore), social-networkingsites and others. Even if the stadium isfilled to capacity, 80% can connect at thesame time with minimal lag.Cisco also installed StadiumVisionto deliver HD video to any of the venue’s300 HDTVs. The platform enablesupdates throughout the game andoffers content ranging from advertising,scores from other games, a variety ofcamera angles and team trivia, throughto weather updates. All suites connectto StadiumVision and users control thevideo using an iPad app. While both36

developments are thought to be the firstat an MLS stadium, many NFL stadia arealready running the system.Surprisingly perhaps, the driversof technology are generally not the ITcompanies themselves but consumersand sports governing bodies andfederations.Organisers of the first Youth OlympicGames last year in Singapore took theview that social networking and not TVwas their preferred method of broadcast,and as a result young journalists theremainly reported through blogs.In Europe, the 2012 Olympic andParalympic Games will rely on a complexmix of technology over a number ofsites and systems. With the eyes of theworld watching, it is an extraordinarilyhigh-pressure environment. But it is anenvironment where technology is able tohelp like never before.At the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, USswimmer Michael Phelps may not havereceived his seventh of eight gold medals(for the 100m butterfly) without TVreplays and timing system technology.The result was so close (one hundredthof a second) that it was impossible tojudge using only the naked eye.Responsibility for Olympic Games’ ITinfrastructure falls to Atos. The companyhas worked at every Games since 1992and became the official Worldwide ITPartner for the IOC in 2002 and of theIPC in 2008.The challenge for Atos is to createan IT solution that allows the captureand reporting of every moment of theaction and supports in bringing it to theworld through television and the internet.This requires an understanding of whatorganisers, broadcasters, competitorsand the audience demand.Atos spends four years building theIT and another year testing before theGames. Disasters are simulated andscenarios are run to see how its peoplereact in certain situations, in order toachieve full readiness.Atos Executive Vice President PatrickAdiba, tells SportBusiness International:“It is certainly not possible to organisean event and capture all the data andresults in a manual way any more. TheOlympics is vast, some days there are 17competitions going, it is like running 17SPORTS EVENT MANAGEMENT 37

TechnologyWorld Championships in a single day.”There will be a number of newtechnological developments on showfor the first time in London. One of theseis myInfo+, an internet application thatenables accredited media, sports officialsand athletes to access information oncompetition schedules, medal rankingtables, transport news and sportsrecords through their laptops.Another new technology will beCommentator Information System (CIS),which will be remotely available for mostOlympic sports. The system displaysresults on touch-screen PCs in less than0.3 seconds at venue broadcast sites,providing broadcasters with the resultsbefore they hear the roar of the crowd.“CIS is full real time information,meaning commentators in South Africa,Dubai and Brazil can all access the samedata at exactly the same time as thosein the stadium – meaning they are ableto commentate as if they are there,’adds Adiba.Technology is also proving invaluableto mass participation event organisers.Active Network is best known forproviding the electronic back-officesystems used by race organisers to allowcompetitors to sign up, pay and receiveupdates on competitions ranging from5ks and 10ks to marathons and otherendurance sports. Its technology allowssecure online registration and transactionprocessing, data managementand reporting.The company handles the registrationsfor US races, including the ChicagoMarathon and San Francisco’s Bayto Breakers race.Race organisers use Active Networkto avoid the nightmare of receiving andtrying to organise thousands of crumpledregistrations forms and bundles of cash.Bay to Breakers for example, generates55,000 runners. While the race adds a$5 service fee for the service, runnersappreciate the convenience of not havingto queue up to register.Sejal Pietrzak, Vice President –International, for Active Network, tellsSportBusiness International the companyare enjoying strong demand in theEMEA and Asia Pacific regions, withcompanies and events such as TriathlonAustralia, USM Events, World TriathlonCorporation (which owns the Ironmanevents worldwide), Brighton Marathon,Singapore Marathon and Tennis Australia.She adds: “What has driven thisgrowth has been a combination ofoffering our technology and customerservice to more events and helping thoseevents grow their participation, anddeepening our relationship with eventsthat have been working with us formany years.“Our system allows sports clubs andendurance sports events to be able toprovide their members and participantswith a secure and convenient onlineregistration system, while being ableto manage their data efficiently, both interms of financials and database for oneor multiple events.“Our event, participant and resourcemanagement technology solutions aredesigned to help sports organisationssimplify business operations andreduce their costs. We make it easierto get things done and because of that,our event and sports clubs’ clientsare able to focus on improving thequality and success of their events.”While the presence and range oftechnologies will surely continue todevelop, what will the landscape forsports themselves look like five yearsfrom now? Certainly there is a case forsuggesting that at present, some sportsmake better use of technology thanothers. Arguably, more technology couldbe used in football before it reachesthe mature levels of technology insports including ice hockey, tennis andcricket. As sports continue to evolve,technology will seemingly be furtherincorporated even into those whosefederations appear unwilling to adopt.And for spectators?“Going forward, smart mobilitywill continue to explode, as will thedevelopment of mobile devices andsecurity of data – not from a hackingperspective, but from the point of viewthat the correct data is available andready to be processed or used whenit is required,” believes Adiba.“People will increasingly choose howto consume an event in the mannerthey want and not be willing to betied to a schedule – they will want tobe their own TV directors. The useand functionality of mobile phonesand social networking sites will alsocontinue to grow,” he adds.38 SPORTS EVENT MANAGEMENT

SecurityCreating and sharing bestpractice in sport securityBy HelmutSpahn,ExecutiveDirector,InternationalCentre forSports security.Major event security is an evermorecritical and complex practice. Asmore new nations take up the challengeof hosting the world’s biggest sportingevents, there is a greater need to shareknowledge and experience in the field.Having spoken with Chief ExecutiveOfficers of Organising Committees, Chiefsof Police and Heads of Security around theglobe it is clear that, far too often, securityplanning for major international sportingevents is being started with a blank sheetof paper and not building on the successesand learnings from past events.To quote Ronald Noble, GeneralSecretary of INTERPOL: “Major eventsecurity is not an area for trial and error.It is our duty to ensure that the mosteffective practices for hosting these eventsin a secure way are thoroughly analysedand widely shared.”That is the goal of the InternationalCentre for Sport Security (ICSS); tobecome a global hub for developing andsharing best-practice in sport security and,ultimately, to help event organisers to stagesafer major sporting events. A not-for-profitinstitution, we aim to do this by providingbest-in-class training, research and tailoredconsulting in all aspects of sport security.The world of sport is complex. Differentcountries with different cultures andeconomic conditions organise sportingevents, which in themselves are verydifferent. Over the next decade eventswill take place across every continent,ranging from the London 2012 Olympicand Paralympic Games to the 2018 fifaWorld Cup Russia and the Nanjing 2014Summer Youth Olympic Games. Eachevent is unique and has its own distinctset of security challenges.FAN EXPERIENCEAmong the many areas that need to beconsidered during the planning processare the fan experience and use oftechnology. The latter could range fromplanning tools to databases for identifyingcriminals and troublemakers, to CCTVand airport style security checks. Inaddition, policies and procedures arerequired to prevent corruption andenhance integrity, and a communicationsstrategy needs to be in place to engenderconfidence in the organiser’s ability todeliver security and react appropriatelyshould an issue arise.*To illustrate the scale and multifacetednature of the challenges it is worthconsidering just one of these, the fanexperience, in more detail.A compelling fan experience is vitalto producing a world-class sportingevent. For example, the strategies putin place at the 2006 fifa World CupGermany ensured visitors left with theimpression that Germans are hospitableand well-organised people, contributingto a growth in international tourism inthe following years. Indeed, providing agood service to fans should be a priority,and safety and security are key elementsof this. Good service can be optimisedthrough strategic ‘fan first’ planning andevent flow procedures, including detailedadvanced planning of the fan experience;clear communications with supporters;a safe, secure and welcoming strategy;effective pre-event intelligence gathering;empowering responsible spectatorsthrough effective communication withfan organisations; and optimising safetyand comfort, with stadium facilities fit forpurpose and professionally managed.Furthermore, empowering fansand excluding troublemakers shouldbe approached as complementarystrategies to help ensure good behaviour.Engagement with fan organisations andrepresentatives is key. This can assistplanners in both understanding theneeds and desires of spectators, as wellas communicating the reasoning forparticular safety and security decisions. Iffans understand why certain proceduresand policies are in place they are morelikely to cooperate. An empowermentexclusionpolicy therefore consists ofthree parts. Firstly, the education ofsupporters. Persuading them to behavein an acceptable manner, notifying themof the consequences of misbehaviourand appealing to their collective integrityand mutual responsibilities. Secondly,enforcement. Where conflict occurs,sanctions must be consistently appliedand stewarding must be effective andappropriate. Finally, exclusion. Thisshould be the result of persistent badbehaviour and must be effectively policedand monitored.40

The creation of temporary ‘fanembassies’ with representatives ofthe organising committee, local lawenforcement, international police liaisonofficers and consular staff can help createa welcoming environment at tournamentsattracting large numbers of internationalfans. By creating a single point of contact,they ease lines of communication andintelligence gathering, as well as providingon-the-spot assistance for foreign nationalswho have been the victims of crime.Integral to the development of acompelling fan experience are state-ofthe-artstadium design and facilities. Withinstadia civilian stewards are preferableto police or military personnel, becausethey present a less-confrontational,friendly face. Similarly, clearly identifiablestaff, well-trained in safety proceduresand focused on fan security enhancethe overall experience. Opposing fansshould also be appropriately segregatedand supervised and the safe maximumcapacity of a stadium carefully calculated.Crucially, stadium safety and securityare two distinct issues; it is possible tocreate an environment that is so secure,that it is fatally unsafe, as was tragicallydemonstrated at the Hillsborough andHeysel stadium disasters. Among otherthings, stadium planning should take intoaccount realistic entry, holding and exitcapacity, as well as the ability to quicklyexit the stadium.BEYOND STADIAFinally, provision must also be madefor fans that travel to host countries toexperience the atmosphere of a majortournament, without tickets for the arena.Hosts should consider the creation ofstewarded viewing areas, capable ofaccommodating significant crowds andscreening the event on big screens inpublic places. This can facilitate effectivecrowd management policies and enhancethe fan experience. A strategy thatwas successfully pursued at the 2006FIFA World Cup, where the policy ofencouraging ‘fan fests’ within a familyfriendly,party atmosphere meant thattrouble was mostly avoided.In summary, the fan experience aloneis complex and multi-layered, combinedwith the many other safety and securityconcerns, the challenge is immense.While it is possible to identify keythemes, such as the fan experience,it is also clear that there can be nouniform security concept for all sportingevents; that every event in everycountry has specific, individual issuesand requirements. In addition to theworldwide political security situation everyorganiser needs a security concept thatis appropriate and tailor-made for theirspecial event.Central to this is assembling the mostrelevant knowledge and best possibleteam. At the ICSS our team includessome of the world’s leading sport securityexperts, including, on our AdvisoryBoard, the President of Interpol, Mr. KhooBoon Hui; former Chief of the LondonSECURITY SHOULD NOT BECOMEAN END IN ITSELF. ORGANISERSSHOULD BE MINDFUL OFPEOPLE’S RIGHT TO FREEDOMMetropolitan Police, Lord John Stevens;Senior Security Consultant to the IOC,Peter Ryan; and fifa’s planning advisorto the South Africa 2010 OrganisingCommittee, Horst Schmidt. I recentlyjoined the ICSS from the German FootballAssociation (DFB), where I served as Headof Security for the 2006 fifa World CupGermany and recent 2011 Women’s fifaWorld Cup, at which, the ICSS observedand analysed the security practices.Knowledge that the ICSS and the DFB willnow use to disseminate best-practice andlearning for governments and organizersof future major sporting events. The ICSSalso proactively addresses real issues inboth public and private forums such as ourInternational Sport Security Conferenceand through organising expert summitswhere the world’s most senior practitionerscan debate critical issues and advanceknowledge in sport security.Ultimately, whilst all events are verydifferent, one thing always remains same.In all countries, in all sports and in allevents every person has a natural basicneed for security. All visitors, delegatesand athletes want to feel secure, to beable to enjoy the event and achieve thebest possible results in their sports. Ofcourse the organisers also have an interestin a safely managed event. Not only fortheir international reputation, but also forfinancial reasons, given the escalatingvalue of marketing and TV-rights.RIGHT TO FREEDOMHowever, security should not become anend in itself. Organisers must guaranteethe highest possible security, whilst beingmindful that people’s right to freedomshould be affected as little as possible.The main guideline should be maximumsecurity with minimum restrictions - asmuch security as required, with as fewrestrictions as possible. Always in thebackground, security should not affectfans or athletes’ enjoyment or participationin sporting events.This reinforces the need to have atailor-made security concept that isat the leading edge of technical andorganisational development and takes intoaccount all facets of an event. This is onlypossible if organisers draw on worldwideexperiences, evaluate events, checkmeasures for effectiveness and bring theleading practitioners globally on-site tohelp develop security concepts. For asingle organiser this is simply not viable.This is where the ICSS will support theworld of sport. We are driving a worldwideand structured exchange of knowledge,carrying out research into the effectivenessof technical and organisational measuresand can train people, discuss structuresand, finally, evaluate events to ensurethat learning is a continuous process.All to the highest standards, supportedby a worldwide network of experts, andin partnership with event organisers,governments, bidding nations and allthose planning or working to deliver worldclasssafety and security services for majorsporting events.Further details on all these areascan be found in the ICSS’s ‘SharingKnowledge’ report from the 1stInternational Sport Security Conference.SPORTS EVENT MANAGEMENT 41

Press Operationsin association withONE SIZE NEVERFITS ALLHOW EFFECTIVE ANDCOST-EFFICIENT PRESSOPERATIONS CANCOLOUR THE WAY ANEVENT IS REPORTED ANDPERCEIVED WORLDWIDE.THE RELATIONSHIP between themedia and major sports events issymbiotic, extremely complex and everchanging. And while the basic principlesof event press operations may appearstraightforward and easy to grasp, asuccessful, seamless and apparentlyeffortless media management andservices programme is generally theresult of the most detailed planning andintense negotiations over rights, planningand contracts.In the simplest terms, a successfulprogramme is one which delivers theaccess, facilities and services whichthe media require to carry out theirwidely differing roles to maximum effect.Accommodating the media requires asignificant investment on behalf of rightsowners which can appear excessive.But the rewards can be immeasurablein terms of event brand building throughinformed and positive coverage.Nigel Rushman, whose companyRushmans has planned and deliveredmedia management services for severaleditions of the IRB Rugby World Cup,ICC Cricket World Cup, CAF Africa Cupof Nations and UEFA Euro ’96 amongothers, says that the impact of negativecoverage is not restricted to the eventowners or organisers.“One of the reasons why cities andcountries support bids to host majorsports events is that they see themas a positive platform for promotingthemselves. If the coverage is, for anyreason, negative it can be extremelydamaging to their ambitions to promotetourism and inward investmentopportunities. Everybody wants to beassociated with success…nobody witha shambles.”Rushman also points out thatInternational Federations have a clearand direct interest in ensuring thatcoverage is positive as it links directlyto the value of both their broadcast andsponsorship rights. Positive coveragecreates an aura of success around anevent creating greater competition forrights and pushing up their value.The objective of a press operationsprogramme is to create an environmentfor, and set of relationships with mediarepresentatives which lead to positivecoverage. At its simplest this involvesthe provision of access, informationand facilities.The past twenty five years havewitnessed fundamental and far reachingchanges to the media landscape. Thesedifferences have, by and large, beenbrought about by technology.The internet has changed the way inwhich information is sought, deliveredand consumed, challenging every typeof established media for an appropriateresponse. Inevitably some have beenmore successful than others and thepressure from free on-line news sourcescontinues to wreak havoc on theestablished newspaper industry in manyparts of the world.Coverage of sport has been amongthe worst hit as newspapers and regionaltelevision organisations have takenreporters off the road. Cost cutting is42

Photographers en masse at the FIFA Women’s World Cup Final 2011evident across the world and acrossthe media spectrum from nationalbroadcasters to local newspapers.Technological advances have alteredthe demand for event services in manyother ways too and event organisershave to reflect these in their provision ofmedia facilities.“Years ago hen I was a press officerat the Football Association journaliststelephoned their stories back to a copytaker,”said Glen Kirton, COOof Rushmans.“Today that has changed as a result oftechnological advances and one of thebiggest challenges facing those runningpress operations is ensuring sufficientbandwidth to accommodate the needs ofboth written press and photographers.”But, says, Kirton, the basics of the roleremain the same.“Journalists need a view of the action,access to interviews and information anda means of delivering their copy. “But if that sounds simple, not everyOrganising Committee appears tounderstand.“Those who host events regularlyunderstand the importance of gettingit right while many IFs put certainobligations on OCs to ensure they deliverfacilities and services to therequired standard.“But others don’t necessarily get it andtry to run media operations themselveswithout any expertise or experience.Often these are in areas where the viewof the media has been shaped by localissues rather than a broad understandingof international best practice,” he said.The ‘art’ of effective press operationsis to understand the ways in whichdiffering sectors of the media operate,the pressures they work under, theirrequirements and expectations offacilities and support.Inevitably these change over time.Today’s written press are underconsiderably more pressure to deliverthan at any time in the past as a result oftheir commitment to providing output foronline services.Traditional demarcation lines withinthe media are continuing to break down.SPORTS EVENT MANAGEMENT 43

Press Operationsin association withWhile this is beginning to mean fewerindividuals covering events, those whodo attend are likely to require differentfacilities and more flexible accessarrangements than ever before.Those responsible for press operationsface the same pressures as specialistscharged with delivering other functionalareas. Last minute decisions and actionsinevitably lead to compromises in qualityof delivery and escalating costs.Organisers must plan as thoroughlyand accurately as humanly possible,often by learning from the experiences ofprevious hosts and utilising the expertiseof those with specific experience ofsuch projects.Effective and properly policedaccreditation processes are essential tothe management of every major sportsevent. Accreditation is a vital part of theevent security operation and, as such,underpins all other functions.Accreditation systems are notrestricted to the media, although mediatend to be the second largest blocrequiring accreditation. Competitors,officials, VIPs and a baffling array ofcaterers, cleaners, florists, volunteers,drivers and others will also requireprocessing.In simple terms, accreditation is theprocess of determining which individualsshould be able to gain access to specificfacilities or areas within facilities.Consequently the accreditation systemsultimately control access to stadia andother sports facilities, press conferences,mixed zones, and main and satellitemedia centres.Given the cost of hosting non-rightsholding media, the accreditation systemis also the ultimate arbiter of mediaparticipation. No accreditation - No Entry!Journalists covering the FIFA WorldCup in Italy in 1990 stepped off thestreets of Rome into a main mediacentre which featured – among otherthings – a gourmet restaurant, swimmingpool, hairdresser, travel agency andseveral shops as well as the facilitiesmore usually associated with theworking of the media.The Italian organising Committeehad gone out of its way – and to greatexpense – to ensure that their mediavisitors from all four corners of the worldwere able to both work and relax instyle. In this respect they were theideal hosts.Those journalists tempted toassume such luxury is the norm aredestined to be disappointed. The Italianextravagance has not been regularlyrepeated and today the rationale behindmedia centres tends to be based oncost-effectiveness and practicality.In addition to physical facilities, presscoverage is significantly enhanced bythe provision of timely and accurateinformation covering rankings, seedlingsand statistics on participating athletesand teams. This is supplemented byresults and their implications in terms offurther rounds, records andmedal counts.The complexity of events andinformation need increases exponentiallywith the addition of each country orsport involved. Audience expectationsalso increase with every quadrennialmaking information provision aThe press centre at Lord’s Cricket Groundconsiderable and expensive headache.Specialists like Infostrada Sports haveset up to meet this need and are familiarboth with the needs of the press andthe pressures of a real-time multi-lingualenvironment.Media management at a sports eventis a major undertaking in every respectand requires organisers to recruit andtrain dedicated staff. Staff numbers aresignificant because of the demands for24-hour service in main press centresand IBCs and the requirement for expertstaffing at venue media centres.There are media management roles atevery level from the project director, whoreports directly to - and may well sit on -the Organising Committee, to volunteersresponsible for posting and deliveringinformation at venue media centres ormanning help desks offering informationon everything from the quality of localnightlife to the nearest supplier ofcomputer accessories.In essence, staff roles fall into twocategories. The first are managersand assistant managers who shouldbe recruited on the basis of priorexperience in an event environment.As with other areas of eventmanagement, the clock ticks quicklyagainst an immovable deadline anddress rehearsals are strictly limited.Get it right and there may be someplaudits. Get it wrong, and the resultingcoverage can have hugely damagingconsequences for the event and forits hosts.44 SPORTS EVENT MANAGEMENT

Presentation & Ceremoniesin association withLET THE GAMES BEGINPantoneEXTRAVAGANT opening255Cceremonies hAVEbecome part andparcel of major PantonespoRTs events 306Cin the21st century. ButwhAT’s their realrole? Owen EVANsrepoRTs.WHEN Diana Ross’ sliced penaltymagically made the goal fall apart in theopening ceremony of the USA World Cupin 1994, it set the tone for the rest ofthe tournament.It was not that people weredisappointed in her less-than-supremefootball skills, it was more the impressionthe hosts were not taking the entireevent seriously.An opening ceremony is the perfectplatform for a city or country to get theirmessage, or brand, across to millionsof viewers in one unique event. It oftentranscends the sport itself.A global audience of 984 million tunedin to watch the Beijing 2008 openingceremony. But did they make the most ofit? And is big always better?“It’s time to reinvent it (the openingceremony format) completely. It’s anabsurd game that’s being played thatwe have got to make it bigger and betterthan whatever has just been before,” saysDavid Zolkwer, Board Director of JackMorton Worldwide.Zolkwer worked on Athens 2004Olympic Games’ opening ceremony, aswell as Manchester 2002 and Melbourne2006 Commonwealth Games.“Beijing was huge, and then you goso what? There was nothing resonant. Itwould have achieved more if it had madethe world smile,” says Zolkwer.“It’s time to start again as the other thingthat is going to happen is that the principle(bigger is better) will price out other citieswhich have a lot to contribute, and it willthen just be about the big commercialcompanies.“Delhi had a chance and they blew it. Itwas three hours of Diana Ross moments.“We’ve got to stop saying let’s makeit bigger and better. What everybody isstriving for is difference.”WHERE’S THE HUMANITY?People have been key to every successfulopening ceremony.Not many people will remember Dohabuilding the largest ever LED screen atthe 2006 Asian Games, but they are farmore likely to remember the horsemanwho rode to the summit of the stadiumto light the torch or the archer who lit theOlympic flame with burning arrow at the1992 Barcelona Olympics.Greg Bowman, Managing andCreative Director for Great Big Events,is currently working on this year’s RugbyWorld Cup in New Zealand havingpreviously co-ordinated the 2007 eventin France. He was also involved with theSydney 2000 Olympics.“I go back to Beijing’s openingceremony. Having attended both theceremonies there, for me by far and awaythe better event was the Paralympicsceremony. That was the most emotionaland I was in tears at different stages,”says Bowman.“It had an amazing human element.They had the little girl who trained tobe a ballet dancer but lost her leg in anearthquake, but the way she appearedwas so beautifully staged.“That worked so well because it had somuch human emotion.“The whole point of these ceremoniesis the human stories that go on behindthe events.”8,500 performers brought Greek cultureand tradition to life at the Athens 2004Games in front of 70,000 spectators,leading to a 10 per cent increase intourism post-event.However, one little boy proved one ofthe most memorable moments ashe sailed across an in-built lake on apaper boat.“People will talk about the boy in theboat in Athens. It was a cheap gig. It wasnothing. The cheapest thing in the show,but people tend to remember the humanitylong after the psychological effects ofevent have been and gone,” said Zolkwer.“People will forget the technology butremember the people involved. Theyremember the human moments. It’sfunny that when we look back at athleticmoments they think about those whofailed as much as those who succeeded.”CULTURAL DIFFERENCESThere is no ‘one-size fits all’ policy tosports presentation. Not only does theevent have to adopt the idiosyncrasies46

of the host nation, it also has to beculturally sensitive.In the 1980 Winter Olympic Games inLake Placid, USA, canons were replacedby fireworks in the opening ceremonyas it was felt the former came across astoo militaristic.“We paid a lot of attention to thecultural nuances of the French, the style ofannouncements, the music they play whenresearching how we would present the(2007 Rugby) World Cup,” says Bowman.“For instance they had the Bandas,The spectacular Asian Games Opening Ceremony, Doha 2006which is sort of like a slightly out-of-tunebrass band that would sit amongst theaudience, so we made sure we had a fewof those.“It’s really all about finding the iconicelements for that specific event. If you arechoosing music it’s no good me going inand making the decision having not grownup in France.“It could be culturally inappropriate, so it’sabout getting those cultural nuances rightfor that environment, whether it be France,the Middle East or China or London.”POLITICAL INFLUENCEOne of the main challenges over the lastdecade or so with opening ceremoniesand sports presentation is politics.In particularly sensitive environments,hosts walk the fine line betweenoffending people and actually havingsomething meaningful to say.Zolkwer said he was ‘advised’ bythe IOC and Olympic TOP sponsorsafter revealing plans for the 2004opening ceremony.He wanted a lone runner to act outa timeline of previous Olympics rightfrom the original event in Athens. Whenhe reached the period of the two worldwars, the runner would purposely tripup to “show where the world tooka tumble.”“We had input from the IOC andother stakeholders saying ‘Oh that’sa bit serious, aren’t you making apolitical statement?’ and what we we’resaying is this about sharing the humancondition, and finding a lyricism ineveryday existence.“So there was that sense of politicalfear, commercial pressure and brandconservatism.“Los Angeles 1982 I think was the lastdaytime ceremony and it was basicallya Disney gig. Extremely vanilla.“It all boils down to the samequestion when I say to you Mr Client ‘onthat one night three billion people aregoing to tune in to hear what you haveto say…what are you going to say?’“Answering that question is nowprobably the single most difficult taskfacing us.”SPORTS EVENT MANAGEMENT 47

Presentation& CeremoniesEVENT PRESENTATIONAND CEREMONIES2007 Rugby World Cup Trophy Presentation – Great Big EventsSport Presentation is about communication. Our aim on behalf of ourclients is to touch spectators by communicating a brand; an idea; astory. Digital technology is shaping the future of the industry and assuch, we are able to embrace developments that promote ongoingdialogue and bridge the connection between brand and spectator.It is critical that we acknowledge such development isn’t comingat the expense of traditional forms of entertainment and activationin-stadia. The razzle dazzle of these new technologies is ‘nice-tohave’but those foundation elements – music, video boards, MCs,announcers, athlete entries, activations, sport protocols and culturalnuances will always be the backbone for a professional presentationpackage. Therein lies our most distinct competitive advantage – asa single, experienced operator, Great Big Events has the ability toentirely deliver to a world class standard those core elements, and toenhance that execution through integration of interactive and engagingadd-on’s. Great Big Events coined the term ‘Sport Presentation’for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games and since that time we havecontinued to advance the presentation of sport internationally.Audience preferences are evolving and in keeping with our position atthe forefront of the event presentation and ceremonies industry, wetake very seriously our role in effecting positive and productive change,and in protecting the history and traditions of those sports.Event Presentation and Ceremonies content has in many waysreflected the convergence trend of broadcast and online platforms;as discerning sports fans increasingly embrace digital environments.This is true of our recent major event experience, where we haveconsciously instituted an increase in content that is digital-based.With the emergence of tools such as smartphones; live streaming;digital media; augmented reality; mobile-friendly websites; andsophisticated app’s; the ability to capture, tag and share material, andto provide such breadth of information in a compelling manner and withgenuine immediacy, attracts instant audience credibility. Social mediaand sport are intrinsically entwined and increasingly we are identifyingtheir integration capacity is moving beyond repurposing material fromevery day brand platforms for event presentation, toward total contentcustomisation; fit for mass consumption in a live stadia situation.There’s actually an incredible sense of excitement around theinnovation possibilities that are now being realised across eventpresentation and ceremonies, with Great Big Events having investedheavily in research and development in recent years to ensure weremain on the cusp of market trends and industry advancement. Andit’s not always about doing something new; but doing it better.Another categorical shift in our market has been the move towardongoing partnerships with sports federations and organising bodies.Where traditionally we have been engaged purely to provide expertpresentation and production services at event-time, increasingly we areworking with clients to shape the delivery of their Sport Presentation48 SPORTS EVENT MANAGEMENT

advertorialand integration of key elements across their entire brand platform.There is a much greater collaborative effort to ensure that all parts ofthe organisation are reflected in the final product. Fundamentally, therecontinues to be a shared will to embrace fresh ideas and to instituteconstructive change as part of that re-design effort.Experience is critical and Great Big Events has arguably the mostcapped team of Producers in international sport, led by our Managingand Creative Director, Greg Bowman. Anyone who has stepped intoa control room of a major international sporting event acknowledgesthe skill that is required to produce an event of that level; often underthe pressure of a global microscope. That ability to gauge audienceresponse and to react freely to spontaneous moments; to makeinsightful content judgment on a whim; to take the audience on acompelling journey; to create an environment for the athlete to achieveoptimum performance – this is really high stakes stuff.2006 Doha Asian GamesThe 2006 Doha AsianGames was an eventof epic proportionsinvolving more than10,000 athletes fromover 45 nations.Great Big Eventsprovided SportPresentation andVictory Ceremoniesservices for all 39 sports across 21 venues. Our workforce totalledmore than 600 staff. As this was the first major international multisportevent held in Doha, Great Big Events instituted a strong legacy policyto ensure the development of a skilled local workforce for futurehosting opportunities in the region.Event presentation and ceremonies are highly visible components ofmajor sports event planning. You can’t afford to get it wrong; and wefeel privileged for having worked on some of the biggest and mostsuccessful major sporting events over the past 15 years – the reasonfor our being there is because we have so often got it right. We areproud of the achievements of our company and of our staff and weare extremely passionate about our output.Great Big Events is a global company with offices in Sydney andLondon, and satellite offices in Doha, Beijing, Paris, Melbourne,Brisbane and Perth. The following case studies provide a snapshotof our major works, covering event presentation at single sport andmultisport events, and in the production of ceremonies:2007 Rugby World Cup – France, Cardiff, EdinburghGreat Big Events wasappointed to deliverSport Presentationfor all 48 matchesin multiple venuesacross three hostcountries. It was oursecond consecutiveappointment tolead the eventpresentation for Rugby’s international showpiece, following successfuldelivery of the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia.“Great Big Events delivered a world class presentation, representingthe strong and proud culture of France, while reflecting theparticipating nations’ place in the Tournament and the culture ofinternational Rugby. The presentation was unique for each venue andmatch, while maintaining a Tournament-wide look and feel – ensuringspectators enjoyed a truly international Rugby World Cup experience.You’re really the best a sporting event can get.”Nicolas Schpoliansky, Project Manager Sport Presentation andCeremonies, Organising Committee for the Rugby World Cup 2007“Great Big Events, the leading Sport Presentation company in theworld, provided Sport Presentation services to all 39 sports during the15th Asian Games in Doha, Qatar. Their professionalism, commitmentand dedication along with their creative flair were a major contributoryfactor in making the Games memorable and unique. Greg Bowman,as the Executive Producer of Sport Presentation presented anexceptional understanding of the requirements for each sport. GreatBig Events worked closely with the Organising Committee to ensurethat there was a legacy combining both imported talent with thetraining of local talent; something that was deemed as essential as alegacy aspect for the Games.”Khaleel Al Jabir, Sport Director, Doha Asian Games OrganisingCommittee2008 FIFA CongressGreat Big Eventsdelivered the OpeningCeremony for the58th FIFA Congress in2008. Staged at theprized Sydney OperaHouse Concert Hall,the audience includeddelegates from FIFAs208 member nationsand Australia’s leading parliamentary figures. The show was built aroundFIFAs key marketing pillars; ‘Develop the Game’, ‘Touch the World’ and‘Build a Better Future’, and was delivered in five different languages.This event attracted considerable funding in support of FootballFederation Australia’s determined bid for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.Contact Great Big EventsLondon: +44 (0) 208 871 4555Sydney: +61 (0) 2 9660 6133enquiries@greatbigevents.comwww.greatbigevents.comSPORTS EVENT MANAGEMENT 49

Power & Lightingin association withPOWER TO THE PEOPLEALEX MILLER TAKES ALOOK AT SOME OF THEMANY CHALLENGES,TRENDS AND ADVANCESAROUND POWER ANDLIGHTING FOR EVENTS.AS RECENTLY AS 10 years ago, theidea of hosting a World Cup in the MiddleEast would have been dismissed out ofhand. However, development of sportinginfrastructure and the construction ofdevoted sports cities in the Gulf, hasforced many to rethink their perceptionsof the Middle East as a sportingdestination.With Qatar winning the right to hostthe 2022 World Cup, one of the biggestlogistical challenges of proving that theregion can host major sporting eventsis ensuring a consistent and sufficientpower supply.Major events require an immenseamount of power. Even when powersupplies in the host country aresufficient, organisers need to providesupplementary and back-up suppliesfor all aspects of the event, frombroadcasting through to catering.The power supplies for large summerevents in the Middle East is a concern.Qatar’s World Cup will take place whenthe local power providers are alreadyunder immense strain due to theconstant need for air conditioning.In order to guarantee the power supplyfor major events, organisers can drawupon a ready-made solution – temporarypower. The use of a temporary powerand energy back up solutions shouldmean events enjoy smooth broadcastsand provide insurance should the mainpower supply fail or prove insufficient.One recent high-profile black outoccurred during Euro 2008 when a fiveminuteoutage during Germany’s 3-2semi-final win over Turkey meant viewersmissed Germany’s second goal. Whilethere was also a black out during thethird cricket test match between Englandand India at Edgbaston last month.The world’s most high-profile eventsare all supported by temporary packages.Specialist rental power provider Aggrekohas worked on events including theBeijing Olympics in 2008, the 2010Winter Olympics in Vancouver and the2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa,while the London Organising Committeeof the Olympic Games and ParalympicGames (LOCOG) recently appointed thecompany as supplier of temporary energyservices for the 2012 Games. Underthat agreement, it will provide poweracross 39 venues across London, Cardiff,Coventry, Cardiff, Glasgow, Manchester,Newcastle and Weymouth.The temporary power will be providedby industrial generators distributedthrough approximately 1,000km of cableand 3,500 distribution panels per venue.In addition to supporting the openingand closing ceremonies at the OlympicStadium, Aggreko will draw on itsexperience of working with broadcastersto power field-of-play lighting and cameraequipment in the stadia and power theInternational Broadcasting Centre, whichwill be providing television feeds.With the unrelenting developmentwithin the broadcast industry, it isessential power supply companies keepup to date. During a game, some largerstadia require the same levels of poweras 3,000 medium-sized houses.Julian Ford, Aggreko’s Marketingand Sales Development Director tellsSportBusiness International: “It wasn’tthat long ago we were watching sporton black and white TVs. Now, with theadvent of Digital TV, HD, 3D, streamingand internet broadcasting, there arean ever greater number of differentrequirements from the power supply.HDTV for example delivers impressivequality imagery into the home, but doesrequire extra lighting.“But event organisers have to keepup. With ever increasing sums of moneyarriving in sport through advertising andsponsorship and growing viewing figuresfrom a global environment, they can’tafford any glitches.”On the lighting side, ever improvingtechnology, energy savings and ecofriendlytechnologies are constantlydriving change. In tough economic timesand with energy costs at an all-time high,savings are especially crucial.Ken Cornett is Director of US-basedsports lighting company Hubbell,which produces the SportsLiters brandof lighting. He tells SportBusinessInternational: “The potential for energysavings makes the use of automatedlighting controls for example, areally smart choice in sports lighting.50

Getty Images SportLighting controls which can be used toautomatically turn lights on and off asneeded and which prevent energy wasteare becoming increasingly attractive.”Clubs and franchises are becomingincreasingly aware of the possibleramifications of having inadequatelighting in their stadia from a safety angle.Chase Field, the home of baseball’sArizona Diamondbacks is a relativelynew build but has already undergone anupdate of its lighting and security lightingsystems and moved to a central lightinginverter system.“Previously, if the lights had gone out,a capacity crowd of 49,033 would havesuddenly found itself in the dark for up to15 minutes. In the remote event of a poweroutage, the stadium operations teamwanted to ensure that it could quicklyshift from normal source illumination toemergency back-up generation in fiveseconds or less”, adds Cornett.To illuminate the playing field andprovide overthrow lighting into thestands for safety, the engineering teamchose 1,500-W metal halide fixtures.The stadium now boasts seven banksof fixtures (87 in total) in each of the fourcorners of the stadium and 180 fixturesin each of the two main outfield banksof lighting. Of these, 80 are emergencyfixtures, 60 in the corner banks (15fixtures in each of the four corners),plus 20 within the two main banks (10fixtures in each bank). Together, these 80fixtures provide sufficient light to allowspectators to exit the stadia safely duringan emergency.The central lighting inverters constantlymonitor the incoming power. As long asnormal utility supplied power is available,the central lighting inverter remains instandby mode. However, if the utility lineis disturbed or interrupted, the centrallighting inverters automatically supplyemergency “inverted” power (derivedfrom fully charged DC batteries andconverted to AC power) to all connectedloads.This is especially important because ofthe high intensity discharge lamps; evena minor power interruption may causefixtures to “wink out.” Due to their nature,they sometimes need to cool down for15 minutes, but with the inverter systemthe process takes just milliseconds.Marshall Cheever, Assistant Directorof Engineering at Chase Field, adds:“In addition to being cost effective,the system has enabled us to disposeof many obsolete fixtures – and mostimportantly, we won’t go dark.”SPORTS EVENT MANAGEMENT 51

Power &LightingPOWERING MAJOR EVENTSAround the world, sporting enthusiasts cheer on their favouriteathletes, watch their teams on television or follow streaming livefootage of sporting events online. What spectators can easily takefor granted is the vast amounts of electrical power needed behindthe scenes to keep these events on track. Should there be aninterruption to the power supply, the audience at home could easilymiss the winning goal or viewers at the stadium could be left in thedark. For this reason, ensuring a reliable supply of power is one ofthe most critical tasks facing major event organisers. In fact, far frombeing an afterthought, power supplies for major events are broughtinto consideration years before venues are completed, during thedesign phase.The rising cost of building stadia for major events has been welldocumented,with the spectre of ‘white elephant’ stadiums hauntingevent organisers as they attempt to design stadiums which are largeenough to hold hundreds of thousands of spectators during a majorevent but which will still be useful to the local community after theevent has ended. More and more stadium designers are going theroute of ‘flexible’ stadiums, which are designed in such a way thatadditional capacity and services can be added to the stadium whenrequired. An increasing trend is the creation of flexible stadia, wheredesigners build distribution points around the stadium which can beconnected to temporary power plants located outside the facility. Thisenables the event organisers to purchase only enough permanentpower capacity to keep the venue running at a minimal level; when thevenue is fully utilised, additional power is brought in on a rental basis.However, even stadiums which are not designed to be ‘flexible’ willrequire large amounts of additional power when running a major event.Power is required for everything from the lights and cameras on thefield, to the security scanners at the gate and the vendors selling hotdogs in the concession kiosks. Major events require hundreds ofmegawatts of power and most national grids do not have the sparecapacity available to supply this amount of power. For this reason,most major event organisers choose to outsource their power supplyto dedicated rental power specialists.Broadcast vs. Domestic PowerProviding power for a major event is complicated by the factthat major events have unique needs which must be catered for.Power at events is provided in two distinct ways; technical power52 SPORTS EVENT MANAGEMENT

ADVERTORIALfor broadcasting and Field of Play (FOP), and domestic power,which encompasses all overlay services. Technical power at majorevents is most often provided directly to the International BroadcastCentres (IBCs), which are set up at the venues to house hundreds ofproduction centres for television, radio and online broadcast. At eventswhich are located at multiple venues, a main IBC will be established,but smaller IBCs will also be required at each of the sporting venues.The essential element of broadcast power is that it must be whollyreliable. The recent growth in popularity of high definition broadcasting,together with the increasing sensitivity of broadcast formats means anypower system has to be of the highest quality. The smallest fluctuationin supply or the tiniest outage can cause computers in use at theIBC to reboot, bringing down all broadcast feeds and leading to TVcoverage being affected all over the world. For this reason, technicalpower requires a fully redundant back-up supply. Uninterrupted PowerSystems (UPS) are used by some power providers to ensure that ifthere is a breakdown in power, the load is able to switch to the back-uppower supply without any interruption. Technical power also includesessential power supplies for field of play lighting, sound systems,scoring, commentary boxes and advertising hoardings, to name a few.Domestic power encompasses all the non-broadcast power whichis supplied to a venue during a major event. This includes power foroverlay services such as security check-points, parking lots, foodkiosks and changing areas.One of the most difficult elements to manage when constructing adomestic power supply is planning the distribution system. Cable pathsmust be identified and created, which satisfy the customer’s need forpower distribution whilst ensuring safe and secure paths away fromthe general public. At most venues the generator compound is someway away from the stadium itself and in this instance, the cable bridgesmust be designed and constructed, with independent certification, totake the power safely over roadways and paths. In addition, powerdistribution points must be incorporated throughout the stadiumgrounds in order to provide enough access points for variousequipment, all of which needs to be provided at specific voltages.Major event organisers choose AggrekoWith so many complicated aspects involved in the provision of power,it is not surprising that major event organisers most often choose tosubcontract the power supply to experienced power rental providers.Aggreko, the world’s largest provider of rental power solutions, is thefirst choice for major event organisers. Aggreko has a dedicated teamof event specialists, each with many years experience in the eventsindustry, who are able to provide organisers with bespoke engineeredpower solutions for events of any size.148 locations around the world and a world-wide power fleet of over6,000 MW, gives Aggreko a major advantage over local competitors inthe power market. Aggreko specialises in turn-key power rental, whichmeans that event organisers are able to outsource the entire project,including engineering, design, mobilisation, commissioning, operationand ultimately, decommissioning. Aggreko is also able to provide fuelmanagement services.More than just powerIt is not just power that Aggreko is able to provide to the eventsindustry. Aggreko also provides rental temperature control (TC)packages. These TC packages are provided for VIP and otherhospitality areas, catering stands and other temporary structures withinthe grounds, with the design and installation of temporary ducting andmobile cooling packages created to ensure comfort and safety at alltimes. In addition, temperature control is vitally important within IBCs,where hundreds of computers are present under one roof. Withoutadequate cooling, the sensitive broadcast equipment is not able tooperate. Aggreko is able to set up temporary cooling plants and installducting for the distribution of the cold air. As regions such as theMiddle East, South America and Asia increase their position within themajor sporting events arena, having effective and reliable TC solutionsin place is becoming imperative to the overall success of major events.Julian Ford, Marketing and Sales Development Director at AggrekoInternational, commented on Aggreko’s track record of powering andcooling the world’s largest events, saying: “Crucially, we boast themost diverse, reliable rental power and temperature control fleet ofits kind worldwide. Our custom-built equipment has been specificallydesigned to meet the demands of the event industry. It includesgenerators and air-conditioning which are low on both noise andemissions and which ensure the uninterruptible supply that is vital inan industry where failure is simply not an option.”Aggreko Internationalenquiries@aggreko.comwww.aggreko.comSPORTS EVENT MANAGEMENT 53

Event Lookin association withALL DRESSED UPFOR THE SHOWBRAND POSITIONING HASBECOME AN INTEGRALPART OF SPORTS EVENTPLANNING AS LAYINGBRICKS AND MORTAR.OWEN EVANS SPEAKSTO THE EVENT LOOKSPECIALISTS OPERATINGIN EVENT MANAGEMENT’SNEWEST DISCIPLINE.FOR A LONG TIME, those responsiblefor making an event look good weredrafted in at the last moment for a touchof brand beautification.However, in the mid-90s organisersof the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games andthe SuperBowl sparked a new method ofcreating brand identities aroundsports events.Industry stalwarts like Giles Stanford,board director at Icon World, believethe brand look is now as importantto an architect’s thoughts as age-oldconsiderations such as sound and lighting.Stanford, who is currently workingon the look programme for the London2012 Olympic Games, has also workedon both Manchester and MelbourneCommonwealth Games.“When people say ‘what is event lookall about?’ the best description I haveis ‘what happens at Christmas? Whydoes everybody dress up a high street atChristmas time?’” says Stanford.“Everyone does it to change theatmosphere, to lift the spirits. That isexactly what we do with a sports event,you try and make it unique.“Atlanta (Olympic Games) in 1996 andAmerican Football in the mid-90s werethe first to bring a bit of brand identityand individuality to an event.“It all depends on what the eventowner wants. With the CommonwealthGames in Australia, the owners wereall about Melbourne, Melbourne,Melbourne, but it was not as strong inthat sense with Manchester.“Different stakeholders use event lookin different ways. The brands involvedare using the look to engage with theircustomers and host cities will use it topromote themselves.“What look is all about is how an eventappears to the people involved. It goesright across the board from a colourfulbanner to litter in an airport or arailway station.“It has got to work on television.These people invest so much based onthe potential benefit to broadcastersrather than the man of the street.“An Olympic Games’ organisingcommittee will pay millions of poundsto a communications agency toget a message across. They will thencome to us.“Bringing a brand to life is a big partof what we do.”MAKING A STATEMENTA successful ‘look’ programme liveslong in the memory and can makeor break the world’s perceptions of ahost country. So are countries fromdeveloping markets providing thegreatest demand for the look services inorder to establish themselves?“Definitely, especially Qatar, a relativelynew country to the world of sport butone which is taking on the challenge ofhosting world class events like the (FIFA)World Cup,” says Jacob Burke, SportsDirector of The Look Company.54

WTA Championships - Doha 2010 - Day Six - a Look Company event //Getty Images Sport“Their vision is to become the sportingcapital of the world and federations arecoming to us to make sure there is a worldclass look to events there.“You want to ensure it is immediatelyrecognised as a Qatari event and needto retain cultural references which arevery important.“Everything has to be communicatedin English and Arabic. The graphical anddesign elements all have to be tailored toshow Qatar has its own style.”The Look Company provided over85 kilometres of vibrant fence fabric whichgraced the venues and courses during theVancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games.The city and Olympic venues were alsodecorated with 13,000 outdoor and indoorcolourful banners.Jacob Burke’s father and LookCompany founder, Edward, said a key partof their strategy going forward is providinga recyclable approach to brand identity.“We’re saying recycle, reuse andrepurpose. Vancouver was the first tosay ‘we’re going to go fabric’ andLondon 2012 is now following and doingthe same thing.“London 2012 put it in their bid - noPVC. That was amazing.”The fence fabric The Look Companyused for Vancouver was made out of thesame material that can be recycled andused for basketball jerseys.“There’s a lot of infrastructure that acity will acquire and most will try anddispose of it after the games,” addedEdward Burke.“But now they have to put in theirtenders you need to have a second lifefor this material.”Gary Edwards CEO at Icon Design,made his company’s first foray intoevent look management for Brighton’smarathon in the UK last year.Given the remit to make the eventstand out from its more illustriousUK cousin, the London Marathon,Edwards had one simple plan; location,location, location.“We started working on this right atthe earliest stages, when it was still aconcept and long before the organiserswere talking to sponsors or banks,”says Edwards.“They talked to us before anyone else.Then it finally got to the point where theySPORTS EVENT MANAGEMENT 55

Event Lookin association withFIFA World Cup South Africa 2010needed something tangible, some kindof identity.“We were very aware that the locationwas crucial and rather than go for theusual landmarks we came up with theidea of representing the sea, the Downsand the seagull.”Event Look has become establishedas one of event management’score disciplines, but what does thefuture hold?“You look at probably the biggestsporting facility built in the last 10 years,the Reliant Astrodome in Texas. Thatis designed essentially as a messagesystem. It is hooked up to new mediaand has LED screens everywhere,”says Stanford.“They can change the messageinstantly depending on what it is they aretrying to do. Whether it be respondingto a simple text message or turning pinkbecause that is the theme of aparticular event.“They have that flexibility. For sure thearchitects thought about that from DayOne as it is a revenue stream.“On lesser venues the architects willalmost certainly have taken into accountthe look, and there will be no retro-fitbranding anymore. It will all be part ofthe package.“Let’s say that when (UK Premier Leagueteam) Arsenal was trying to raise funds fortheir Emirates Stadium, and agreed fromday one to paint all the concrete red, thatwould be part of the look.”UNDER THE MICROSCOPETechnological innovation could lead tosports event designers knowing wherethe brands are placed before a brick hasbeen laid.Site-surveying, or scoping, allows eventorganisers an opportunity to assess anaccurate digital 3D model of a potentialhost city.The technique’s origins can be foundin forensic science, and the LookCompany believe it will lead to morestreamlined planning processes for futuresports events.“We invested about (US) $150,000 intosite surveying technology in 2005, whichreally came from the forensic scienceworld,” says Edward Burke.“We can scan a complete building andsee exactly what is there today. And thelocal organising committee can have thatinformation as well.“Traditionally, we wouldn’t be gettingthat information until the end of theprocess. But as people become a lotmore sophisticated so do our processes.”COLOUR CO-ORDINATIONDespite all the technological advances,some believe the key to creating asuccessful look to an event is to beconsistent, clear and simple.According to Stanford, an event can beheavily sponsored but the problems startwhen there are too many brands involvedgiving out different messages.“The most important thing is the visitorexperience. Back in the old days you usedto turn up at an event with concrete blankwalls, or the odd sponsor recognitionboard. One wasn’t really engaged withthe event, the venue and the brand,”says Stanford.“That is the critical bit, to engage withthe customer. They see the same colourright the way from what is on the websiteto the ticket, to the venue, rather than justturning up seeing a sporting spectacleand then going home.“Actually the same applies for thecompetitor. They want to turn up to theevent and feel as though they are atsomething special.“Going forward, certainly in permanentsituations, we’ll see a lot more dynamism.Lots more colour, lots more LED andinstant messaging creating engagementwith customers.“Most of us work in big temporaryevents like the Olympics and World Cupsand at that level Event Look is part of thebudget. It is even filtering down to singleevents and smaller events like swimmingworld championships.“They are all investing in theirlook because it makes it so muchmore memorable.”56 SPORTS EVENT MANAGEMENT

EventLookThe Progression of The LookThe Look Company, QatarHeralding from Canada, The Look Company’s heritage is based ina long running family business dating back to 1965. Going back tobasics, Grandfather Gordon Burke was fundamental to the growth ofthe flag business in North America, even contributing to the design ofthe current Canadian Maple Leaf national flag.From strength to strength, The Look Company, Qatar is now one ofthe world leaders in Event Look and Branding. As part of the globalfirm, The Look Group, the company in Qatar has been establishedsince 2005. Breaking into the Middle East market, with the largestever sports event branding contract in terms of its value, for the AsianGames 2006, The Look Company has moved on to firmly establish itsposition within the region and is now first call for many of the leadingcompanies and sports federations operating in the Middle East.Amy Burke, General Manager, Middle East who has been in Qatarfrom the beginning describes how she has seen the company growover the years, “From the outset we could see the vibrancy in theeconomy and the potential within the Middle East market to makeLook and Branding a real prospect for the future. We’re now on ourway to that future here in Qatar and as a team we have over 100permanent employees based in Doha. We see our company’s futurehere as an investment for us and Qatar too.”Why is Look important?It is clear in the industry that the ‘Look’ of an event has far surpassedjust flags and banners; whilst these key pieces still play a prominentrole as branding items, they now form only a part of a total eventbranding solution that spans field of play, competition venues, noncompetitionvenues and external regional areas.Spectators, sports federations, home TV audiences and athletes alldemand a relationship with a sports event. It is the role of The LookCompany to work with the interests of each of these stakeholders inmind to ensure that each event has as far wide a reach as possiblewhen it comes to exposure before, during and after.In order to help facilitate events, The Look Company works tirelesslywith other agencies in the region to ensure a seamless service isprovided to event organisers. As outlined by Gerry Price, Presidentand COO, Middle East, “We have spent many years building a strong58 SPORTS EVENT MANAGEMENT

ADVERTORIALnetwork of associates here in the Middle East and we make it ourpriority to integrate with other agencies so that we’re part of their localexecution team; this is one of our measures that enables us to providethe highest level of service to all our clients time and again.”Where does Look go from here?As the number of sports events that compete on an international stageincreases so too does the expectation of the quality of each event.More than just keep level on the playing fi eld, The Look Company is aproven innovator in the industry and works to continually raise the barin industry standards:3D ScanningThis technology allows The Look Company to complete highlyaccurate surveys of buildings, structures and landscapes, allcustomized to individual requirements. For a large event, the value ofseeing 3D, photo realistic models of what your event stage will looklike is immeasurable. Not only is this technology visually superior,it also allows The Look Company to check quality assurance andconstruction progress throughout the project timeline.Modular billboardingThe Look Company’s modular billboarding solution is the perfecttool for bringing event branding to the ‘outside world’. Quick and easyto construct, this option provides a highly visually effective, customizedand safe branding tool that also provides great value for money tothe client.Kit of Parts (KOPS)To have a catalogue of branding options – complete with fullspecifi cations – for an event space or complex is invaluable to aresident organisation. The Look Company offers exactly this service,valuing the longevity of its client partnerships and allowing forspeed and effi ciency of a customised service each time anevent is produced.Fabric in HDThe Look Company has invested in a number of High Defi nition fabricprinters to further raise the bar in regards to industry standards. Thefi nished quality being delivered by this technology is superior to anyother available product. Using HD fabrics will enhance the viewing ofall audiences watching sports events and should be set as an industrybenchmark for quality purposes.What lies ahead for Event Look in Qatar?The coming years mark an exciting period for events in Qatar andthe Middle East. With the successful 2022 World Cup Bid, Qatar willshortly play host to the world. The Look Company supported Qatarwith its branding efforts for the entire bid campaign and was privilegedto be a part of such a monumental marker in the country’s sportinghistory. As Ed Burke, CEO, The Look Group, explains, “The next11 years will provide a time of substantial growth of the sportingeconomy in Qatar and The Look Company has every intention ofcontinuing to produce branding solutions of the highest quality inorder that we may assist Qatar on its journey to becoming a globalsport tourism destination.”What else is on the horizon for The LookCompany?As its focus area, The Look Company is fully resourced to servicethe largest of international sports events and has recently invested inlarger, state-of-the-art facilities in Doha to facilitate its future growth.Outside of the sport arena, The Look Company, Middle East, is alsogrowing its corporate and interiors division, as described by AmyBurke: “We’re currently working with a number of companies onprojects to ensure their brands are a living, breathing entity at theheart of their organization. These projects range across business toconsumer and internal employee engagement branding programmesto span the whole organisation. The future for The Look Company isvery positive here in Qatar and the Middle East and we’re very excitedabout current and future projects in the pipeline.”Moreover individual services and items, The Look Company providesmost benefi t when its partnerships are created in the early stages: “Anintrinsic part of our service proposition is the ability to work with anorganising committee from the very beginning, allowing our expertiseto iron out any creases in plans and mitigate any risk to the client”,says Amy Burke. This thinking aligns with The Look Company’s effortsto work very closely with complementing agencies.To contact The Look Company, Middle East:Sports Event Branding –Amy Burke aburke@thelookcompany.comCorporate and Social Event Branding –Lauren Shilling lshilling@thelookcompany.comSport Event Sponsorship Opportunities –Jacob Burke jburke@thelookcompany.comSPORTS EVENT MANAGEMENT 59

Transport & Logisticsin association withSPECIALDELIVERIESAs sports eventsspread their wingsworldwide, theon-time and safedelivery of equipment,materials and peopleposes significantlogistical challengesNo matter what their size, delivery ofa first-class sports event inevitably relieson efficient logistics.And the flow of materials and servicesbefore, during and after an event is anintricate process.For example, consider the constructionof the London 2012 Olympic Stadium,the centrepiece of next year’s Games.According to the Olympic DeliveryAuthority, 144 companies have actedas suppliers for the Olympic Stadium sofar – and that is nearly a year before theathletes have even started to arrive.It is clear that without well-plannedlogistics, an event can grind to a halt. It isthe job of Matthew Clarke, consultant toSchenker AG, to ensure such a scenariodoes not materialise.DB Schenker has been a freightforwarding business since the 1870s,but its sports event unit has been a morerecent creation to meet the needs of aburgeoning market sector.“It started when the company gainedofficial status as the sponsor of freightforwarding services at the SydneyOlympics (in 2000),” Clarke says.“The Olympics represented a majorspringboard for the DB Schenkernetwork. In 2003 DB Schenker decidedto become a sponsor of the InternationalOlympic Committee, and in parallel withthat development was the establishmentof a sport events unit.“There is an increasing demand in thissector, not only in terms of supplyingmega events but also other multi-sportevents or single-sport competitions.“For example, at the moment one ofDB Schenker’s key projects is the WorldSailing Championships (which will takeplace from December 3-18, 2011) inPerth, Australia. We’ve been workingwith the International Sailing Federation,national sailing federations and the localorganisers on working out how to getthings like boats and sails there.“For an event such as the SailingWorld Championships we would begin towork on it about one-and-a-half years inadvance of the competition.”DB Schenker’s responsibilities dependon its relationship with a particular event,and an official partner status allows thecompany to commit further resources tothe overall project.“Core services include freightforwarding via air and ocean, with itemsof a larger volume, such as overlay andtemporary furniture, being deliveredby ocean,” says Clarke. “High-qualitygoods such as broadcast equipment aredelivered by air.“We cover getting things into a country,getting them to a warehouse, unloadingthem, and we may need to providespecialised packaging.“However, we also advise on goodsthat will have temporary status andcustoms clearance procedures throughto the physical delivery.”60

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx//Getty Images SportOn top of DB Schenker’s front-endservice, the company can also provideexperts to take a more “hands-on” role inoverseeing logistics at an event.“Sometimes DB Schenker providessupervisory services and people whoact in advisory roles on the ground atthe event. We prefer that approach asit is door-to-door and lock-stop,”Clarke says.“In South Africa we had supervisoryofficers at every stadium for theConfederations Cup (2009 warm-upevent for the Fifa World Cup) and thenthe 2010 World Cup itself.“We ran a major logistics operationfrom continental Europe to South Africaas there were lots of products that werenot sourced locally. For example, thewhole catering operation, right down tothe knives and forks, was from outsidethe country.“We shifted hundreds of containersand delivered them to the venues, notjust the ports.“In total, we had more than 750 peoplein South Africa and they all underwentthe accreditation and safety trainingprocesses. Only a core number of theworkforce was already working forSchenker, so the recruitment and trainingis not something that can be done in ashort space of time.“It is important to be able to transferknowledge from event to event, but ofcourse it is not always easy to retain alot of motivated staff for different eventsaround the world.“When you go to work for an event ina new place you will begin with a youngand fresh team and will have to walkthem through everything. It is thereforeessential to plan a long way in advanceto make sure you perform on the day.”One area that Schenker does not planSPORTS EVENT MANAGEMENT 61

Transport & Logisticsin association withto operate within is the transportationof animals to and from sporting events,although the company has supportedthe delivery of horses, for example, bymoving the feed and bedding with the“equine athletes” at the Sydney, Athensand Beijing Olympics.The physical delivery of the goods ismerely one part of the service, though.In a pressurised and deadline-focusedenvironment, unforeseen delays canleave event organisers in a panic.A lack of understanding andexperience in relation to customsclearance procedures can scupper anevent stakeholder if they attempt tokeep logistics in house without expertassistance from a service provider suchas DB Schenker.“There are often issues with customsclearance that need to be recognised,”Clarke adds. “For DB Schenker, thesport events department is actually justa small part of the overall network, andthat wider network can be relied upon tosupport services.“We are already looking at how weare going to work in Brazil with eventorganisers and customers for the 2014FIFA World Cup.“We are identifying how long goods willbe allowed to stay in the country, whatsort of volumes are allowed and whetherwe should be hosting workshops now(for event stakeholders and customers).“It is an absolute necessity to ask all ofthese questions well in advance, and wewould always recommend this approachto clients.”It is also essential for the eventorganisers themselves to ask somecrucial questions that can be overlookedwhen the public focus is on the tangiblecompletion of competition venueconstruction projects.“I would highly recommend to anevent organiser to define what thelocal operating environment is,”Clarke explains.“They need to understand what thecity’s capacities and capabilities are interms of receiving goods as well as theavailable skill base. For example, is therea good rail network or a port?“On too many occasions it is justassumed that everything will workokay before the realisation that thereare issues.”With this in mind, Clarke believesfuture event hosts should heedthe lessons of the 2010 DelhiCommonwealth Games.“The operational demands hadnot been recognised early enoughby all stakeholders and they had notadequately assessed the quantitiesinvolved. There were a lot of issuesthere, but it was still a goodopportunity to learn.”Organisers of any sporting eventneed to appreciate the “operationalbenefits” of logistics in theplanning phase, according to Clarke.One avenue to avoiding suchan unwelcome eventuality is byestablishing a solid logistics budget aspart of the planning. With funds andresponsibilities allocated and individualsdirectly accountable for such services,the logistics operation can then beproperly defined.“It is hard to specify a fixed percentageof the budget to be allocated to logistics,”Clarke says.“If you take into consideration deliveryof all equipment and furniture though, youare definitely looking upwards of 20 percent of the event’s operating budget.“There used to be a sense that if a costwas not covered in a catering budget,for example, people would assume thatlogistics would cover it.“However, I think that perspectiveis being left in the past as peopleincreasingly recognise the adverse impactof not planning thoroughly in this area.“We always try to convey themessage to organisers that they needto understand as early as possible howlogistics are defined and how they canprovide operational benefits in crossfunctionalintegration.“With major events this is paramountas otherwise logistics can fall throughthe cracks, and you don’t want to be ina situation when people are saying toeach other, ‘I thought someone else waslooking after it’.”62 SPORTS EVENT MANAGEMENT

Environmental ServicesWASTE NOTWANT NOTBIG CROWDS PRODUCEMOUNTAINS OF TRASH WHICHNEEDS TO BE CLEANEDUP AND DISPOSED OF INAN ENVIRONMENTALLYFRIENDLY WAY. RORYSQUIRES DISCOVERS THATENVIRONMENTAL SERVICESHAVE BECOME A CENTRAL ANDSOPHISTICATED FUNCTION OFEVENT MANAGEMENTWhere there’s muck, there’smoney, and for a sporting event to beawarded a clean bill of health, somepeople have to get their hands dirty.However, whereas managing wasteand cleaning can be lucrative for aservices partner of an event, it can alsobe a major headache if hosts are illpreparedto provide such anessential service.Waste management at a majorsporting event can be a colossal task.For the London 2012 Olympic Games,for example, organisers predict thataround 10,000 tonnes will need to bedisposed of, processed or recycled.Eighty-five per cent of this mountain willcome from food.It may be an unglamorous part of theevent-hosting process, but ensuringthose who attend and compete are ableto do so in a hygienic environment isintegral to the overall success ofthe project.Craig Lovett, the general manager ofthe leisure, sports and entertainmentsector at Spotless International, is oneof the industry’s experts.He founded Cleanevent in 1987,with the company beginning life bysupporting the Melbourne Cup carnival.The Australian firm grew steadily andwent on to play central roles in multipleOlympic Games.Cleanevent was acquired by Spotlessin March 2010 and the Spotless Groupnow has more than 3,500 cleaningcontracts across Australia, New Zealand,the UK and the US and employs around40,000 staff.There is “no rule of thumb” in termsof budgeting for cleaning and wastemanagement services, according toLovett. The services are variable andvisitor numbers are often difficult topredict with any real accuracy ahead ofa major event such as a World Cup orOlympic Games.However, effective waste managementcan also help to reduce the strain on theoverall hosting budget. As an example,the Weymouth and Portland NationalSailing Academy, which will stage eventsduring the London 2012 Olympics,has estimated that it can make costsavings of approximately 15 per cent64

Getty Images Sportthrough “better waste management andelectricity optimisation”.There is also an increasing pressureon event hosts to adopt a more ‘green’and environmentally-friendly approach,and cleaning and waste managementservices have a crucial role.In a March 2010 Carbon FootprintStudy by London 2012, it was found thatcatering and waste from ticket-holdersand non-ticket-holders would account forseven per cent of the Games spectators’overall carbon footprint – a significantamount considering the remainingpercentage included accommodationand transport.The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA)for the 2012 Games reused or recycledbetween 90 per cent and 95 per centof the waste created through the ‘bigbuild’ phase of the project. A wastemanagement contract was awardedto Veolia Environmental Services,which established a centralised wasteconsolidation centre on the site of theODA’s operations.Veolia’s involvement meant that anywaste created by the constructionactivities was recovered and reused orrecycled and diverted away from landfillsites. Any waste not able to be reusedon site was taken to external licensedfacilities for further processing.After first linking up with theOlympics for the 1996 edition inAtlanta, Cleanevent, which is nowowned by Spotless, was involved inthe 2000 Sydney Olympics, the 2002Salt Lake City Winter Games and the2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. Thecompany will also provide a serviceat the London 2012 Olympic andParalympic Games.“The services under the leisure,sports and entertainment sector canrange from catering and retail cleaningto waste management and recycling,linen services, uniforms supply andmaintenance, security and eventmanagement services,” Lovett says.“In the case of the London 2012Olympic Games we are providing anintegrated services package that includescleaning and housekeeping services forthe 16,000-bed athletes’ village, which iseffectively the largest hotel in the world.This includes linen supply and laundry aswell as towel supply and laundry.”With considerable experience of arange of sporting events over the yearsthat contrast in size and structure, Lovettis well placed to apply his experience tonew projects. However, he concedes thatSPORTS EVENT MANAGEMENT 65

Environmental Servicesvariable factors prevent a rigid templatefrom being applied to all cases.For smaller events, organisers mayconsider keeping the cleaning and wastemanagement responsibilities in-house.However, local legislation is just onehurdle to consider.“We certainly abide by local laws andguidelines but we also ensure that weuse the knowledge that we have gainedaround the globe through our majorevents experience,” says Lovett.“However, no two events are the same.While there is some knowledge transfer,it is fundamentally important that eachand every cleaning, waste managementand catering solution is designed so it isfit for purpose.”In an event as large as the OlympicGames, Lovett says there can “often bemore than 3,500 people” working onthe project, “incorporating in excess oftwo million man hours of labourand management”.The project is intensive, with the keyoperations during an event itself oftencovering a relatively short length oftime. For things to go smoothly, Lovettbelieves “people logistics” are crucial.“It is about having the right people inthe right place with the right attitude andthey need to be well briefed and trained,”says Lovett.“These labour-based programs mustbe treated as difficult and enoughresource must be allowed for theplanning processes. Typically an OlympicGames cleaning or catering programmeneeds to start some three years out toensure that correct communicationsand input into the cross-relatedfunctional areas.”Cleaning and waste managementshould be efficient and inconspicuous inthe context of a sporting event. It is thesort of service that is only noticeable tothe average spectator if something hasgone wrong.Organisers may lose sleep overwhether the venue constructionprojects will be ready, but if thosearenas are littered by rubbish or areunhygienic come competition-time,the illusion of a well-organised eventis shattered.Lovett is fully aware that companiessuch as Spotless have a crucial rolein maintaining the overall image ofan event and also upholding anyenvironmentally-friendly pledges bythe local organising committee.“Presentation of events hasbecome a key factor,” he says.“Event managers, hosts and promotersare becoming increasingly aware ofthe need to present safe and cleanenvironments for patrons.“The environmental angle is now thenorm; an expectation rather than anexception. We are always searchingfor the right ‘green solution’ for ourdeployments and this is often enhancedby the integrated offering that Spotlesscan provide.”According to Lovett, one noticeabledevelopment since he first entered thesports event sector in the late 1980shas been the growth of 24/7 demandfor cleaning and waste management.Services had once been provided onlyat the end of a day’s competition.Getty Images Sport“There has been a key change aroundthe need and desire to present a facilityat its best all of the time rather than justclean up post any event day,” he says.“Patrons are looking for edgy events,quirky events, events that go the extrastep in presentation. We understandthat we are part of the show and partof the overall event experience.”The job specification for a cleaningand waste management companywithin the context of variable sportingevents that are adopting an increasingfocus on ‘green’ responsibilities is moredemanding than ever.However, from the perspectiveof an industry expert, which boxesmust be ticked by a local organisingcommittee so that a successful wastemanagement and cleaning project at asporting event can be guaranteed?“Budget allocation, resources, currentoperations and Modus Operandi,”says Lovett.With legacy being the buzz word forsporting events, organisers are alwayskeen to ensure that as little as possiblegoes to waste post-event.However, when waste is thefocus, outsourcing operations to anexperienced partner that will prioritise“people logistics” at the heart of a“fit-for-purpose” plan prepared wellin advance should enable an event toavoid blemishes.66 SPORTS EVENT MANAGEMENT