Game On

Vancouver played host to the 2009 World Police and Fire Games, the largest event in the organization’s history.

By Ilona Kauremszky

VANCOUVER’S STREETS PLAYED HOST TO A MINI-OLYMPICS when the 2009 World Police and Fire Games (WPFG) came to town last summer and appropriately lit a flame at its opening ceremony. 

For local firefighters Jeff Clark and Miles Ritchie (co-chairman and vice-chairman, respectively, of the Vancouver WPFG), it was a dream come true. The two masterminds of the event were no strangers to the annual summer events. They forayed into this gladiator sports realm in 1995 in Melbourne, playing soccer and winning gold, only to repeat the win in 1997 in Calgary.

“We always wanted to have these games in Vancouver,” Clark said of the world’s third-largest sporting event. The process turned serious in Indianapolis, home city for the 2001 WPFG, when the two decided Vancouver should be next. “We were the only bidders to meet the first deadline when we submitted an expression of interest.” 

It turns out the competition was slow to meet the application deadline, giving the Vancouver contingent the advantage. 

“As such, we were given ‘first right of refusal’ and if the federation felt that we were not capable, then they would consider two other destinations that had expressed interest, but did not meet the first deadline,” said Matthew Coyne, director for the 2009 WPFG.

The Vancouver bid committee next invited the WPFG site inspectors for salmon lunch at the fire hall. 

“We couldn’t do anything really fancy, but we’ve got some of the best cooks on the job cooking for us,” Clark said. “We just wanted to show them how good we were and how well we can work together. This is who we are. If they didn’t like what they saw, then they could consider the two late entries.”

By spring 2003, a bunch of heavy weights including John Furlong, CEO of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, were present for the final bid presentation. Furlong delivered an emotional closing speech that still rivets Clark. 

“The WPFG committee asked him if he wanted a job after that speech,” he said.

Soon after, the WPFG announced Vancouver as the home city for its complex multi-venue event. From July 31 to Aug. 9, 10,571 amateur athletes from police forces and fire departments in 55 countries descended on Canada’s west coast to compete in 64 sporting events in 40-plus venues with an estimated 15,000 spectators to inevitably watch 2,100 gold medals won.

“Fortunately for us, we didn’t have any capital projects for the event,” Coyne said. “We used existing facilities within metro Vancouver. That was one of the real advantages to hosting this event.” 

But Plan B’s are always necessary. 

“You have to predict what might go wrong and develop contingencies to mitigate these,” Coyne said. “Using tennis as an example, if weather prevented us from completing this event outside, we had alternative indoor facilities ready and willing to accommodate our event. Not only that, we had communication strategies in place to make athletes aware of any changes, and of course, the ability to handle any scheduling or bracketing conflicts if necessary.”

The weather turned out favorably, but one of the facilities, the Vancouver Convention Centre was undergoing a major multimillion-dollar overhaul when the bid was won. 

“We would have had to use an outdoor facility with tented pavilions for the Games Village if the convention center wasn’t available,” said Stuart Ballantyne, the event producer and former CEO of the 2009 WPFG. “We worked closely with [the center’s personnel] to monitor their progress and ensure we would be able to use the facility and that it would work for the games’ needs.” 

In the end, the convention center was open for business. 

“The Vancouver Convention Centre was used for registration and administration,” said Larry Scribner, client services manager for the Vancouver Convention Centre. “Our facility was also the Vancouver hub for nightly entertainment with bands on our ballroom terrace attracting large groups coming down during the games.” 

Staging such a massive event requires safety and security plans as well as volunteers. 

“We hired police for security and had more than 2,700 volunteers,” said Clark, who noted there were no major incidents reported. 

Meanwhile the volunteer forces represented one of the largest numbers of volunteer hosts for a sporting event in British Columbia prior to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

Considered a volunteer guru for her experience in organizing an army of people willing to give their time—most recently the Molson Canadian Hockey House at the 2010 Winter Olympics—Christine Nicholls was the event workforce specialist who engineered the volunteer host program.

Some of her recruiting strategies involved timing. 

“Start early, set your requirements, age, the number of service hours required, types of positions available and provide information on the volunteer package,” Nicholls said. “Talk to community groups, service organizations, sponsors, corporate volunteer programs—everything is fair game—just talk about the opportunity to as many people as you can get in front of and encourage everyone to get involved.”

Coyne further noted how timing is one of the most critical issues in volunteer recruitment.

“If you start too early, you may lose interest, and of course if you leave it too late, you may not secure enough,” he said. “We were actively collecting expressions of interest for volunteers two years out from the games; however, it probably wasn’t until 12 months out when we launched an aggressive recruitment campaign.”

One planner tip Nicholls offers is to ensure a solid budget for food, clothing, training, recruitment, recognition and appreciation and contingency. 

“Be friendly and fun as an organization in how you engage volunteers, create a great work environment with a solid volunteer management team and always be appreciative for their efforts,” she said.

Communication is vital and needs to be upbeat, consistent and relevant in volunteer management. 

“Scheduling is always a huge undertaking and a clear strategy needs to be in place and lots of follow-up to see if the process is efficient and working for both the event and the volunteers,” Nicholls said.

There are always challenges when dealing with such a large workforce. Motivation, training and commitment are all issues, but if planned well, these can all be managed. 

“One strategy is to ensure that your volunteer team leaders are very experienced—they regularly volunteer, have strong leadership skills and can motivate their team members,” Coyne said. “From a budget perspective, volunteers are an expense and should be treated as one. In other words, organizations need to invest in their volunteers. You need to ensure they are properly uniformed, well looked after and also to ensure there is proper recognition for them following the event.” 

You cannot deliver major world-class events without the support of the community through the deployment of volunteers. The ground swell of their enthusiasm, energy and skills are second to none, says event producer Ballantyne.

Another challenge facing planners involved housing. For delegates, proximity to the venues was crucial, as was housing cost. 

“Sports groups as a rule don’t book high echelon, especially if they are bringing families,” said Carol Mackenzie, CMP, whose company Advance Group, a Vancouver-based PCO, was the event’s partner and organizer for accommodations. “These delegates are on the cost-conscious side, so as always, we negotiated for good group room rates.” 

Unfortunately, the organizers did not realize the budgeted revenue from this. The global economic crisis and the weak U.S. dollar relative to the strong Canadian dollar contributed to athlete reservations occurring outside the block as they typically tried to find the best deal. 

Despite the challenges faced during a down economy, the WPFG managed to attract the largest number of athletes with the biggest spectator viewing yet. And to date, the Vancouver 2009 WPFG event was the most successful in the history of the World Police and Fire Games Federation. One+

ILONA KAUREMSZKY is the former editor of Corporate Meetings & Events and a co-producer of mycompass.ca.

What’s New in Vancouver
• The 20-story Coast Coal Harbour Hotel opened in January adjacent to the Vancouver Convention Centre. The hotel features include a 5,000-square-foot ballroom, six meeting rooms and a full-service business center.
• The 400-room Fairmont Pacific Rim opposite from the new West Building of the Vancouver Convention Centre opened in January and has 15,000 square feet of meeting space, three ballrooms, two boardrooms, three meeting rooms and a multimedia theater.
• The Vancouver Convention Centre recently completed a five-year long, multimillion-dollar expansion that includes the country’s largest living green roof, Canada’s largest convention center ballroom, a new West Building built to LEED standards and a refurbished East Building.

Transportation Tips
• Vancouver is a walkable city and the Vancouver Convention Centre is located on the waterfront in close proximity to hotels, restaurants and attractions.
• A new rapid public transit called the Canada Line opened in August and has routes from the Vancouver International Airport to the city center and connects directly with the SkyTrain light rail system.
• You can take shuttle buses aboard the Vancouver Airporter Bus that stops at all the major downtown hotels.

Fun Facts
• Vancouver is the birthplace of Greenpeace, one of the world’s largest environmental organizations.
• Jimi Hendrix used to summer at the home of his grandmother—a Vancouverite.
• The Vancouver International Airport is the second-largest international passenger gateway on North America’s West Coast.
• MPI will host its 2010 World Education Congress July 24-27 in Vancouver. Visit www.mpiweb.org/wec for details.