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The rapid evolution of Internet and online communications has VANOC going where no Olympics and Paralympics has gone before.
When he was at the 2006 Turin Winter Games, Graeme Menzies, VANOC’s director of online communications, recalls that people were just starting to talk about a new Internet phenomena.
“YouTube was around then, but it happened so quickly and so near the end of the organizing committee’s term that they didn’t capture it didn’t use it,” Menzies says.
For Menzies that was a big lesson — something was going to come along and they wanted to take advantage of it, but they had no idea what it would be. Envisioning how content and technology can be used and then making it happen is a huge challenge for the dozen or so core members of the VANOC online communications team.
The “mothership,” as Menzies affectionately refers to www.vancouver2010.com, has three phases. It started off as a website that deals with the organiation of the Games, says Menzies.
“People wanted to know where are the venues, when will tickets go on sale, are you on budget and can I work there,” he says.
Phase 2 is more interactive and transactional — buying the tickets, signing up for the torch run and finding out about transportation plans.
The Games-time phase is all about results, says Menzies,
“All the research that we did and everything that we looked at from Torino and Beijing websites and asking our subscribers (what) they want to know, it’s who’s got a medal and how are we doing?” During the Games there will be a “what’s happening today” feel with lots of spectator information and promotion of cultural events.
Although www.vancouver2010.com is the mothership hosting the bulk of the online team’s efforts, it’s the group’s forays into Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and iTunes that will set a new bar for 2014 Winter Games host Sochi, Russia, and 2012 Summer Games host London.
When people are looking for video they go to YouTube, says Menzies, and when they go there they find themselves five minutes later looking at something else.
“So if people are looking for sports, Olympians or Cindy Klassen, the next thing you know they could be watching a Vancouver 2010 video if we put it there,” he says. “If we don’t put it there, they’re not going to be inspired to go looking for www.vancouver2010.com. That’s making Internet users work too much for the information they seek, says Menzies.
Over at VANOC’s Facebook page there’s an online community sharing thoughts and information about the Games. Menzies says Facebook is a great way for VANOC to get feedback from the public and to communicate with a more local audience. For example, there are communities with Torch Run Facebook groups.
Is it Tweet worthy? Well, if the Olympic mascots are going to be in Whistler, that’s not something someone from Rome who is on www.vancouver2010.com will care about, says Menzies, but Twitter can get the word out and add some excitement to the event.
At iTunes you can find podcasts for every Olympic and Paralympic sport. Produced during test events, podcasts captured the atmosphere of a major event by mixing education and excitement. Other podcasts look at the three pillars of the games: sport, culture and the environment.
