Managing sports games highlights 2nd Dubai International Project Management Forum 2015

The second edition of the Dubai International Project Management Forum 2015 vigorously kick-started with project management lectures on organizing and managing sports games, activities and events. The three sessions witnessed the participation an elite panel of keynote speakers who narrated their experiences marked by determination, challenge and risk-facing, besides finding the best solutions to overcome short, medium and long terms. Despite these challenges, such experiences were dotted by plenty of successes and memories that eased associated pressures and paved the way for further successes.

Tom Touber from the Organizing Committee of International Volvo Ocean Sailing Race started by giving a lecture entitled Managing the Volvo Ocean (Race through the Storm Crisis). This race is known as the toughest races and lasts for nine months non-stop. Participants may even lose their lives in the process. Touber stated that to win this race, directors of this sort of events have to be clever, courageous, innovative, strong, patient, love the challenge and have the will to win.

“We were heavily impacted by the Global Crisis which swept the entire world, but brought challenges that needed innovation, and the employment of more effective strategies along with ambitious plans that maintained the fighting spirit to make our races successful,” he said.

Touber, who is a Dutch, spoke about his experience as a member of Volvo Ocean Sailing Race including persistent conflicts with the nature i.e. the rising ocean.

“We have adopted a strategy blending innovation with intelligence through reducing the cost of participation without impacting our performance. We have also improved the skills of our staffs to condition them to the new circumstances. We have advocated the team spirit and dedication and managed to reduce costs by 50% and achieve several successes.

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Managing International Sports Events – Lessons Learned from London Olympic and Paralympic Games 2012

Jeremy Beeton, Member of the Organizing Committee of London Olympic and Paralympic Games 2012 delivered a serious and accurate lecture in which he elaborated details and lessons learned from challenges along with solutions. Among the critical issues that confronted the low budget and the lack of finance; which are the backbone of the success of any event.

Most successes of London Olympic and Paralympic Games 2012 are attributed to the relations with various countries which were concerned with the success of Britain in this global event for the third time. Several factors underline such success such as the vibrant work teams, attracting the right persons, encouraging personal relationships, and the cooperation of the political departments. The change and time were decisive as well as the quantifying of innovation so that it will not impact the achievement of the set goals and the realistic budget. Some public entity firms have a prominent role in the success and so was the stress on safety and sustainability right from the start. We were cautious against the bubble economic performance, and adopted plan, assure and test principle, and the last factor was courage and ambition.

Managing the Integration of Projects and Processes in Sports Organizations

The third and final lectures focused on: Managing the Integration of Projects and Processes in Sports Organizations, delivered by Lars Haue-Perderson, Manager Partner of TSE Consulting.

He stated that structures of sports games are based on three pillars: activity, works, and time. However, he censured the way of organizing sports games describing it as traditional despite successes made. He cited the reasons as the lack of strategy, change and development as well as the lack of focus on improving the applicable procedures.

As for the suggested solutions he described them as the decrease in the number of projects, improvement of procedures and recognition of staffs, unleashing a strategy to lead the organization, and the move from functional to divisional structure.

Concluding his lecture, Perderson praised the way adopted by Dubai Sports Council in managing sports events throughout the year considering it one of the most innovative and influential methods.

The DIPMF organized by the RTA has for the first time added diverse lectures about the management of sports activities, rendering this edition interactive and in line with the logo (Projects Management Support Innovation). It was fitting that the event was concurrent with the launch of the UAE Innovation Week, which started yesterday.