Photos from the annual North West 2012 (#nw2012) annual conference, a meeting for regional stakeholders of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. It began with the LIPA Balloons project performance, captured here along with speakers at the event.
The 23rd June every year is Olympic Day. This is a day that is recognized by the International Olympic Committee and supported by National Olympic Committees, which undertake a number of activities to commemorate the Olympic Movement. I was in Liverpool and happened upon the LloydstTSB Olympic Torch display – a touring exhibition of previous torches. It made me think that LloydsTSB have made a successful ambush of Samsung’s Olympic Torch Relay which will occur next year. Of course, it is an exhibtion with approval from LOCOG and Coca-Cola’s / Samsung’s privileges do not really come into place until the relay begins. Still, the fact that it is a touring exhibition with destinations all over the UK makes an association unavoidable.
For more information about Olympic Day, here’s some text from the IOC website:
Olympic Day was introduced in 1948 to commemorate the birth of the modern Olympic Games on 23 June 1894 at the Sorbonne in Paris. The goal was to promote participation in sport across the globe regardless of age, gender or athletic ability.
Over the last 20 years Olympic Day has been associated with Olympic Day Runs all over the world. From 45 participating National Olympic Committees (NOCs) in the first edition in 1987, the numbers have grown to nearly 200 participating NOCs. What’s more, many of the participating NOCs are in Africa – proving the event’s worldwide appeal.
The Olympic Day Run owes a debt of gratitude to the support provided by McDonald’s, which in 2003 became worldwide partner to the event.
Olympic Day is nowadays developing into much more than just a sports event. Based on the three pillars “move”, “learn” and “discover”, National Olympic Committees are deploying sports, cultural and educational activities. Some countries have incorporated the event into the school curriculum and, in recent years, many NOCs have added concerts and exhibitions to the celebration. Recent NOC activities have included meetings for children and young people with top athletes and the development of new web sites directing people to programmes in their neighbourhood.
It has been 10 years since I’ve been to Sydney, but I managed to get across in April to check out the Olympic park and see how it was looking. The last time I was there was for the Sydney 200 Olympic Games and I had heard about the sculpture that had been erected for the volunteers. It is a very nice symbol of participation and particularly valuable that they have the names of all the volunteers engraved onto one of the poles. Here are some shots.
In an effort to spread the word about the inaugural Youth Olympic Games this August in Singapore, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has launched a comprehensive social media campaign.
The online presence of the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) can be felt across numerous platforms, including Facebook, where the YOG’s official page has become the place to go to receive up-to-date information on the Games and interact with other fans of the Games for 14 to 18 year-olds.
Visitors to the site can also take part in exciting contests aimed at boosting awareness of the Youth Olympic Games and giving back to the public. One currently under way invites people to create slogans for the Youth Olympic Games, with a winning entry selected each week. Winners receive one-of-a-kind Olympic T-shirts featuring their slogans. The public can also get a taste of the action by playing a Facebook Youth Olympic Games video game, or share their real-life experiences of the Games by posting photos on the page. Owners of some of the best photos will win Youth Olympic Games memorabilia.
The Youth Olympic Games can also be found on Flickr, where the public has been invited to capture the spirit of the Games through photos. The winner of the contest will be flown to Singapore and be accredited as an official IOC photographer for the first Youth Olympic Games.
Another site where people can keep tabs on the Youth Olympic Games is Twitter, where timely updates of all the action and other fun and interesting information can be found. And, during the Youth Olympic Games, from 14 to 26 August, video highlights of the competition will be featured on a dedicated YouTube site, so the world can relive the magic.
The IOC hopes such endeavours will connect a growing number of the people to the Youth Olympic Games, whose mission it is to inspire young people around the world to participate in sport and adopt and live by the Olympic values.
For more information on the Youth Olympic Games, visit: www.olympic.org/youtholympicgames
Last week, I was back in Lausanne and spent a couple of days in the Olympic Studies Centre at the International Olympic Committee Museum. I first visited the Olympic Studies Centre in Lausanne during the Winter of 2001, when I was researching the International Olympic Committee’s Medical Commission and Ethics Commission. The Ethics Commission had only just been established and I was able to attend its first press conference at the IOC HQ, which is a couple of miles west from the museum in Vidy.
The OSC consists of a library where a wide range of Olympic related publications are held, along with the IOC’s archive, which provides access to its meeting minutes, correspondence and multimedia documentation. It’s such a beautiful location and an optimal working condition. If ever you get a chance to visit, take it.
The trip was pretty useful, managed to progress a lot of the research on Computer Games and Sport, which was v helpful. Also managed to catch up with Dick Pound briefly, who was in the museum’s Olympic Studies Centre researching his latest book.
In case you’re wondering what the totem is all about in the picture above, they’ve just installed their Vancouver 2010 exhibition, which foregrounds the ‘four host nations’ dimension of their Games. This photograph is taken at the entrance to the museum. More photos here:
Today, for my Digital Olympics book, I’m focusing on issues of urban mobile culture. These images from The Cloud architectural project for London 2012 are great inspiration. Thanks to Graham Jeffery for the link. (PS: I think I’ve just found a book cover!)
Finishing book for MIT Press on ‘Digital Olympics’ and planning new media centres for Vancouver 2010 – the final chapter. I’ll be working with a bunch of great people in Vancouver, bringing out a few people from the UK and trying to cover the culture, politics and media of the Games for the Huffington Post. I expect to be in Vancouver from around 17th Feb – 28th Feb.
I’ll also be available for interviews on the following topics:
London 2012 Creative & Digital Industries
Manchester, 2009.06.19
Paul Newman
Media City
5 BBC depts., 1600 jobs
BBC Five Live
BBC Childrens
BBC Sport
Local radio, comedy, some news and current affairs
Peter Salmon, BBC North
- chief commissioner of Media City
Anne Thompson
NWDA, Sector Leader Sport
Scale of Olympics
ME: numbers of media are inaccurate. These are the IOC and Organizing Committee accredited figures 13k broadcast, 7k print. But in Beijing, you had another 11000 media present and many more without accreditation from the official broadcasters.
CompeteFor
- main mechanism to receive contract opportunities
- must be registered and published
Claire Stocks (Editor, Olympics, Sport Interactive)
&
Tim Plyming, Chief Executive, Digital Olympics
BBC Sport
Beijing 2008
Digital Olympics
4.5million visitors to website each day
2million of them looking at clips
2004 – Athens
2.5million live streams
2008 – Beijing
38-40 million live streams
Digital Olympics
- bring all parts of technical development to crecendo in 2012
last 3 Olympics have been described as a digital games, but nobody has really delivered this yet
we have a unique timing clash – switch off of analogue
Digital Britain
provision of 2mbps broadband in every homoe by 2012
raise awareness of digital content
30% of population happy wth analogue signal
audience expectation
- extended choice, immediacy, interactivity
Beijing
Tv – 74%
Online – 31%
Radio – 15%
Mobile – 2%
aspiration for 70% online reach
nbc Beijing 2008
- first time they developed rich video services
- Beijing was biggest event in us history
- But rich digital services were complimentary
Sold out advertising target within a week of Games
Hours BBC put in can at last games
Sydney – 300hrs
Athens – 1250hrs, 4000 HD
Beijing, 2750hrs, 4000 HD
London – 5000hrs, 5000 HD
How connect audiences across all platforms to this HD content?
3 phases towards 2012
1. build up: news stories
2. 2011: countdown phase – cultural Olympics, torch relay, music festivals
3. 2012: programme of events leading to games time.
ME: but what about Games time as a distinct phase? How can you integrate non-sporting dimensions? How involved with non sport depts. Of bbc be with other content
Pulling all content together
ME: but people don’t want a distinct platform, they want you to allow them to pull it into something else, like Facebook
Legacy from Olympics – an integrated platform for post Games events
IPTV
- 2012 first IPTV Olympics
Mobile
- in Beijing, followed live text commentary
ME: what about street reporters?
Unless got a high end unlimited device, you’re not really using mobile for video
Audio might be the main story for mobile, not video
Radio (DAB)
Live Sites
- interactive services, interact with mobile, Bluetooth download zones
ME: are there plans to deliver navigation and orientation content to mobiles, rather than produce print material?
Alex Balfour
25% of world online by 2012 (+44%)
17 countries will have > 60% broadband penetration by 2012, uk 58% to 74%
people having conversations online
Mobile trends:
- mobile penetration 100% in Western Europe
early adoption 13.5% vs innovators 2.5%
8 yr cycle to get to 60% penetration
simple new media model
1. new media products and services (help efficiency or cost effective) (eg. ticketing, education programme)
2.
put out on YouTube, Flickr
ME: if you are in the 2.5% of innovators, what platforms are you looking at for use in 2012? Is Twitter a clear commitment for instance? Are there others that you think people here should be working with, developing the applications, etc.
If not on Facebook, then we’re invisible.
ME: Can we engage people in Olympic park using digital? Eg. harnessing the Sponsors venues, which are the most prominent – or around pin trading, the other major games time cultural experience.
ME: how are you working with Olympic park infrastructure to make it more interesting?
Cultural Olympiad – artists taking the lead
ME: What are you not yet into, but which you have plans to be involved with?
Opportunities around venues, dressing buildings etc
Bring together digital content.
ME: you talk about dressing venues, have you found that you can talk to the individual sponsors who will be in the venue to build digital into their programmes?
My2012
- technology platform and sponsor already
- channelled through social networks
Inspire Mark programme
Sponsors have expressed interest in digital
ME: Is digital the first way in history that sponsorship will enter Olympic venues?
To contact me:
200 word email
Debbi Lander
SKV
Equivalent Advertising Cost
Q and A
www.londonolympics2012.com
- how can we get support?
Brand protection
- have been looked at and we’ve approved or raised questions
2012 Northwest
Video montage for ECOC achievements
Introduction
Alan Jackson
BBC Radio Merseyside
Liverpool 2008
Welcome
Peter Mearns
NWDA
Spider / Ringo / Big things happen here / 2002 Commonwealth – North West Business Club – £22m contracts at 2002 / London 2012 Business Network – first legacy project for 2012 – all businesses must register or will not get any business / Olympic Stadium / Liverpool 08 events – attracting visitors – expect additional £100m for regional economy will have been generated – over 10m visitors attended city this year / since 2004, NWDA worked on winning events – this year events include world swimming champs, great north swim, firefighter games, beach volleyball in blackpool, Manchester world squash champs / BS8901 – international management standard / 2012 nations and regions – Seb Coe comes regularly, recently Lancashire and Cheshire / Beijing 2008 suggests benefit
[Alan Jackson]
Tag lines – England’s North West – What a lot we got
Highlights, Achievements and Future Priorities
Andy Worthington
A lot of cynicism in advance of Beijing. Then it transformed into positive feeling with the medal count – sales of swimming suits and bicycle sales up after the Games, could ot book the velodrome in Manchester, all sold out, university gym membership up 50%, kendel judo club 20% increase in bookings compared with previous years, – lots of stats about support / Northwest Business Network – Olympic Stadium – steel work from a Bolton company / 7 training camps in region, another 25 for paralympic , second highest of all regions, / Wavertree Sports Complex – 50m pool / work is all about building engagement / about to launch the Be Inspired 2012 Northwest Website / handover process / sport and art – Coubertin, Debbi / roadmap – in booklet / Nations and Regions group in LOCOG / Phil Craven is the Northwest liaison for 2012 / key aspirations over next 12 months – in brochure / Branding – cannot yet use logo, trying to get inspire mark worked out, need more dedicated posts / changing regional landscape is threatened – disbanding regional sports boards – paradox / Opportunities – capitalize on Beijing – Liverpool 08 – Roll out of inspire programme – Delhi 2010 Commonwealth – Major Events – Olympics football at Old Trafford, Glasgow 2014 / www.nwbeinspired.com /
[Alan Jackson]
cultural Olympiad already happening
The Cultural Olympiad in the Northwest
Debbi Lander
Placing culture at heart of the games / Northwest signature programme – Neon Atractors, Lumino City, Station Stationary, Portable Playground / Open weekend – stakeholder survey – priorities identified: R&D culture – Film and New Media, Biotech, Health, Disability; outdoor performance and street art; heritage, landscape and cultural assets with young people / We Play – Body and Economy: play as a form of research – body as toy, tool and interface; Play & Space: ; Routes and Trails: cultural journeys connecting places – play as learning (sector, regional development) – each of strands has one main legacy project / Northwest £3.02m from Millennium legacy, Legacy Trust, Calls for Proposals, commissioned partnership of 9 orgs, the Legacy Producers Group – new work each year up to 2012 – setting national standards – Abandon Normal Devices (AND), Body and Economy – Folly, Cornerhouse and FACT – link the 2 city centres, alternate years in Liv and Manc, and alternate year in Cumbria and Lancashire – creative economy at heart of CO – focus on body, disability / Play and Space: animation programme, Kendal International Arts & Manchester International Arts / ROUTES & TRAILS: designed and delivered entirely by young people, devel a methodology for subsequent
By 2013: B&E: new annual festival; P&S: consolidate reputation; R&T: model for young involvement /
Money: £10.175m legacy value of the programme, against £3.02m investment
Advanced in fund raising strategy
Additional strand: Blue Sky aspiration – ‘We Play Expo’ – aim to provide a celebration of play during Games time period,
INSPIRE MARK CAN BE USED IN We Play
Play’s the film by Adam Tallon
Football 2012
Dave Edmundson, Chief Executive of the Football League Trust
Football as a training mechanism for athletes from a range of sports / Tessa Sanderson involved.
Cycling in the Northwest
Brian Cookson OBE
Young Ambassadors film
- Paul McCartney music over film – Paralympic project
Paul Deighton
CEO, LOCOG
Do things different from Beijing / athletes’ village / experience of general spectator /
Diminishing Beijing’s spectacular side – 10,000 synchronized
Cultural Olympiad –
Volunteers – volunteers in Beijing were millions of Chinese students – smiling a lot, always young, always too many of them, mostly struggled with English – if wanted detailed help, you would struggle.
Vancouver 2010 – home country teams
Livesites – Successful in Beijing. (!!!)
ME: In Beijing, there were protest zones, has London thought much about how it will deal with freedoms of expression against the Olympic celebration?
People, Place, Enterprise:
A conference on the Olympic Legacy
Uni of Greenwich, May 2008.
People, Place, Enterprise: A conference on the Olympic Legacy 1
Welcome 1
Professor Les Johnson, Head of the Business School, University of Greenwich 1
Opening address 1
Baroness Blackstone, Vice Chancellor of the University of Greenwich 1
Keynote: Dr Kerry Brown, Associate fellow of the Asia Programme, Royal Institute of International affairs (Chatham House) – The impact of Beijing 2008 on China’s international image 2
10.55: Keynote: Professor John Gold, Oxford Brookes University and Maggie Gold, London Metropolitan University Olympic Cities – A historical perspective 3
11:10 Keynote: 3
The further and higher education legacy of the 2012 games 3
Kate Potter, Head of Unit, PODIUM 3
Panel question and answer session 4
Legacies of Torino 2006 for the Olympic Movement 4
Peirvincenzo Bondonio and Alfredo Mela 4
Lessons to be learned from 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Torino: how to monitor public opinion 4
Chito Guala 4
The Big Owe: Politics and the fincancica management of the montreal 1976 Olympic Games 5
Peter Viachos, Uni. Greenwich 5
Expectations of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games 6
Pedro Moreira, Inst. Tourism Studs, Macau SR, PR China 6
Thursday 8th May 2008
Time Session Title
9.30 – 10.15: Registration and coffee
10.15:
Welcome
Professor Les Johnson, Head of the Business School, University of Greenwich
10:30:
Opening address
Baroness Blackstone, Vice Chancellor of the University of Greenwich
CO-Chair PODIUM
10:40:
Keynote: Dr Kerry Brown, Associate fellow of the Asia Programme, Royal Institute of International affairs (Chatham House) – The impact of Beijing 2008 on China’s international image
Gloomy experience working with china
Modernize with western models
Peoples rep founded in 1949, first Games in 1984
1993 – bid for Sydney
only non-democracy in top 10 countries in world
economic model
- infrastructure in Mao’s period
- life expectancy in 1949 45, in Mao’s period 65.
$3.2b economy
biggest trading economy
world’s third largest economy
not a knowl economy
in 2006, 88% of china’s high tech exports made by others
25% of pollution in California, traced to China
Shanghai water supply falling dramatically
WWF 2007 – if china lived at west standards, then in terms of energy and resource, whole of world’s resources would be used up in 2032
Beijing is depleted environment
Energy
James King ‘china is energy hungry country’
70% of energy from coal
transport infrastructure for this poor and from small mines
6% from Sudan
Beijing does not have infrastructure to deliver green games
- not adequate water or transport
-
Nobel Prize Fever – campaign to get prize in china
Dalai lama won peace prize
£20b infrastructure for Olympics
10.55: Keynote: Professor John Gold, Oxford Brookes University and Maggie Gold, London Metropolitan University Olympic Cities – A historical perspective
rome 1960
- first city to incorporate into strategic plan
turin and Vancouver promised longer cultural festival
by 1990s, more explicit use of word legacy
tangible and intangible
future of legacy
has it run its course?
Global impact study
Oggi
Conclusion
- ethical v pragmatic
- local – national – international
- tangible – intangible
- talking about legacy – managing legacy
11:10 Keynote:
The further and higher education legacy of the 2012 games
Kate Potter, Head of Unit, PODIUM
Gareth Smith, Deputy Director PODIUM
London Higher – vision
Now HEFCE/LSC
Next, bus plan for opportunities
65% of Team GB in Athens were from HE Sector
11.25
Panel question and answer session
Gillian Ridgley, British Library: what is importance of conserving legacy?
11.45 Refreshments
12.00 Presentation sessions
A choice from:
Learning from experience
or
Education and skills
Legacies of Torino 2006 for the Olympic Movement
Peirvincenzo Bondonio and Alfredo Mela
Met in Torino for conference
Lessons to be learned from 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Torino: how to monitor public opinion
Chito Guala
(with Edigio Ansero)
survey on public opinion
methods/tools
surveys and polls
referendum
other research
- economic
- urban regen
- comm. Media image
- international represn of city
- urban planning and enviro
- rebuild local identity
- improv social capital
unexpected cultural change in torino
unexpected optimism for the future – from people in torino
62% went to ‘white nights’ – notte bianco during the games
The Big Owe: Politics and the fincancica management of the montreal 1976 Olympic Games
Peter Viachos, Uni. Greenwich
Montreal Olympics logo cf kris krug Vancouver protest logo
Republic of china name not permitted for Taiwan during this games
IOC did not recog People’s Republic of China until late 1976
- so some political protest
focus today on local politics
‘The Big Woe’ – clip online from CBC
- Olympic stadium plan – music from 2001: space odyssey – futuristic plans
English speaking Montrealers called stadium ‘The Big O’ but due to financial crisis, which plagued city for 3 decades, called it the ‘Big Woe’ or better yet ‘Big Owe’
Likened big O to a toilet bowl – flushing money down it
Cost
Estimated CAD 310m, final cost CAD 2b,
Stadium was overrun (est CAD140m, final CAD1.5b)
Deificit financed by lottery and taxes (tobacco)
ME: was there ever a turning point for how politicians spoke about these figures? Ie.
Who was responsible for this?
My theoretical background – Weber – charismatic leadership – patriarchical feudalism
Duncan Black – public choice model – indiv politial actors
- self interested
Jean Drapeau – Mayor of Montreal
- from 1954 to 1957
- 1960-1986
- quiet revolution, modernization
- brought trade unions forward
- one of main architects of Expo 67
- new metro in montreal
- stood up to terrorists FLQ
- father was insurance broker, mother retired opera singer
- how sell to separatists?
o Told that any opposition was an Anglo-Phone plot
o told English speakers that if don’t back Olympics, separatists will split
- cross between Walt Disney and Al Capone
- quoted ‘at time…thought Olympics could lose money, as much as a man can have a baby’
- had not prepared a financial presentation, rested on oratory.
- Vision not about money, but working together and IOC believed him.
Rober Taillibert – Architect
- estimated London as £15b
- no open tender for buildings
- French
- Considered himself a master builder – poetry with cement
- Aesthetics and vision over practicality
Check CBC Olympic archives
Who will pay?
- Atkinson (2008) – Urban Studies journal – average London resident willing to pay £22 per year for next XX years
Robert Bourassa – Premier of Quebec
- stepped in
- Fed gov not underwrite Olympics
Pierr Trudeau – Prime Minister
- why didn’t he assist
- he had his own problems
- minority gov from 1970-2
- inflation sky rocketing
- stamps, coins and lottery solution
other player was COJO – OCOG
- It developed a surplus, of CAD223m
Expectations of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games
Pedro Moreira, Inst. Tourism Studs, Macau SR, PR China
China international Tourism Arrivals 1990-2004
WTO
Substantial increase
13.30 Buffet lunch for delegates
14:30 Keynote: Mike Weed, Professor of Sport in Society, Canterbury Christchurch University Olympic tourism
14:50 Keynote: Dr Andy Miah, University of the West of Scotland New Media Legacies for the
2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games
15:10 Refreshments
15:30 Choice from:
Workshop: Tour East London
Or:
Workshop: World Heritage site education committee
Will there be a sustainable tourism legacy from London 2012?
Olympic learning partnerships
16:45 Closing note
18:00-21:00 Evening reception, including food drinks and music
Friday 9th May 2008
Time Session Title
09:15 – 10:15 Registration
10:30 Welcome
10:40 Keynote:
The Olympic legacy for Greenwich
Cllr Chris Roberts, Leader of Greenwich Council
Millennium Dome
- focus on legacy
- do not get distracted
- ignore the media
Legacy
- 300 acres of polluted land decontaminated
- 2 primar school
- world’s most successful music venue in less than one year
yacht club
For Olympics
- Ignore the Games!
Bidding legacy
- eg. Manchester metro on back of Olympic bids
Legacy – 17 key tasks
Regeneration games
Prof. Graeme Evans, London Metropolitan University
10:55 Keynote: Dr Beatriz Garcia, Liverpool University The cultural legacy of the Olympics: the symbolic dimension of the games as a basis for long term sustinability
11:10 Keynote:
Rethinking the Cultural Olympiad
Alex Homfray, consultant and coordinator of the London Cultural Consortium
11:25 Panel question and answer session
11:45 Refreshments
12:25 Presentation session
Looking forward to 2012
13:45 Buffet lunch for delegates
14:45 Keynote: Janet Trench, Investment Manager for East London, The Housing Corporation The sustainable housing and community legacy of 2012
15:00 Keynote: Melanie Smith, Corvinus University, Budapest Caught between two flagships: developing a more people-centred approach to cultural regeneration
15:15 Showing of ‘The Games’ dir. Hilary Powell Including an introduction by the director
15:40 Panel question and answer session
16:00 Conference close
Presentation sessions Thursday 8th May
Learning from experience
Piervincenzo Bondonio and Alfredo Mela, University of Turin – Legacies of Torino 2006 for the Olympic movement
Chito Guala, University of Torino, Italy – Lesson to be learnt from the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Torino
Peter Vlachos, University of Greenwich – The Big Owe: Politics and the financial management of the Montreal 1976 Olympic Games
Pedro Moreira, Institute for Tourism Studies, Macau SAR, PR China – Expectations of the Beijing 2008 Olympic games
Education and skills
Dr Paul Donward (Loughborough University), Dr Geoff Nichols (Sheffield University), Rita Ralston (Manchester Metropolitan University) & Dr John Schulz (University of Southampton) – Developing the volunteering legacy of the Olympics
Charles Bladen, University of Greenwich – Satisfying the Future Volunteer Demands of the UK Events Industry: Fostering Olympic Volunteer Egoism to Develop a Legacy of Repeat Volunteering
The Creative Way – life long learning , the creative industries and 2012
Presentation session Friday 9th May
Looking forward
Dr Ian Brittain, University of Bedfordshire – The London 2012 Paralympic games
Nikki MacLeod and James Kennell, University of Greenwich – Assessing the impacts of the Cultural Olympiad
Petros Ieromonachou, (University of Greenwich), Stephen Potter (Open University) and James Warren (Open University) – The ground transport legacy of the London Olympics
Patrick McGurk and Eva E. Tsahuridu, University of Greenwich – London 2012: Lives transformed?
