ATHENS SUMMER GAMES ONIES FA CEREMO. Volunteer Volunteer. Volunteer Volunteer 2. HIGHLIGHTS. processess

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1 CEREMO ONIES FA 1. KEY STATISTICS PROJECT SCHEDULE Creative concept work commenced 1/09 Production planning commenced 6/09 Phase One feasibility completed 2/10 Games Executive Committee (GEC)approval of final Opening concept 09/10 Procurement commenced 02/11 Rehearsals commenced 02/11 On site work commenced end 05/ /11 CEREMONIES TEAM GROWTH 2009 Creative 10 Production Creative 14 Production 12 April 2011 Creative 30 Production 50 June 2011 Creative 60 Production 100 CAST VOLUNTEER NUMBERS Opening Ceremony Headline talent 4 (excl support) Main Hosts 2 Presenters / Speakers 8 Professional cast performers 26 cast performers 1,5000 athlete marshals 360 Closing Ceremony Headline talent 10 (excl support) Main Hosts 2 Presenters / Speakers 6 Professional cast performers 16 cast performers 800 athlete marshals HIGHLIGHTS PRODUCTION SCHEDULE Phase One report in Feb 2010 set out a production schedule that maximized use of time to procure early obtain maximum market leverage and allow time for public procurement processess 1

2 Stage Two involved multiple design changes to meet budget reductions prior to a September 2010 approval of budget and creative by GEC procurement intendedd to commence in October 2010 at that stage. GEC ceased operation from October to January freezing decision making processes and preventing procurement from starting. Creative detail development, cast auditioning and planning continued during this period. Preparation of tender documents (from a legal perspective as many key scopes of work had already been completed by December 2010 by Ceremonies) only really commenced late January by the single lawyer hired by the GOC at that time. Preparation process was not as fast as it needed to be. Following pressure from all FA s additional legal resource brought in during March to speed things up. Contracting process equally slow in the creation of templates and approval of individual contracts drawing on significant investment of time from senior Ceremonies team members to support the process. In the meantime cast preparation continued uninterrupted On site installation of staging and equipment was delayedd by late procurement and contracting, which caused the need for typically 20 hours a day operations and significant losss of in stadium cast rehearsal time. Several days of poor weather conditions during this period and two days lost to national strikes further impacted the process. CREATIVE PROCESS Initial creative concept presented Spring 2009 in competition against other submissions resulting in appointment by GOC of Fokas Evaggelinos and team to the task Phase One development followed with initially objective of two proposals to differing target budgets (circa Euro 8.3Mil and Euro 12 Mil) Higher budget abandoned during phase one due to increasing economic pressure on Greece Final proposal in Feb 2010 was a creative treatment with an associated budget of Euro 7.5Mil (excluding VAT) Key decision taken within this phase to relocate Opening to Kallimarmaron stadium from OAKA to maximize efficiencies in use of equipment, staging etc across both shows. Closing was always planned to be there. In April 2010 GOC announced to Ceremonies that the budget must now include VAT (at that time at the rate of 21%) Creative team redesigned show several times to bring them into the maximum budget imposed of Euro 7.7 Mil (now to include VAT and Phase One costs of Euro 340,000) September 2010 full creative for Opening and outline for Closing presented to GEC for approval Following absence of GEC from October 2010 to January 2011, production schedule increasingly compressed requiring ongoing redesign of elements to enable procurement, production and delivery within available timescales and the ever increasing pressure on budget due to escalating costs caused by late procurement and contracting of suppliers. Detailed design and redesign work for scenic, lighting, video, costumes, props etc all happening in parallel to delayedd procurement and resulting schedulee shifts from January to June 2011 Music composition delivered to schedule from January to May

3 Overall creative workload several times greater than should have been due to the above factors Creative team performed excellently to respond to these challenges making adaptations and value decisions well into the on site installation period in June 2011 CAST REHEARSALS Auditions from September 2010 to January 2011 Main rehearsals from Feb to end May 2011 Main Venue Fencing Stadium at Heleniko (courtesy of Hellenic Olympic Properties) Secondary Venue Fokiannos Gym Venues supplied free of charge except basic operational costs All facilities provided by Ceremonies FA within its budget Schedule worked well rehearsals completed on time up to delayed access to stadium due to delayed fit out Final full scale rehearsals carried out outside Fencing stadium on marked out space reflecting Panathanenikon stadium stages VENUE MANAGEMENT AND OPERATIONS It is not usual for the Ceremonies production team to also need to run the venue itself this is normally covered by a Venue Operations FA, but we were forced to step in and staff up this essential activity within the production budget from February 2011 (very late to start such planning) ). PAN Venue consisted of the Kallimarmaron stadium together with on site office facilities, Fokkianos Gym and Zappeion (both the building and the park surrounding it). A separate evaluation reports details of this operation. HUMAN RESOURCES The GOC was insufficiently resourced to handle the recruitment, contracting and administration of all Games staff centrally and was far too bureaucratic in its processes. The resulting administrative workload on Ceremonies required the hiring of additional dedicatedd staff from within the production budget. The delays in contracting potentially impacted the available human resources such that, in order to deliver the shows at all, personnel were frequently active on the projects weeks ahead of receiving signed contracts and of course any remuneration. Several days after Closing Ceremony we are still pushing through the contracts for people approved by the GEC prior to Opening Ceremony. RESULTS Opening Ceremony was deliveredd in full with a positive response from audience with the exception that it was commonly felt to be minutes too long. The parade was executed perfectly and to time. A ceremonies event easily up to international standards given the modest budget available compared to other major events around the world. 3

4 Closing Ceremony was well received althoughh the creativee segment was felt by some to be tooo long compared to the party segment, there were too many down beat songs some felt and not enough international content. The handover content from Korea was felt to be weak and too long. Generally however the show received widespread praise as a strong production. 3. CEREMONIES FA MAJOR ISSUES & RECOMMENDATIONS No Issue Description 1 Executive Decision Making Process did not keep pace with project needs 2 Production Model could have been different 3 Procurement too late, too slow and too bureaucratic 4 GOC general planning / cross FA planning from an early stage did not factor in Ceremonies as the ceremonies FA was not set up early in advance to submit their requirements 5 Budgeting ground rules were not clear leaving room for misunderstanding between FA s 6 Ceremonies unique needs were not identifiedd early enough for FA s to respond 7 Venue management started tooo late and was always under resourced. 8 Central GOC risk management started too late and it was not fully delivered. No venue evacuation plan in place for example 9 Central support services of finance, procurement, legal, human resources and administration all dangerously under resourced. This put the project at far greater risk than was necessary 10 Executive management of and co ordinationn Recommendation Ensure the availability of decision makers such that real time decisions can be made in pace with the accelerating project delivery If it is known in the host country that public procurement is slow and laborious, consider appointing a turnkey production company early on to handle the whole project one step away from those restrictive processes Must start early ie 10 months ahead of Opening if public procurement, 7 8 months if not. Templates for procurement process should be prepared long ahead of this period starting Ceremonies often is formed late in the planning phase of an OC. Ceremonies carry many unique (non sports / non Games time) needs and if other FA s do not see those requirements early enough, they are missed on their own planning and budget formation Prior to commencing Ceremonies operations, a detailed breakdown of all aspects of a production that need to be covered by Ceremonies budgets should be developed with the help of consultants Ceremonies production does not conform to the typical schedules of activity of sports. Ceremonies FA is in full operational mode for months before the event which affects its needs in resources provided by other FA s. Clear communication of those needs from a very early stage needs to be done. Should be a separate stand alone activity with Ceremonies one of its key client groups A dedicated GOC risk manager should follow the project from is early planning stage to identify areas of concern early enough to address. Realistically plan for the size of teams and efficiency of processes within these central services so that FA s are able to focus on their areas of delivery instead of filling the many gaps inefficiently Regular planning and issues meetings chaired by 4

5 between FA Heads was weak and ineffectivee leaving FA heads to try to manage their own relationships without oversight Executive Management should be an essential method of ensuring efficient, timely decision making takes place throughout the last year of the project 4. MAJOR ISSUES WITH OTHER FAs List all major issues encountered in your cooperation with other FAs during the Games and/or other issues observed during the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games No Functional Area 1 Technology 2 Transportation 3 Logisticss 4 Overlays 5 Venue Management 6 Medical Issue Description Due to its own procurement delays the FA was unable to deliver Ceremonies requested resources on schedule (landlines, mobile phones, computers, etc) Was unable (in common with Ceremonies) to cope with the rush of athletes heading for busses after Opening ceremony. Closing was much improved although still dangerous at times in terms of crowd crushing Did not have in their very early planning the resources required to support the unique needs of Ceremonies and had only limited ability to adapt to those needs thereafterr This essential FA simply did not exist for the nonn competition venues and was badly missed Again there was no nonn sports venue management functionn in place and should have been Did not deliver the requested coverage during mass rehearsals or athlete egress until all had reached their destinations. 5. SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL The following material will be made available as supplementary to this report: Ceremonies budget Master Schedule Organisation chart Stadium plans PAN Venue Operational plans Athlete parade plans 5