Calm Before The Storm

By Emily Stratford:

Hey everyone!

I can’t believe it’s already been 2 months since I touched down in Nassau. Time is flying and work is busy but I’ve been making sure to make the most of everyday.

A big task for the month of June has been conducting pre-DRMs (Delegation Registration Meeting) with all participating countries through Skype. Geordie and I were responsible for 33 of the countries and Luke and Matt were responsible for the remaining 32. As pairs, we completed between 2-6 meetings every day for two weeks. Even with all the time zone differences we still managed to connect with all the countries whether that meant an early morning wake up or late night call from home. During these meetings, we went over the countries’ athletes and officials that are entered in the ATOS Games Management System to ensure all the information and team size is correct. We then go into the Sportive Entries where the athletes have been entered in their specific sport. Going over this ensures that all athletes are entered into their correct sport and have entered in all the necessary data such as their season’s best performance. We also go over other logistical components such as accommodation requests and arrivals and departures so that our transportation department can schedule airport pick-ups and drop offs.

Now that the pre-DRM meetings are complete we have begun scheduling the final DRM meeting that will be a two-step process for most countries. The meeting will again take place over Skype about a week and a half before the countries start arriving in Nassau and will finalize and confirm all logistical components and athlete/official information. Once the countries arrive, we will need to meet in person with the team leader from each team to hand over the accreditation badges and go through the final DRM check list that will confirm that everything is in check. Needless to say, once countries start arriving we will have our hands full.

Another task we have been working on is printing the accreditation passes and sorting them by country. Originally, we estimated it would take around a week and a half to print off the 1,800 passes, however we just had our second day of printing and already have 44 out of the 65 countries completely printed. When we first started printing we had to print each athlete off individually which took a very long time but we then figured out how to bulk print so we’re on a roll now. Hopefully by early next week we will have all countries printed so we can hand the passes off to the accreditation volunteers for them to laminate and attach the lanyards.

There was another press conference last week where the ticketing information and promotional video for the games were released. During this press conference the Games mascot Chikee was also introduced to the public. Fortunately for Geordie, he got to fulfill his high school dream of being a mascot. I don’t think he’ll be as eager come Game time when their looking for someone to be Chikee in 30 degree weather and the fan still isn’t installed in the head piece.

In regards to the marketing and promotional side of the Games we have begun seeing more signage throughout the island and in front of the main stadium. I have been told by some of my colleagues that they’ve heard me on the promotional radio ad I was in but I have yet to hear it myself. I haven’t been offered anymore radio gigs so I guess I won’t be making it big during my time here in Nassau, maybe one day.

On a more personal note, I have been making the most of all my weekends here exploring, checking out new beaches, snorkeling, paddle boarding, and catching as many sun sets as I can. We also managed to make our way into a 5-star resort and be treated as guests for the day.

I titled this blog ‘The Calm Before The Storm’ because there really isn’t anything more accurate. There are only 2 weeks until the first countries arrive and we still have quite a bit of work to do. I am confident however that it will all get done and these Games will be the best Commonwealth Youth Games ever! Once the countries arrive, myself, Geordie, Luke, and Matt will be working in the Athletes Village which will be the two hotels that the athletes will be staying in. I suspect that we will be there acting as a main point of contact and helping out where ever we are needed.

That’s all for now. I would like to wish all my Canadian friends and family a Happy Canada Day this coming weekend. Myself and the other interns will be representing Canada here in Nassau!

Until next time,

Emily