Drawing a World-Class Sporting Event to a Close

Drawing a World-Class Sporting Event to a Close Canada vs. Australia at the last World Ultimate Under-23 Championships (Florence Italy, 2010) The Ultimate World Under-23 Championships in Toronto was a fantastic event. Team Canada made the final round against Team USA in both the mixed and open brackets and came away with very respectable silver medals and bronze for the women. I was proud to have been called upon to coordinate the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. It was also a pleasure to work closely with members of the Toronto Ultimate Club, many of whom I admire for their dedication to the sport of Ultimate and their smarts to pull off a world class event. Here are a few photo highlights of the experience. It’s been an exciting season for the sport of Ultimate, which also saw the Toronto Rush, Toronto’s first professional Ultimate team face off in the American Ultimate Disk League. 2013 was their inaugural year to enter the professional league and became the 2013 champions! Rumour has it that the Toronto fans are the biggest and loudest. I couldn’t be more proud of the spirit of global sportsmanship embodied in Toronto. You can watch the highlights here. Facebook-f X-twitter Linkedin-in Link Happy Endings: Ann’s first blog post See my handiwork firsthand next Sunday. And ceremoniously. Canada vs. Australia at the last World Ultimate Under-23 Championships (Florence Italy, 2010) I’m very proud to be Event Coordinator for… Food for the Hungry & a Trip to Manila Confession: I have a crush on The Oatmeal. He makes me laugh…every time! To know him is to love him! If you’re in

See my handiwork firsthand next Sunday. And ceremoniously.

See my handiwork firsthand next Sunday. And ceremoniously. Canada vs. Australia at the last World Ultimate Under-23 Championships (Florence Italy, 2010) I’m very proud to be Event Coordinator for the Opening & Closing Ceremonies for the Ultimate World Under-23 Championships taking place next week. There will be 900+ athletes competing from 38 teams and 17 countries. This should be exciting to watch. The Opening Ceremonies next Sunday (July 21) are free to the public. They’ll be a wonderful opportunity for you to see firsthand a project I’ve been working on. They’re also a chance to support and cheer on Canada’s finest (or any other country’s finest, if you’re so inclined) in Ultimate (in short, Frisbee football, a sport I avidly participate in). The WFDF Ultimate World Under-23 Championships Opening Ceremonies take place 3-5PM, Sunday, July 21 at York University. The fields are just west of York Stadium, on the south side of Steeles. I look forward to seeing you there! Can’t make it in person? Live webcast is slated to go live immediately after the Opening Ceremonies. Please see the official website for more info. Facebook-f X-twitter Linkedin-in Link Happy Endings: Ann’s first blog post Drawing a World-Class Sporting Event to a Close The Ultimate World Under-23 Championships in Toronto was a fantastic event. Team Canada made the final round against Food for the Hungry & a Trip to Manila Confession: I have a crush on The Oatmeal. He makes me laugh…every time! To know him is to love him! If you’re in

Happy Endings: Ann’s first blog post

Happy Endings: Ann’s first blog post I’m starting with the ending. I know it’s a trite trick we see in Hollywood plotlines. However, as a Project Manager, it seems an appropriate starting point for my blogging life. When I’m approached for my Event/Conference and Project Management expertise, I often sense anxious feelings over the big looming question: “Where do we start?” This question was, in fact, one that loomed over my own head in considering my new website launch this month. And it’s a question that warrants some attention, so I’m dedicating my first blog series, Where Do We Start? to 5 posts addressing 5 strategic starting points for projects. Who’s in charge here? What’s the time? What do we have? What do we need? The question of purpose. The ends. A broad stroke that immediately pays dividends for stakeholders is to take a breath, and a step back, and ask “What endsdo we hope to achieve with this project?”. Simple as it is, it’s one of those simple course-correcting questions that can help you break down a daunting task into more manageable components. I was enormously gratified to work on one project with a large international non-profit organization with autonomous members in 160+ countries. Two years prior, they had asked their members what they needed to strengthen their organizations in the future. One specific response kept coming up: they required more and consistent training of their board of directors and staff. The answer was clear, which helped keep their purposes and goals in mind as they developed the project. It took two years, but surveys were completed at every level of the organization, funding was acquired and administrative structures were built to carry out a project to train sixty of their member organizations over a three-year period, with the goal of long-term impact at the highest levels. Trainers from every region of the world were selected who were senior in the organization, had strong relationships and trust with each organization, understood the cultural context of their work, and spoke their language. I was hired to coordinate the project since I already understood the culture and values of the organization and already considered the trainers as friends. We brought the trainers together to be trained in board governance, set to work adapting the material to our organization, ensured it would be easily understood by an international audience, and translated the materials into 4 languages. By the time the announcement went out that we were ready to launch, we received fifty requests from around the world for training in our first three months! The overwhelming response was confirmation that we were on the right track, which motivated us to keep going. Since then, fourteen more trainers have been trained and the total number of boards of directors to be trained has been vastly increased. I’m still inspired by the long-term effects of this project and how it was developed. I’d love to hear the happy endings you’ve achieved, or dream of achieving. Add them to the comments, or use my contact form to let me know the happy ending you’d like me to help you “write”!  Facebook-f X-twitter Linkedin-in Link See my handiwork firsthand next Sunday. And ceremoniously. Canada vs. Australia at the last World Ultimate Under-23 Championships (Florence Italy, 2010) I’m very proud to be Event Coordinator for… Drawing a World-Class Sporting Event to a Close The Ultimate World Under-23 Championships in Toronto was a fantastic event. Team Canada made the final round against Food for the Hungry & a Trip to Manila Confession: I have a crush on The Oatmeal. He makes me laugh…every time! To know him is to love him! If you’re in