The team at Clearwater Towers are feeling a little blue today… The withdrawal symptoms from the Olympics have already started and the office doesn’t feel the same without the background hum of crowds cheering as Team GB head for another victory on the television. We have been glued to the TV and have been rather surprised by the sports we have watched, from handball to BMX racing. In fact, Jonathan, our co director, phoned into LBC radio and ended up live on air to defend the opening ceremony – now that’s passion!
One month on and I have to eat my words a little bit. The Olympics have been an incredible boost to the country, we have shown the world how we as nation have the ability to deliver the extraordinary, on time and within budget. We have shown how to perfectly manage incredibly complex events whilst keeping a sense of humor and being realistic on what makes a wow factor event. So, perhaps it is this that will become our lasting legacy? Our legacy could be that finally a host country has shown how to really deliver a brilliant, wow-factor games that’s cost effective, yet successfully brings people together from all over the world.
My fear though is that this becomes only a London legacy. To make a real difference then, the legacy must be all inclusive of the entire UK and we as an industry have to identify the value and benefits to all as we move forward in promoting the UK, rather than just London, as a fab inbound destination. I do truly believe that the London 2012 Olympics will have a positive and significant impact to inward MICE business within the next year, but it’s important that we ensure the whole of the country gets a slice of the cake!
As a start up that’s almost a year old, we are keen to embrace this as a key area for growth as we continue to develop our own strategy in offering a competitive product at a realistic price to clients. This is a great opportunity for us smaller agencies to seize the moment and showcase our strength in delivering fab event solutions in tough economic times, usi back, pure hard work and determination will ensure success. So it’s this that will become Clearwater’s own Olympics legacy as we face a set of conundrums for growth that feel quite like the 100m hurdles or possibly even the triple jump (which I thought looked terribly difficult)
So, in response to my own comments last month, I am pleased to say that I have found my own legacy and I pretty sure the Olympics will create many more as people up and down the country reflect what the games meant to them.