FA EVALUATION REPORT OF ATHENS 2011 SPECIAL OLYMPICS WORLD SUMMER GAMES

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1 DELEGATION SERVICES 1. KEY STATISTICS Please outline the key numbers that defined the scope of your program. If this information cannot be included I this report you can provide relevant attachments. If you decide to provide attachments with numbers please list below these files. Communication with SOI and SO Programs Regional Communication Coordinators Four Regional Communication Coordinators were appointed to conduct the communication with the SO Programs of the seven SOI Regions as well as with the SOI Regional Offices receiving questions and comments from the SO Programs and liaising with the relevant GOC Functional Areas trying to provide SO Programs with appropriate and accurate information with regards to Games processes and procedures. Delegation Updates: The Delegation Services Department developed the Delegation Updates, an electronic newsletter with technical information and updates related with the Games, important for the preparation of the Delegations. 8 Delegation Updates have been issued containing information in various topics such as: Information about the Host Country and the Host City (culture, life and highlights of Greece and Athens) General Information about GOC - Contact details Sports and Venues (Competition updates) - Sport & Venue of the Month Games Services updates (Transport, Accommodation, Credentialing, Logistics, Airport Services, etc.) Main Topic of the Issue - Presentation of non-sport programs and events (e.g. Athens 2011 Festival, LETR, etc.) Delegation Information - Checklist Deadlines and Reminders The Delegation Updates Issues 1 st - June nd - July rd - October th January th February th March th April th June 2011 All issues have been uploaded at the Athens 2011 official website ( ) and relevant links have been sent to SOI regional Offices and SO Programs. HOD Manual_1st Edition: It was delivered as hardcopy and cd during the HOD Seminar, October 2010, and uploaded at the website ( ). It was available in Greek and English. The 1

2 first edition of the HOD Manual started on 21 June 2010, when the first draft of the contents was sent to SOI for comments and was concluded on 23 September 2010, when it was sent for production. HOD Manual_2nd Edition: It was produced in English and translated into French, Spanish, Chinese- Mandarin, Russian and Greek. It was uploaded at the website ( ) and delivered as hardcopy and cd to all Delegations upon arrival in Athens. HOD Seminar and HOD Meetings HOD Seminar - Numbers October 2010 Total: 111 participants 75 programs & 30 SOI representatives SOAF: 12 representatives from 9 SO Programs SOAP: 13 representatives from 10 SO Programs SOEA: 9 representatives from 5 SO Programs SOEE: 54 representatives from 38 SO Programs SO MENA: 13 representatives from 6 SO Programs SONA: 10 representatives from 7 SO Programs The Agenda covered all aspects of the Games preparations providing attendees with the opportunity to understand the policies and procedures as well as the operating plans of all Functional Areas. Venue tours to competition and non- competition venues were also conducted. Please see attached the Agenda of the HOD Seminar. Registration forms were sent to accredited SO Programs on 22 nd April, 2010 and the registration deadline was the 31 st July, HOD Meetings - Numbers 1 Advanced Head Of Delegation Meeting The Advanced HOD Meeting took place on the 25 th June 2011 at the Conference Hall of the Ministry of Health and Social Solidarity. The Conference Hall has a capacity of 800 persons. The Advanced HOD Meeting was attended by 485 persons (Delegation representatives, Delegation Assistant Liaisons and SOI representatives). Simultaneous translation into Arabic, French, Chinese-Mandarin, Spanish and Russian was available while the official language of the Meetings was English. The Agenda of the meeting covered issues such as: The Athens 2011 Opening Ceremony, the Games Transportation System, Accommodation Overview, Sport and Competition Updates, Credentialing, the Healthy Athletes Program, The Games Medical Services, the Athens 2011 Festival and Delegations Entertainment. 8 Daily HOD Meetings - The Daily HOD Meetings had a 400 persons average attendance and took place at the Conference Hall of the HELEXPO PALACE in Athens. The meeting room had a capacity of 400 persons. The Meetings were scheduled from 08:00 to 09:00 daily. Simultaneous translation into Arabic, French, Chinese- Mandarin, Spanish and Russian was available while the official language of the Meetings was English. 2

3 Delegation Services Volunteers Program The total number of the Delegation Services Volunteers was 467: Delegation Assistant Liaisons 367 Delegation Services Agents 91 Delegation Services Agents Assignment and Training The Athens 2011 Volunteers Department was responsible for the assignment of the DS Agents by telephone or one-to-one interviews. A number of Agents were also interviewed by Delegation Services. The Volunteers Department provided an analytical Job Description in order to ensure effective communication of the role and responsibilities. It was highlighted that the volunteers needed to be skilled volunteers with issue resolution orientation and skilled at liaising with many departments as well as possess strong language and administrative skills. Additional considerations were the home address of the volunteer and ease of access to specific Accommodation Venues. Once a volunteer was assigned to the role, the Volunteers Department was responsible for up-dating the DS Department and VMS (the system used for the management of the database). Sometimes this was not very effective. DS Agents received the Job Description and welcome note as well as all information regarding the training schedule and all other communication. DS Agents and DALs followed almost identical training session for unity, effective co-operation and an overall understanding of the Department s operations. DALs learned to direct queries while at Accommodation Venues, or at the Airport to DS Agents, while DS Agents were familiar with the DALs of the Delegations they worked with and communicated with them, in order to facilitate communication with the HODs, AHODs, coaches etc. The training program: March 9, General Training given by Athens 2011 Volunteers Department March 19, General Training given by Athens 2011 Volunteers Department May 14 and 15, Job Specific Training (Airport, DWC, Accommodation Venues and HOD Meetings operations and duties, liaison with other FAs) June 4, Job Specific Training, re-cap session, questions time, discussion time with DS Managers. June 8 and 9, Job Specific Training Airport Venue Tour and Operations June 22, Job Specific Training Accommodation Venue Operations The Delegation Services Volunteer Handbook described analytically the role and responsibilities of the Delegation Services Department at the venues and of the DS Agents according to the DS duties (please see attached the English version of the Manual). Delegation Services Agents Responsibilities Agents that were assigned to Airport services were the first to greet Delegations upon arrival at the airport. Their role included to accompany Delegations through airport procedures and facilitate the completion of all formalities as well as to escalate issues which needed to be resolved. 3

4 At the Delegation Welcome Centre, DS Agents were assigned to the reception in order to disseminate information and to offer assistance wherever required. They were also assisting with the organization of the Delegation Registration Confirmation Meetings. At the HOD Meetings a number of young volunteers were assigned to welcome Delegates, direct them to the HOD Meeting Hall, assist with their registration and hand out interpretation headphones to HODs for the meetings. At the Accommodation Venues, they staffed the Delegation Services Desks and were responsible for the dissemination of information to Delegations, the escalation of issues to the Delegation Services Department where deemed necessary, they submitted of a daily report of all issues, communicated and liaised with departments with regards to Delegation issues (e.g. mobile phone technical issues, support communication between Delegations split into different Accommodation venues, lost items during transfer, communication with the SIDs at sports venues, liaison with the Accommodation Venue Front Desk with regards to requests such as an early lunch for athletes etc, or more significant issues such as athletes left alone, or found locked outside their residence. A number of Desks also acted as Sports Information Desks). Delegation Assistant Liaisons - Assignment The assignment of the DALs started on October 2010 when approximately 80 DALs were interviewed and hired prior to commencement of role, in order to assist Delegates to attend the Head of Delegation Seminar. Initial assignment was made to regions not Delegations. Assignment to a specific SO Program was based on volunteer background, nationality, cultural understandings, and balanced ages, experience in similar roles and professional experience and wherever possible personality compatibility. The criteria for selection were strong communication skills, self-initiative, managerial abilities, language skills, number of accommodation venues per Delegation and language needs, intercultural understanding, familiarity with the city of Athens, availability for 17 days, 5 of those away from Athens. DAL Training The full schedule was sent during the first week of February 2011, once the Volunteer Program had prepared the Volunteer General Training Program and the Delegation Services slots were agreed upon. Training was provided in both Greek and English. The training program: March 9, General Training provided by Athens 2011 Volunteers Department March 19, General Training provided by Athens 2011 Volunteers Department May 14 and 15, Job Specific Training (Airport, DWC, Accommodation Venues and HOD Meetings operations and duties, liaison with other FAs) June 4, Job Specific Training, re-cap session, question time, discussion time with DS Managers. June 8 and 9, Job Specific Training Airport Venue Tour and Operations June 22, Job Specific Training Accommodation Venue Operations Motivation and retention tools: Delegation Services e-quiz (3 sets of 12 questions) Constant communication (telephone, , one to one meetings) and social gatherings 4

5 Delegation Registration Section Delegation Registration - Numbers 170 SO Programs registered/ participated in the SOWSG ATHENS Athletes Coaches 168 HODs 182 A-HODs 337 AS staff from 77 SO Programs 190 Program Staff from 28 SO Programs Delegation Registration Confirmation Procedure 139 Delegation Registration Meetings (DRMs) were conducted between June & and on the 24 th June 2011at the Delegation Welcome Center (DWC). 30 DRMs were conducted by tele-conference (for Delegations which arrived directly to their Host Towns). Key Registration Deadlines 1 February 2011: GMS Registration deadline 15 March 2011: Program Staff Registration deadline 1 May 2011: Alternates activation 15 May 2011: As Staff payments Visa Issuance 93 out of 170 Delegations needed visa and the relevant Visa Invitation Letters were issued and sent. Airport Welcome & Farewell Services Delegations Airport Meet and Greet Services were provided at the Athens International Airport (AIA) Arrivals Level, during the period of arrivals of Delegations. The above mentioned period was from June 17th, 2011 till June 25th, The Service was available on a 24 hour basis, thus following AIA s arrival schedule. Peak arrival dates: June 19, 20, 21 June Delegations Airport Meet and Greet Service included only the following groups: Heads of Delegations (HOD) Assistant Heads of Delegations Head Coaches Athletes Additional Staff Airport Welcome Services provided included Meet and Greet Delegations Members right after their disembarkation, provision of assistance and directions through airport s formalities, until the shuttle bus to the DWC staging area. 5

6 Dedicated ATHENS 2011 Info Desks were operating at the Baggage Reclaim Area. Delegation Services operated at the Airport during the Departures period as well with the provision of relevant services by DALs and DS Agents. Departure Services were offered between July 4 th and July 7 th. Peak departure dates: 5, 6 July 2011 Estimated number of people departing on July 5th: Delegation Service Centers Delegation Services Centers (DSC) operated daily from June 24th, 2011 until July 5th, 2011 at each accommodation site & from 7:00 23:00 by Delegation Services Staff (Delegation Services Agents), on two shifts, under the supervision of the respective DSC Manager. Delegation Services Department operated 26 DSCs from 24 th June to 5 th July, The purpose of Delegation Services Centers (DSC) was to provide Delegations with general information, assistance and collection of submitted Question and Issue Reporting Forms or report any other issue related to the Games to the DSHQ in order to include the issue at the following day s Daily Meeting agenda. Services of the DSC were available only for the following groups: Heads of the Delegations Assistant Heads of the Delegations Head Coaches Description of Services: Access to PC/printer/ photocopier Pigeon Holes for the Delegations residing at the specific accommodation site where the respective DSC was located. Notice board Question and Issue Reporting Forms Access to Language Services Delegations hot desk computer access Exceptions made: 1) At the SO Village the DSCs operated separately from Sports Information Desk (SID). DSCs were in close vicinity to both SID & Front Desk. 2) At the Hotels the DSCs operated together with Sports Information Desk (SID) under the name Delegation Service Center/Sports Info Desk and were in close vicinity to Front Desk. Both Delegation Services Staff & Sports Info Desk Staff were trained to provide the same information. 6

7 2. HIGHLIGHTS Please outline the major elements that defined the performance of your FA during the Games, taking into account the service level defined prior to the event. Furthermore, please state what (if applicable) extra nonplanned services were delivered after last minutes requests. At this section, it is also important to state what functioned well and what not. Communication with SOI and SO Programs The HOD Manual 2 nd Edition has been translated into the SOI official languages: French, Spanish, Chinese Mandarin, Russian, Arabic, by volunteers. This was a major project in terms of coordination, given the fact that it was requiring many people involved on voluntarily basis for the translation of the English text to the official languages of the Games. Furthermore, the timeframe was very critical, as the English version could not been completed on time, due to the last minute changes of the operational plans of some GOC FAs. The proofreading of the Spanish and Chinese version has been conducted by the respective SOI Regional offices. The proofreading of the Arabic version has been assigned to the SO MENA office, however, due to the big amount of corrections, at the end, this version has never been finalized and therefore, not been printed out. HOD Seminar and HOD Meetings The HOD Seminar was very successfully conducted and helped HODs to understand the Games policies, procedures and operating plans. The participants of the HOD Seminar had also the opportunity to visit competition and accommodation venues. The HOD Meetings were very useful, as they provided the platform for the HODs to raise questions and issues concerning the Games. From the GOC side, the Heads of the Departments were present in order to make updates, answer the questions directly and to make sure that HODs feel safe and reassured. Delegation Services Volunteers Program Through the Delegation Services Volunteers Program we have created a legacy in our society. Volunteers have spread the message of the Special Olympics Movement and they want to actively continue supporting people with intellectual disability. Many of them have already contacted SO Hellas either to volunteer, or to participate in events organized by SO Hellas. Others are seeking to continue supporting the Delegation that they have worked with. One such DAL s quote that reflects all others is: Thank you for opening the doors that I did not know that existed, I learned so much from this experience. It will be with me all my life! 7

8 Delegation Registration Section A big number of DRMs (139) had to be conducted in 3 days basically, at the DWC, since the Delegations had to depart for their Host Town destinations within a restricted time, which was a major challenge. There were even 3 DRMs planned and being conducted at the same time - during peak times - in order to facilitate the forwarding process to the Host Towns. Due to communication problems with the SOI Regional Offices and the delayed replies from the SO Programs, especially regarding providing their Delegation members passport details and national ID numbers (when needed) the original deadlines were not kept. This happened in order to facilitate the visa issuance procedure, which in some cases required a period of over a month. What has actually happened was that a lot of back and forth communications were necessary and many excel files were communicated between the SO Programs, SOI and GOC and needed to be compared with GMS info. This added a huge workload on the Registration Dept., but was judged necessary in order to speed up the delayed visa issuance procedure. 3. FAs MAJOR ISSUES & RECOMMENDATIONS List all major issues encountered by your FA during the Games and your recommendations on how to resolve/avoid these issues Communication with SOI and SO Programs No Issue Description Recommendation 1 HOD Manual 2 nd edition: It has been translated Due to the complexity and the difficulty of the into the SOI official languages: French, Spanish, process translation of such big documents must be Chinese - Mandarin, Russian, Arabic, from made by professional translators. volunteers. It was a major project in respect of coordination and final composition of the documents. 2. The Delegation Services Regional Coordinators were not appointed from the beginning of the Section on March The three out of four of them were assigned on March Delegation Services Volunteers Program No Issue Description Recommendation 1 The period of the volunteers service was relatively long (almost 17 days) and this was a major challenge for Delegation Services, because many volunteers could not offer their services for such a long period. It is very important that regional coordinators start communication with the SO Programs early enough in order to develop a relationship of mutual understanding and trust. One year before the Games all regional Coordinators should start their work in order to effectively develop a reliable system of communication with SO Programs. Delegation Services department assigned more than one DALs even to small Delegations in order for the Delegations to be efficiently supported. 2 Numerous Delegations were speaking a We have asked these Delegations about their preferred alternative spoken languages for their 8

9 specific language only, such as of Arabic, Portuguese, Dutch, Chinese (Cantonese/Mandarin), Russian. The process of assigning DALs to these Delegations was another challenge for the Department. 3 Due to various housing locations in which most Delegations were housed across Attica region, an extra need for support had to be covered. DALs in case we could not find volunteers speaking the NATIVE language of the Delegation. For that reason Delegation Services assigned more DALs than the initial estimation made by the Department, in order to ensure that all Delegations would be efficiently supported. HOD Seminar and HOD Meetings No Issue Description Recommendation 1 Only 75 SO Programs were represented in the Seminar despite the efforts that GOC and SOI made, to have representation of all SO Programs. It is very important for all SO Programs to understand the necessity to visit the host city and to participate in the HOD Seminar in order to get sufficient information about the Games organization. Delegation Registration Section No Issue Description Recommendation 1 Visa issuance- Visa Invitation Letter Procedure to start as early as possible, involving the SOI Regional staff from an early stage. Alternatively, if GOC undertakes the registration and associated processes communication and registration outcome may be completed earlier and deadlines kept Communication with Programs GMS Information provided in GMS Identify the key contact persons as early as possible and establish direct communication channels with the SO Programs - Involve SOI Regional Offices Regional Sport Directors and relevant staff. Certain issues in the original fields included in GMS were identified, which made the registration process more complicated regarding personal details required for visa, passport, national ID. Some of these fields were changed and others were added. Use and test relevant fields and reports as early as possible. Many photos were missing, or were of bad quality, which made the printing of the specific credentials, before the arrival of the Delegation, impossible. Also, many errors in info provided required many back and forth communications and a lot of time consuming. 9

10 5 5 AS fees payment Registration procedure Collection of fees needs to be made before arrival of Delegations, since this could be a problem at the Delegation Welcome Center. The collection has been finally extremely satisfactory since all fees were collected. Registration Department is a key functional area for the success of the Games. An experienced Registration Manager to be appointed 1 year before the Games. Registration Dept. with 3-4 Regional Coordinators in full operation 8 months before Games. SOI Regional Sports Directors need to check Delegations quotas by sport and role, photos and medical documents. Delegation Services Centers No Issue Description Recommendation 1 Due to the fact that many accommodation sites Even though Delegation Services tried to assign were located very far from the city center, a Agents to positions/dscs according to their number of volunteers could not be at their assigned positions on time. residence area, some positions were not covered. Delegation Services needed to cover these positions by reallocating volunteers from other areas. Therefore, it is recommended Delegation Services to have a number of volunteers available in order to be in position to cover the needs immediately. 4. MAJOR ISSUES WITH OTHER FAs List all major issues encountered in your cooperation with other FAs during the Games and/or other issues observed during the ATHENS 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games No Delegation Services Issue Description 1 International Issuance of Visa Invitation Letters frequent changes /errors / incomplete info Relations provided by SO Programs caused many delays in the Visa Invitation Letter procedure Accommodation Credentialing Sports Late changes in number of Delegation members or changes involving gender created challenges in Accommodation allotment, also due to the fact of the many accommodation sites Needs to have proper quality photos and all necessary information in GMS in order to print the credentials and send them to the SO Programs on time, so that on site real time badging is limited. That was not the case with many Delegation members. Last minute changes in sports were a big challenge since all schedules were 10

11 prepared and in many cases these changes requested by Delegations were not possible to be accepted. 5. SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL Please list of all supplementary material that you would like to include in the transfer of knowledge process (i.e. publications, staffing numbers, presentations, etc.). 1. DELEGATION SERVICES VOLUNTEERS HANDBOOK 2. ATHENS 2011 DELEGATION UPDATES 3. HOD MANUAL 1 ST EDITION 4. HOD MANUAL 2 ND EDITION 5. HOD SEMINAR & MEETINGS (HOD Seminar Registration Pack, HOD Seminar Agenda, Advanced HOD Meeting Agenda). 11