Photo courtesy of Peter J Dean on flickr
Olympic event planners like the athletes have a lot on their plate. Olympic athletes pour their blood sweat and tears into working and training for what seems like a life time for their moment in the spotlight. We non-athletes cannot even imagine for one second what it takes to be at the top of their athletic game. So kudos to the over ten thousand Olympic athletes and all the energy and effort they have put into their individual sport. And when it’s all said and done, whether they came in first, second, third, fifteenth or higher, in my eyes, they’re all winners.
I was thinking about the Olympic athletes and how similar they are to the Olympic event planners. Besides the fact, that when a large event is said and done and the last guest has departed, I do sometimes feel like I’ve just run a marathon. And like the athletes, the Olympic event planners pour their blood, sweat and tears (yes there can be tears) into the strategizing planning, organizing and executing of all things Olympics. And like the athletes planners will do everything within their power to ensure gold medal results. We all know, things happen and will go wrong by no fault of anyone. Sometimes it can make no difference how many times you check, double check or triple check, “stuff” just does happens.
Olympic Athletics and Event Planners – What Can go Wrong May
A couple of years ago I was contacted by a medical association to plan their annual conference for five thousand delegates. And yes typical me, I probably quadruple checked each and every detail but that old adage came into play “what can go wrong will go wrong”. And it did! It was time to get all the delegates into the general session and low and behold, my chimes decided to NOT work. And yes I did test them. Sometimes it’s just the minor stuff that will throw you off. Well like everything, in the end it all worked out and I did get those delegates in their seats promptly. So when a colleague saw this “oops” Olympic video clip on YouTube she couldn’t resist sending to me with the tag line… you’re not alone.
You are right, it is a lesson in what can go wrong will go wrong, even those little things we sometimes overlook.