Olympics 2010 - A Revealing Look at the Planning and Implementation of the Vancouver Experience

Date: Monday, July 26, 2010
Time: 8:30 a.m. - 9:45 p.m./08.30 - 09.45

Engage in a discussion with this elite and celebrated group of industry professionals who not only brought the Olympic experience to their city but followed the experience through to completion. The world witnessed the awe-inspiring events of the 2010 Winter Olympics unfold and were in awe of the production, efficiency and truly magical moments the Olympics brought to a global stage. Now hear the real story of organizing and managing an event of this magnitude. This session will also tap into the perspective of the athletes involved in the Olympic journey. You'll hear directly how meeting and event professionals affect lives, careers, and a global marketplace.

About the Presenters

Rick Antonson 
(Moderator)

Rick Antonson is President & CEO of Tourism Vancouver, which represents over 1,000 member businesses and is responsible for the market development of Metro Vancouver as a convention, incentive, and leisure travel destination. Rick is a former book publisher, and train company executive.

As a travel industry leader, Rick is an ambassador for the 2010 Vancouver Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games and Vice President of the Board of Directors for Pacific Coast Public Television.  He served on the boards of the Pacific Asia Travel Association based in Bangkok, Vancouver Community College, and on the Advisory Council for Simon Fraser University's Urban Studies Program. In the recent past he also chaired the Board of Directors for book publisher Douglas & McIntyre; was chair of Destination Marketing Association International based in Washington, DC, and a founding board member of the Canadian Tourism Commission.

In fall of 2007, Heritage House Publishers released a book co-authored by Rick, titled Slumach's Gold, In Search of a Legend. It spent twenty three weeks on the BC Books Bestseller list in the Vancouver Sun. In June, 2008, Dundurn Publishing of Toronto published his third book, To Timbuktu for a Haircut; A Journey Through West Africa.

Rick is regularly invited to speak all over the world on the topic of travel. His extensive personal journeys have taken him to the Galapagos Islands, and on the Trans-Siberia Railway with stops in Russia, Mongolia and China, to a four-by-four adventure with his wife Janice and a guide traveling a thousand kilometres overland from Lhasa, Tibet across the Himalayas to Kathmandu, Nepal. More recently he traveled to Libya and Algeria, and on a trip with his two sons, Brent and Sean, to North Korea.

Rick’s passions include traveling, writing and baseball.

Charmaine Crooks
(Panelist)

Vancouver’s Charmaine Crooks is a five-time Canadian Olympian who competed in Athletics (400m/800m). She won a silver medal at the LA 84 Olympic Games and was Flag Bearer at the 1996 Olympic Games.
 
A former Member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), she served on the inaugural IOC Ethics Committee and is currently on the IOC Press Commission and Athletes Commissions. She was a Board member of the 2010 Olympic Games from the Bid Phase in 1998 through to the Games where she served on the Governance/Ethics and Strategic Communications Committees. A longstanding volunteer in sport, her work also includes being an executive member of the Canadian Olympic Committee and vice president of the World Olympians Association.
 
Charmaine was recognized as one of the “Top 50 Canadian Women of Power” and for her sports leadership, awarded the IOC Women in Sport Trophy. Inducted as a member of the BC Sports Hall of Fame and the first individual woman inducted into the University of Texas El Paso Sports Hall of Fame where she attended on an Athletic scholarship.
 
Charmaine is a freelance TV presenter, and a recognized speaker on topics related to the Olympics and motivation. Her global sports consultancy company provides marketing, communications and strategic counsel to businesses and sports entities, and she also sits on numerous corporate and charitable Boards.
 
www.charmainecrooks.com

Andrea Shaw
(Panelist)

Managing Director, Twentyten Group - Andrea Shaw,  former Vice President of Sponsorship Sales and Marketing for the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC), held direct responsibility for sponsorship sales, marketing & client services, commercial rights management and the Olympic and Paralympic Torch Relays. Her greatest accomplishments in this role were leading the team at VANOC that generated over $760 million in sponsorship revenue, and her responsibility in the strategic development of the longest domestic Torch Relay in Olympic history.

Andrea’s involvement with the 2010 Winter Games dates back to 2001, when Andrea was first approached by the 2010 Vancouver Bid Corporation to consult in the areas of Communications and Marketing. This consultancy quickly turned into the full time position of Vice President, Communications for the Bid. In this capacity, Andrea was responsible for the development and execution of the overall communications strategy, both domestically and internationally. Global and domestic public support for the Vancouver Bid had been paramount to the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The strategy proved right when the IOC announced on July 2, 2003 that Vancouver, Canada had won the right to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2010. Soon after, Andrea joined VANOC as the Vice President of Sponsorship Sales & Marketing and led her team through to the completion of the 2010 Winter Games concluding nearly a decade of involvement.

This work is perhaps best described in the following quote from John Furlong, Chief Executive Officer, VANOC;

“The work that Andrea was involved with is pioneering and groundbreaking, setting standards never seen in Canada for an event like the Olympic Games. Her team has taken a traditional marketing approach and turned it inside-out, effectively reinventing the role that corporate partners can play in staging the Games. Discussions about marketing rights and benefits have been replaced with a more creative, dynamic model that brings the entire resources of every Games corporate partner fully to bear on the entire organization of the Games. Consequently, every partnership agreement signed by the Organizing Committee includes record levels of support and participation. They achieved over $760 million in support for the 2010 Games - a result that is unprecedented worldwide for the Winter Olympic Games. When the Games are over, the work of their team will be the subject of in depth analysis as others around the world try to replicate what they have achieved.”

Andrea moved to Vancouver in 1989 to establish The Landmark Group, Pacific, a special event, sport marketing agency where she developed the company into an industry leader among other agencies in Canada. Following eight years of business, The Landmark Group was bought out, which propelled Andrea to establish her own company, A.J. Shaw and Associates, a successful strategic sponsorship, marketing and communications consultancy based in Vancouver, Canada.