Party on ice organized by JLS gains international recognition
06.02.2010
During the ISU European Figure Skating Championships 2010 held in at the end of January, news that this was the best organized EC event reached our ears several times. Those who said it added that they are not just making big words - indeed, everything worked as intended.
Representatives of the International Skating Union told the head organizer of the event Margus Ernits that they would be glad to hand over the rights for organizing World Championships to Estonia, if only we had a suitable place to host it at. For now, the World Championships will not be held here due to Estonia not having a big enough skating rink.
Communication bureau Jugaste, Liiva and Seimann was trusted with the communication responsibilities, organizing of the press centre and its maintenance during the European Championships. First steps were already made in June 2009, when the upcoming grand event was introduced to spectators. For this purpose, an artificial skating rink was put up during summer, where event organizers - on skates - presented the upcoming European championships. This opening event received a worthy media coverage.
The largest and work-wise most demanding part of the preparation works included accreditation of journalists, compiling an official program for the competitions, co-operation planning and launching together with the Estonian Television, compiling information materials for participants and organizing media coverage, recruiting and tutoring of volunteers, and creating a press centre.
The last phase of preparatory works took only three months and we are very proud that we were able to create a functioning press centre and handle PR activities in such a short time. Our team consisted of 42 volunteers and four employees of JLS, although all employees of our small bureau helped in one way or another with the successful completion of the event. During the week of the event, we serviced 300 journalists in a near-perfect manner. The press centre, from where impressions of the event reached the entire world, was busy like a beehive up until late hours of the night. Dozens of people were working to produce an international television broadcast, which was viewed by over 350 million spectators.
Praise always raises spirits. Editor of ERR (Estonian Public Broadcasting) Hanno Tomberg said that the EC press centre was the all-time best sports press centre in Estonia. French journalist Jean-Christophe Berlot said, that he had never participated in such a well-organized, professional event: "I am grateful for the constant help and support you have provided us in the press room, stands and for the press conferences."
In any case, Estonia solidified its reputation as a competent organizer of events and reassures an image of a fine small country in which responsibilities trusted to us are always carried out with success. "We set the bar high and to be honest, it's already starting to feel quite weird, because everyone is constantly complimenting us," said the head organizer Margus Hernits while summarizing the event. "Small problems occurred during the competition but they were resolved smoothly and it didn't disturb the audience." This sentence is probably the best to describe professional organizatory skills at the highest level.
