Project Management. Olympic Games Opnening Ceremony

. Jonas Söderlund, Svjetlana Pantic
723G18, Project Management 13/02/12


Seminar group 2:

Carlos Felipe Centelles García
Magí Desveus Duran
Sami-Petteri Rajala
Gaylord Vidal

2012 London Olympic Games Opening Ceremony

Table of contents
1 Introduction: 2
1.1 Background 3
1.2 Aim of the report: 4
1.3 Methodology 4
2 Frame of references 52.1 What is a Project? 5
2.1.1 What is a project management? 5
2.1.2 What is an event project management? 6
2.2 Project planning 7
2.3 Risk management 9
2.3.1 Internal risks 12
2.3.2 External Risks 12
2.4 STAKEHOLDERS 13
2.4.1 Types of stakeholders 13
2.4.2 Market (or Primary) Stakeholders: 13
2.4.3 Providers and suppliers: 15
2.4.4 Non-Market (or Secondary) Stakeholders 153 Empirical Data 18
3.1 Project Key actors 18
3.1.1 IOC 18
3.1.2 LOCOG 19
3.1.3 Performers 19
3.1.4 Volunteers 20
3.1.5 Secondary actors 20
3.2 PROJECT TEAM MANAGEMENT 20
3.3 Leaders 22
3.4 Schedule 24
3.5 Project Process 24
3.6 The opening ceremony – A Budget 27
3.7 Technology 28
4 Analysis 29
4.1 Internal risks 29
4.1.1 Technical 29
4.1.2 Management andperformance 31
4.1.3 Political risks 32
4.2 External Risks 33
4.2.1 Legal risks 33
4.2.2 Weather 33
4.2.3 Political and security risks 33
5 Conclusion 35
References 36

1 Introduction:

Olympic Games history started in the 8th century BC. Created first in Olympia during the ancient Greek regime, Olympic Games were a religious ceremony, a way to make a truce between the main Greekcity-states and also a way to unify people for only one reason: sport (Swaddling 1999).
Nowadays, Olympic Games still exist, but we can see that it has experienced a big transformation compared to the ancient Greece. This event entered in a formalization process mostly thanks to Pierre de Coubertin. Indeed, he was the first one who created a permanent organisation that has to manage the Olympic Gamesin an international way, the International Olympic Committee (IOC). During the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 in Athens organised by the new IOC, 14 nations and 241 athletes participated to this event (Young 1996). Last year, in the London Olympic Games 2012, 204 nations and more than 10 000 athletes were involved in this project. But this huge growth was not easy; the IOC had to adapt to manydifferent situation through the history. Managers of the IOC had to face lots of risks (political, cultural, societal…) in order to make it successfully in the whole world.
But the most important issue since the half of the 20th century until now for the Olympic Games is the relation with the media. Indeed, the apparition of the media coverage (mostly the TV one) led to the fast growth of thisevent. Moreover, the media transformed this event into a real business: plenty of money comes from advertisements or TV rights.
The other consequence of the apparition of media coverage is for the organising country: as we know the Olympic Games are organised by the IOC but also by a host country (change each time and selected by the IOC). This host country, because of the media, has to organisethe best Olympic Games in order to have the best image.
Knowing this situation, the opening ceremony is an important project because of the media. Indeed, it is the first major event of the Olympic Games, and this show has to be perfect to expose to the world the power of the host country, but also of the IOC.

In conclusion we could highlight how Olympic Games have changed through thehistory, adapting to the environment and circumstances around it, but is important to point to two key changes:

- Process of Institutionalization: the creation of International Olympic Committee (IOC) gives formality to the Olympic Games through permanent organizations whose goal is developing and manage the Olympic Games. Due to this formalization or institutional process, project management...