By Matt Spina:
Hello everyone!
Though I intended to update you all a lot more often, work and life seems to have its way of getting in the way. Since we last posted much has happened in our world. I will stick to the items that I was responsible/working on over the past month to start.
To start, following the conclusion of delegation entries into the ATOS Games Management system we moved into the individual athlete entry into their respective sports and as a result our newest deadline. Once every country had successfully entered their athletes into their respective sporting disciplines and events we began preparations for our pre-delegation registration meetings – Pre-DRMs for short. This consisted of scheduling and lining up phone calls with each of the countries we were responsible for, and working through a checklist to ensure that we were addressing any outstanding items. Once these calls concluded, we both had an action list of things that would need to be addressed as soon as possible.
Also during this time, we were approached by our Director of Marketing who was consequently in charge of ticketing for the games. We were asked to put together a pricing matrix and order form for each of the Commonwealth Games Associations from each country to expedite the pre-ordering process prior to the online system being opened to the public.
I took on the responsibility of preparing this matrix while working closely with the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) representatives from the UK as well as the Marketing Director from the Local Organizing Committee (LOC). Between the LOC and the CGF, a pricing structure for the tickets was determined for each venue. Once I had received this information I proceeded to create an order form that would allow countries to input their ticket requests according to the following information:
– Sport
– Venue
– Day
– Price
Ticket Order Template
Schedule Overview/Pricing Matrix
After a lot of editing and formatting, we finally got the forms sent out to the countries prepared in a way that it would calculate their total amounts owed, and complete breakdown of tickets for parents, family or friends that would be attending the games to spectate. It was during this process that I flew out from Nassau to head home for my sister’s wedding in my hometown of Sudbury this past weekend. As I was preparing for my week off from work and for my week of work back home preparing for this fateful day, I sat in the airport in Toronto finalizing the ticket forms and information for the countries, and sent it out.
Once that had been completed, I was able to jump right into the wedding and doing my best to help my parents and family prepare to host a “big fat Greek/Italian wedding” week. Needless to say, it was a fun week to spend back home. Even though I had only been away for 2 months, it took some adjusting to get back into the pace and rhythm of Canadian living. Driving back on the right side of the road was a little disorienting, but I was able to wrap my head around it within a day or two of acting as the family shuttle for everyone arriving into town.
My brother and myself were honoured to stand in the wedding as … BridesMEN. Yes, you heard that right! It was the running joke throughout the weekend, topped off with us entering the wedding hall to “Man, I feel like a woman” by Shania Twain. It was a hit! (or so we think). All in all, the wedding went off without a hitch… well, except for the ACTUAL hitch that happened between my sister and my new brother in-law (welcome to the family Costa!).
Wedding Bells are a-ringin’
Brothers of the bride
Once Monday rolled around I had to get myself back into the mindset of work, and what needed doing once I returned to Nassau. 40 emails, 26 hours of delayed and re-routed flights, (and thankfully no lost luggage) later, I arrived back in Nassau and have gotten back into the swing of things.
Currently, we have jumped into the printing of accreditation badges for each member of every delegation that will be attending the games in 3.5 weeks time. This is a long, and arduous process, but between the four of us, we have figured out a system that works to our advantage in a timely and efficient manner. Aside from that, I have spent several days assisting in the preparation of invoices for various CGAs who placed their ticket orders through us. A few formatting corrections later, we have successfully prepared totals and have printed both the tickets and invoices for each of the countries who pre-ordered.
As we move forward to the games, we will be preparing for the in-person Delegation Registration Meetings (DRMs) to wrap up any remaining items, including that of payment, ticket allocation, athlete replacements/withdrawals, and anything else that will be on our checklist. Things are picking up, and the workload is increasing, but despite that, this continues to be an extremely rewarding experience that has allowed both Emily and myself to push the boundaries of our capabilities, and to continue to find new and effective ways of completing tasks each and every day.
To wrap this up, this weekend is Canada’s 150th! I’m not sure what we have planned yet, but I’m sure it will be a fun day regardless. After all, I even brought back my new hat (see awful selfie below) to make sure everyone knows what I’ll be celebrating on Saturday!
Happy Canada Day everyone, and talk soon!
– Matt
Cheesy Canadian Selfie