On 8-9 December, Host City Conference and Exhibition goes virtual with the continued support of hosts EventScotland and Glasgow Life, tackling the 2020 conference theme “The Big Restart: Recovery with a Purpose for the Digital Age.”
Now in its 7th year, Host City is firmly established as the largest meeting of cities and sports, business and cultural events. The new virtual platform, hosted in Glasgow, brings together 1,000 event owners, hosts and organisers for two full days of unrivalled insight, exhibition, workshops, networking and business.
Paul Bush OBE, Director of Events, VisitScotland said:
“I’m delighted that Host City is set to transfer the ethos and core values of its well established event into a new virtual format, enabling attendees from across the globe the chance to learn, share knowledge, and reflect on both the challenges and opportunities which the pandemic has brought with it.”
“There is no doubt these are hugely challenging times with uncertainty still on the horizon, however our industry has shown on many occasions that it is resilient and has great capacity and capability to adapt to any situation. This year’s conference, hosted once again from Glasgow in Scotland, will be more important than ever and will play a key role in keeping us all connected as we navigate through the new normal.”
Dr Bridget McConnell, Chief Executive of Glasgow Life said:
“This has been a year like no other for the industries working with cities to deliver events which support their communities, economic growth and tourism. The Host City conference is always a vital opportunity to learn and to grow and to share recent experience and best practice and this year will be vital for those industries and the recovery plans of cities everywhere. Glasgow is proud that Host City has chosen us as its base for the sixth time and look forward to the conference in December.”
Other speakers confirmed to speak at Host City 2020 include: Sir Craig Reedie GBE, Member, International Olympic Committee (IOC); Danuta Dmowska-Andrzejuk, Minister of Sports and Tourism, Poland; Fanta Diallo, Director of Sports, Youth and Community, City of Dakar; Ian Reid, CEO, Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games Organising Committee; Emily Blitz, President Director, Conferences, International AIDS Society; Sven Bossu, CEO, International Association of Convention Centres (AIPC); Federico Addiechi, Head of Sustainability and Environment, FIFA and many more to be announced over the coming 2-3 weeks.
The 2020 conference theme covers 5 pillars: Covid Recovery; Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance; Digital Acceleration; Future Cities; and Partnerships.
Host City’s Conference Director Ben Avison said: “As this most challenging of years reaches a close, we are making Host City even greater and more accessible than ever for the international community of all stakeholders in major events. We look forward to sharing world-leading views on how to build a better future for the events sector.”
1,000 attendees can access main stage content and an exhibition area for free. Paying delegates will also be able to gain access to meetings, structured networking and interactive workshops focused on the key functional areas of event hosting, such as: infrastructure, mobility, security and safety, culture and ceremonies, technology, impact, sponsorship, games services, procurement, sustainability and engagement.
Host City is where representatives of host destinations, federations and rights holders, organisers, event suppliers and services from all over the world connect to discover opportunities and discuss major event hosting at this uniquely challenging moment in history.
Host City 2020 Conference and Exhibition is being supported by EventScotland, part of VisitScotland, and Glasgow Life.
Host City also works in strategic partnership with the International Association of Event Hosts, the Association of Global Event Suppliers, the International Association of Convention Centres and European Sponsorship Association.
To view the latest agenda, speaker biographies and sponsor information, go to www.hostcity.com
Register today for free!
For sponsorship enquires contact adam.soroka@cavendishgroup.co.uk
For speaking opportunities contact ben.avison@hostcity.com
Tag: Digital
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Host City 2020 drives event industry’s “Big Restart” on 8-9 December
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Host City, Celtic Connections and Melbourne Fringe to share insights on “Choosing Your Digital Platform” webinar
Many event organisers are having to adapt and are turning their attention to the prospect of virtual event delivery. This is a chance to hear from three who have already successfully done so in recent months, finding out about how they chose which digital platform to use, the challenges they faced, the actions they took to address these and how they managed to navigate through a very different operating environment.
Hear from Ben Avison, Editorial and Event Director at Host City and Cavendish Group, who will be chairing the webinar and providing insight into the virtual Host City conference delivered in December. He will be joined by Caitlin McNaughton, Communications and Partnerships Manager for Melbourne Fringe who delivered their online festival in November and Lesley Shaw, Producer at Celtic Connections who delivered their digital-first festival in January as they each share their experience and learnings gained from the successful online staging of their recent events.
The webinar will tackle a range of issues from functionality and look and feel, to rights handling, international distribution issues and monetisation. There will be an opportunity for participants to submit questions in advance and on the day; if you would like to submit questions in advance, please submit these when prompted during the webinar registration process or by emailing information@eventscotland.org.
Register here. -
Unprecedented broadcast coverage and digital innovation to connect fans around the world to the magic of Tokyo 2020
[Source: IOC] Tokyo 2020 will be broadcast globally to a potential audience of over 5 billion people, with more coverage by broadcast partners than any previous Olympic Games across both linear TV and digital:
In Japan, TV coverage of Tokyo 2020 is expected to be around double that of Rio 2016.
In the USA, NBCUniversal will air more than 7,000 hours of coverage across TV and digital platforms – a US Olympic record.
Across Europe, Discovery Eurosport will air up to 4,000 hours of coverage on its TV and digital platform. This unprecedented level of content will be available in 48 territories.The IOC and Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS), working with the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee and Olympic broadcast partners (RHBs), have also created a suite of digital tools as part of the “Share the Passion” project. It will allow athletes to engage with friends and family in the venues and allow fans all over the world to be actively involved in supporting their sporting heroes.
Fan Video Matrix: Allows fans to be a genuine part of the Games experience by sharing their reactions to the sporting action in five-second video selfies, which will be displayed as a video matrix inside the venue.
Cheer Map: A virtual “cheer” button will be embedded on several broadcasters’ digital platforms. Fans can watch the broadcast feed of an Olympic event and virtually clap or cheer by clicking the button. The system collects all the cheers and renders a global map of “cheer activity”. The map is sent as a video stream to broadcasters and showcased on venue video boards.
Athlete Moment – Family & Friends: At selected venues, Olympians will be able to interact live, straight after their competition with their family and friends back home through dedicated “Athlete Moment” stations.“Our ambition is to bring the magic of the athletes’ achievements to the world on an unprecedented scale. Technology is going to play a critical role and allow us to bring fans ‘inside the venue’ virtually. This is an important ambition, not just for the fans, but also for the athletes as they compete on the world’s biggest stage. The IOC and OBS have been able to benefit from the great partnerships we have with the world’s leading media companies and sponsors and with Tokyo 2020. We also believe these new digital innovations will leave a legacy which we will build on at future editions of the Olympic Games,” says OBS CEO Yiannis Exarchos.
For Tokyo 2020, OBS will again push the boundaries of Olympic broadcasting by producing more than 9,000 hours content, 30 per cent more content than for Rio in 2016, in more formats, to assist the world’s broadcasters in bringing the Games to the world. The full live coverage will, for the first time in Olympic history, be in Ultra High Definition (4K) HDR with Immersive Audio (5.1.4). Audiences around the world will be introduced to never-seen-before camera angles, 360-degree replays, multi-camera live Virtual Reality (VR) coverage and more analytical data processed by Artificial Intelligence (AI) than at any previous Olympic Games, including:Intel’s True View cameras, which offer, for the first time, immersive replays for all basketball matches. True View builds three-dimensional, 360° video through an array of cameras installed high in a stadium or arena.
3D athlete-tracking technology developed in collaboration with Worldwide TOP Partners Intel and Alibaba. This first-of-its-kind broadcast enhancement technology uses AI and computer vision to enhance the viewing experience with near real-time insights and overlay visualisations during the athletics sprint events (100m, 200m, 400m and 4x100m relay, as well as decathlon/heptathlon). Viewers will be able to understand at what exact moment each sprinter reaches their peak speed and analyse the different phases of the race in detail through a full set of race statistics.
In another breakthrough, the coverage of the archery competition will provide biometric data from miniature sensors worn by the archers. The monitor’s receptors will detect the heart rate and transmit the data wirelessly to generate the on-screen television graphics. Audiences will be able to witness the heartbeat variations and adrenaline rush experienced by the archers as they shoot their arrow.In addition, the IOC has developed additional ways to enhance the way worldwide audiences will experience the Olympic Games, including:
olympics.com – launched by the IOC in May 2021, the new platform provides a single, people-centric digital presence that utilises Olympic digital and social media channels to drive engagement and deliver content and communications. Offering a comprehensive source for Olympic information, news and original content, olympics.com creates one destination for all Olympic online properties – including the Olympic Channel, Tokyo 2020 and all future Games – allowing for improved, streamlined digital engagement during and between each Games.
The Tokyo 2020 FanZone – an interactive gamification experience on olympics.com and the official Tokyo 2020 website and mobile app that will engage and unite fans around the world leading up to and throughout the Olympic Games:Pre-Games: Fan can take part in regular trivia competitions to win prizes or enjoy thrilling sporting action from past Olympic Games via Magic Moments and vote on their favourite highlights.
During the Games, the Fantasy Challenge will allow fans to create a team by selecting their 10 favourite athletes from individual sports. Fans can start a league with friends or join an existing one to compete against other teams.
And in the Bracket Challenge, fans can attempt to select the winning bracket in each team sport while competing with friends and other fans around the world.To celebrate the spirit of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the IOC, in partnership with Worldwide Olympic Partner Airbnb and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), will give people the chance to experience the Games like they’ve never done before, with a new collection of Olympian and Paralympian Online Experiences on Airbnb. Under the banner of “Tokyo Together”, the Olympian and Paralympian Online Experiences will bring the magic of the Games to the homes of fans around the world, from watching and commenting on the Games live with Olympians, to experiencing behind-the-scenes action live from Tokyo.
In addition, Coca-Cola’s PLAYNATION hub provides group experiences and games that can be played anywhere, whether through the Virtual Torch Relay, or gamification experiences. Coca-Cola will offer exclusive video content through unlockable rewards based on user engagement across the platform released throughout the Games.
Samsung will continue its legacy of supporting athletes by providing them with exclusive Galaxy S21 5G Tokyo 2020 Athlete Phones to help maintain real-time connections, keep up with information, and capture and share memories of the Games with their friends and family back home.Worldwide Olympic Partner Intel will stage the Intel World Open esports tournament, ahead of the Olympic Games, engaging fans around the world.
Yiannis Exarchos spoke about the changing media landscape at Host City Americas on 29-30 June. Register to watch for free here. -
“Excitement and buzz” surrounds great event content – Jeff Foulser, Sunset+Vine
Host City: Sunset+Vine is the Host Broadcaster for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games – what are the key aspects of the service you will offer?
Jeff Foulser: We are providing the broadcast coverage (Host Feed) for all 19 sports plus ceremonies as well as running the International Broadcast Centre which rights holders can book space and facilities in. We also provide a Games Channel which is essentially a channel showcasing the best live sport at any given time and a multi-channel service if broadcasters want to take just one sport.
Host City: What led to Sunset+Vine winning the host broadcasting contracts for the 2012 Paralympics and the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games for Sunset+Vine, and how transformative were these projects for the company?
Jeff Foulser: For the 2012 Paralympics we were approached by Channel 4 along with IMG for a joint production of the Games. This was the first time a UK broadcaster had committed so much airtime to a Paralympic Games and led to us running the Rio Games in 2016 on our own. The biggest challenge was to integrate talent with disability into the coverage as well as to find ways to educate the viewing audience. It transformed our company’s perceptions of disability and we’ve trained and employed a number of those who are still with the company today.
The 2014 Commonwealth Games were even more transformative for the company because they signalled our arrival as a truly global player in the world of Host Broadcasting. There was historically a small number of ‘specialist’ companies who were the ‘go to’ people for major events, and Glasgow proved to ourselves and the wider industry that we could deliver outstanding coverage of multi-sports events. This led to a number of major contract wins including ICC cricket and World Rugby Sevens.
Host City: Sunset+Vine also produced numerous live sporting events over the past 18 months. It must be quite a challenge working through times like these – what were the qualities that have enabled your team to navigate this turbulent time?
Jeff Foulser: It has certainly been the toughest time any of us can remember working in the industry but what impressed me was just how adaptable our staff have been to working in completely different ways. We pride ourselves on the culture of our business and the willingness of our people to just knuckle down and handle whatever was thrown at them was incredible. They constantly went the extra mile to keep on delivering top quality productions.
Host City: How do you think the pandemic changed the business of host broadcasting on an ongoing basis?
Jeff Foulser: The pandemic accelerated the move to remote production by a number of years and it has been a transformational way of working. Instead of all staff going to a football/rugby/cricket stadium and working together, we now have significantly fewer people on site as the programmes are predominantly delivered for remote hubs. This way of working is not universal because remote production only works if there is good connectivity at the event but as that improves, the move towards more remote working will continue to evolve.
The danger though is we have to make sure the teams stay personally connected to each other and the on-screen talent and they only get that if they can share ideas over a coffee and reflect on how well the show went afterwards over a beer in the pub. It’s also vital that the more junior members in the team have mentors to help them develop their skills.
Host City: How would you describe the impact of OTT streaming services on the sports broadcasting industry – who are the winners and losers from this media disruption?
Jeff Foulser: Massive, as we are starting to see in many different territories. Companies like Amazon have very deep pockets and at the moment are testing out which rights work in different countries. We’ve just seen their presence in the North American market drive up the price for Premier League football, forcing NBC to pay £2 billion for a new rights cycle versus £740 million last time. As always in the sports rights market, those with the biggest cheque books will be the winners and it will be impossible for the free to air broadcasters to compete.
Host City: Content is also being generated by fans and athletes themselves – how do you believe this impacts the broadcasting industry (and rights holders)?
Jeff Foulser: This is absolutely complementary to the live rights and really helps to promote the events. As long as the live experience is protected from piracy the value to the rights holder is huge. Content generated by fans and athletes creates excitement and a buzz that feeds interest in the sport and draws even more people to it.
Host City: Thank you very much Jeff, we really look forward to finding out more from you at Host City 2021 on the panel “Broader casting – who owns the rights?”. Readers, check out Jeff’s speaker profile here: and don’t forget in all the excitement and buzz to REGISTER HERE NOW – and enjoy the show!