Nimble Management Teams

A week after Paul Lovett's presentation, his older brother Craig also came to speak with us. He spoke more about VANOC's journey and the bigger picture of planning an Olympics, not just Cleanevent's role.

The timeline of Vancouver's preparation, as he presented it, looked something like this:

• 1960 - Vancouver started toying with the idea of hosting the Games
• 1980 - They started seriously considering making a bid
• 1990 - They started planning for the bid process
• 1999 - The bid process began; 32 cities were narrowed down to 16, then 8, then 5
• 2003 - Vancouver won the bid to host the 2010 Winter Olympics Games

This was $1 billion process, including infrastructure from roadways to the airport to the power grid to the waste system, et cetera, et cetera.

Craig then challenged us to list the "most important players", or stakeholders, in the Games. We decided there were:

• The Athletes - of course, they are the reason for the Games; they put on the show
• Management - they provide organization, safety, policy, etc
• The Sponsors - they provide the essential funding
• The Media - they are the "eyes of the world"
• The Spectators - they bring in revenue, but also provide some of the "wow factor"
• The T.V. Audience - they indirectly provide even more revenue than spectators in the stands
• The Olympic Family - this term is used not only for the relatives of athletes but for anyone involved with the governing bodies of the sport or the Games.

We also came up with a list of some of the "Functional Areas" that play roles in the planning and execution of an event like this:

• Sport - controls everything involving actual competition within the Field of Play (FOP)
• Site Management - deals with the overall venue and logistics
• Transport - responsible for getting all athletes, spectators, employees, volunteers, contractors, equipment, etc to the venue
• Overlay - designs the physical layout of the venue ("the people who get handed a box of jigsaw pieces" - Craig Lovett)
• Wayfinding - responsible for all signage to get spectators, employees, vendors, contractors, etc from their doorsteps and into the venue
• Security - monitors access to the venue and safety within it
• Broadcast/Press Media - transfers images and information from the venue to the outside world
• Look - designs and hangs the "frosting" - posters, banners, fence coverings, etc.
• Food & Beverage - catering for workers and concessions for spectators
• SCW - snow removal, cleaning, and waste removal from front- and back-of-the-house

Sounds like there's a lot going on here, eh? Craig had one main point behind all of this: all these different aspects MUST come together to become one team. They must integrate.

This idea of "integration" is a buzz word that I've been buzzing around for a while now (my Honors Thesis paper is on Integrated Rural Tourism), and it is so essential to a large event like this. Craig also called it "venuisation", turning all the individual functional areas into a venue management team in which each department has a seat at the table.

Without open lines of communication, each area is operating in a vacuum and when the event gets closer and their isolated little bubble comes in contact with another area's bubble, both are going to pop and lie in pieces on the ground. Craig explained that “the best events in the world have nimble management teams”, the ones who recognize that “at some stage you have to stop planning and start doing”.

This is especially important with the Olympics, because there is only one Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games - there is no "next time" for VANOC to get it right. They get one shot. “What’s the most important thing in the Olympic Games?" Craig asked. "Fixing it right now”.

Venue management must put themselves in the place of spectators early on, and utilize each area's expertise in a dialogue to discuss the most practical ways to plan for every potential scenario that may arise.

That is what I LOVE about event planning. There are countless challenges, all unique to venue and the event and the location and the people involved. Every action must be thought through 10, 20, 50 steps down the road to consider all possible repercussions. Each action must be run by a dozen other departments; it is such a collaboration of minds, all experts in their own fields. It's amazing what people can achieve when working together. I look forward to the day when I can be a part of such a team.