Day of Closing Ceremonies

HI,
It all started yesterday when Wan Tu attending a meeting yesterday with all major sponsors and BOCOG to discuss closing. It was then that they told all sponsors that after tomorrow (the day of closing) that they couldn’t take anything out of their sponsor tents until August 28. Now this sort of sucks because we are all gone on the 28th and we have a lot of equipment in this area that we were planning on moving out on the 25th right after the Olympics. Plus like everything else BOCOG waited until the 9th hour to let folks now that once again the rules have changed. So Wan sprung into action and started immediately smuggling out whatever she could all afternoon. We had a lot of fun teasing her about her smuggling operation.

Today is closing ceremonies and let me give you all some idea of the thought process that goes into this one component of this event.

Deciding who is to go to Closing

Ticket Distribution of Guests and Staff

Getting everyone their tickets

How many busses does it take and T1 cars are not allowed tonight at the Olympic Area.

Where is the staff to be placed

What time is staff to go to the OHC

What time do guests leave to go to closing

How many coolers per bus with product. Getting people to fill those coolers

What time do you move people from the ballroom to the busses

How long does it take to get to the OHC

When do you move the people holding lollipop signs into place at the Olympic Green.

Getting people through security at OHC

Telling people to move from OHC to Bird’s Nest

Having our staff propertly placed throughout the OHC and Bird’s Nest

And then on exit reverse the entire process. We did a 45 minute meeting yesterday on all of this with a detailed map and timeline of this entire happening.

The one thing I can say that we all can feel the time is getting nearer for us to all say goodbye. Everyone is very tired and folks are getting a touch cranky and rightfully so I might add.

Because opening ceremonies was so darn hot…Coke went one step further for closing and is providing everyone with an electric fan and regular paper fan to try to keep cool.

That is my story for now and I am sticking to it.

Claire