Closing Ceremony Focus

You know you have stuffed up on an event when the national broadcast of the event tells you at the end of the event how bad you did.

No doubt Channel 7 Executives knew that they were going to cop some abuse for many of the issues of the closing ceremony so they allowed their commentators to explain how it wasn’t Channel 7’s fault and then really tell the organisers how wrong they got it. See the footage above for Johanna Griggs and Basil Zempalas explaining how disappointed they were.

While Johanna and Basil listed many issues that the organisers got wrong, there was one main thing. The big issue was the focus of the Closing Ceremony.

After days of events and competitions it felt like the closing ceremony was used to make a political statement when it should have been a celebration for the athletes. A celebration of so much hard work in getting to these games, let alone securing any medals.

Event Professionals know that successful events are not about the corporations that run them, they are all about the delegate. They are about the people who have turned up to connect with others, compete with others, celebrate with others. When you take the focus off the delegates, they have no reason to stay and as we saw at the closing ceremony, an event without an audience has no soul.

For your next event, granted it may not be the size of the Commonwealth Games, where will your focus be?

It may be as simple as a dinner party, a birthday party or an event for your work group. The principle still applies. Where is the focus?