Post Event Report on World Masters Games 2017 in Auckland, New Zealand

The report delves into the analysis of World Masters Games 2017 (WMG2017), held in Auckland, New Zealand. The event has been analysed with reference to its objectives, participants, promotional strategies, benefits and other crucial matters. Based on the findings, the researcher herein attempts to draw recommendation for the forthcoming event that is going to be held in Japan in the year 2021.

POST EVENT REPORT

Executive Summary
Organising an international sports event may be regarded as one of the most critical key performance
indicators (KPIs) of a Government. The event has multiple facets of governance and each of which may
need minute attention which ultimately contributes towards the success of the event. The instant report
delves into the analysis of World Masters Games 2017 (WMG2017), held in Auckland, New Zealand.
The event has been analysed with reference to its objectives, participants, promotional strategies, benefits
and other crucial matters. Based on the findings, the researcher herein attempts to draw recommendation
for the forthcoming event that is going to be held in Japan in the year 2021. Finally, the researcher
completes the report by way of concluding note.
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Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction and Background Information on the Event........................................................................4
2.0 Operational Overview............................................................................................................................4
3.0 Sponsorship and Funding Review.........................................................................................................5
4.0 Participation...........................................................................................................................................5
5.0 Promotion and Experience of High Achievement..................................................................................5
6.0 Benefits/Outcome..................................................................................................................................6
7.0 Media Analysis......................................................................................................................................7
8.0 Conclusion & Recommendations..........................................................................................................7
References...................................................................................................................................................9
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1.0 Introduction and Background Information on the Event
World Masters Games (WMG) is an international sports event governed by International Masters Games
Association (IMGA). The first WMG was held in Toronto in the year 1985. The event is not annual and
hence till date 17 events have taken place. The event covers different types of sports and is held across the
world. In the year 2017, WMG was held in Auckland, New Zealand between 21st to 30th April 2017.
As per the rule of the event, anyone can participate in this tournament provided the participant’s age is
more than 35 though there are few sports events which allow less than 35 years. However, there is a
requirement for any previous competition. In other words, professional as well as amateurs all are
welcome in this tournament which is a kind of unique in its kind (Darvin & Sagas, 2017).
Last year, the event was a mega success. Every year, WMG is organising with grandeur and campaigning.
Last year also, the same was held with wide publicity and advertisement.
2.0 Operational Overview
Auckland experienced WMG 2017 through participation from 106 countries in 28 sports across 48 venues
for a consecutive period of 10 days. The Health and Safety at Work Act (HSWA)’2016 was required to be
complied with by the WMG 2017 that may be construed from the KPMG rating. KPMG undertook the
health and safety practice policy of WMG and certified an "effective rating”. WMG 2017 management
committee arranged for transportation facilities for the participants. Also, the transport facilities within
the city were ensured to meet the timeliness of each of the scheduled programs. As far as security in the
venues is concerned, mobile petrol has been deputed for asset protection and extra layers of security. The
28 venues were appropriately decorated with light, sound and decorating materials. For the purpose,
different suppliers were contracted and upon the contract signing the obligations were imposed on the
vendors as to the decoration, safety and sporting event of the plan.
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3.0 Sponsorship and Funding Review
The event invited sponsorship from various bodies including the Government. WMG2017 was public
benefit entity (PBE) the accounts of which were prepared as per the local government act and also NZ
GAAP. The auditor certified the same to be true and fair. It may also be observed that the program has
been mostly funded by the Government and hence, there remains strict vigilance for the expenses
incurred and investment made. The registration revenue has been an uncertain factor for consideration
and forecasting of the same before hand and budgeting the entire plan based on the projected proceeds has
been a great challenge for the organisers. The commercial streams of the program were multifaceted and
included travel and tourism, merchandise, food and beverage, accreditation booths and photography.
While selecting and finalising these commercial partners, the priority was placed on collecting
registration revenue much before the Games.
4.0 Participation
The 17th tournament in Auckland attracted 28,578 participants worldwide the break up of which is
detailed in the appendices. Most of the participants were athletes from Australia and New Zealand. Male
female participation was noted to be almost equal ("Post Event Report", 2018). Interestingly, most of the
participants’ age was between 40 to 70 years. There were number of partners namely supporting partners
(Good George, Villa Maria, Coca-Cola Amatil etc.), Regional Tourism Organisations, Inclusion Partners
(Auckland Zoo, Auckland War Memorial Museum, Auckland Art Gallery, MOTAT, Auckland Stardome
and Planetarium etc.), event partners (Pan Pacific Masters Games, Huntsman Senior Games, Australian
Masters Games, New Zealand Masters Games, Americas Masters Games etc.) and Accreditation site
partners (Barfoot & Thompson) ("Post Event Report", 2018).
5.0 Promotion and Experience of High Achievement
The event has high achievement promotion and its exhibition in terms of some of the word class events
which generally happen to take place in Olympics. Those events were promoted through media partners
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and also the visitors were engaged effectively with the sports events ("Post Event Report", 2018). The
entire event was a massive show in its own kind and hence the management committee had been
constantly in close watch with other stakeholders to make it a grand success. The entire show was
attempted to be made visually aesthetic and illustrative. The team created logo, slogan, and photographs
and placed them throughout the city and also in other areas of the state to promote the brand value of the
show. Creation of such visual identity of the event was itself an example of high achievement. Besides, it
was also observed that the medal ceremony was organised strategically to showcase the high
achievement. A total of 3,124 medal ceremonies were conducted across 38 venues of the competitions
and 22,316 medals were distributed which was a massive operational task.
6.0 Benefits/Outcome
As per the report published by IMGA, the event held in the year 2017 earned almost $36.2 million GDP
to Auckland and 250,810 visitors’ nights in the city. In terms of the cultural impact it may be stated that
the event brought many people from different cultural background under one umbrella and hence culture
diversity has been enormous ("IMGA", 2018). Community and regional showcasing have been made and
sports disciplines have been performed. In addition, the brand image of New Zealand to the entire world
has been glorified. There have been substantial employment opportunities and all the volunteers and
staffs worked during the entire event contributed towards the success of a global show ("Post Event
Report", 2018). On the other hand, the organisers had been able to provide for the employment
opportunities through a contractual agreement. WMG 2017 witnessed certain environmental impact in
terms of wastes management, left out foods and air pollution. However, the managing committee handled
the matter seriously and tried to curb out the issues as much as possible. Stakeholders were satisfied with
the overall success of the event ("Post Event Report", 2018). The stakeholders were of the opinion that
the event garnered a huge reputation worldwide and there had been significant leaning in terms of sports
disciplines. The surplus of WMG 2017 would be allocated towards the development of sports within the
country ("IMGA", 2018). In this context, it may be noted that World Masters Games 2017 (WMG2017)
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generated a surplus of $831,000 after the event. Out of the same, $50,000 was paid to the New Zealand
Masters Games and the balance was being allocated to key sporting organisations involved in WMG2017
("Amateur sports gain from World Masters Games 2017", 2018).
7.0 Media Analysis
WMG 2017 has a total $6.4 million of Public Relations Value (PRV) as estimated by the IMGA. There
were media partners who were constantly focussing on the significant aspect of the events through press
releases and media coverage. Social media was used largely to reach out to a larger audience and promote
the event at a global level. The program was organised after forming a well structured marketing strategy
sets. Public campaigning plan was developed through QMS, outdoor media partner and Media works,
radio. Besides, the online publicity was conducted through paid promotion in Google Face book and other
social media ("IMGA", 2018). The management committee of WMG 2017 presented the program
planning in different phase to IMGA , from the year 2014, three years prior to the event. Such showcasing
was performed keeping in considering the need of creating the brand value and awareness about the
events globally.
8.0 Conclusion & Recommendations
Based on the discussion as performed herein, it may be conceived that the program was a huge success.
Though there are issues with waste management and mismanagement of last minute ticket booking rush,
the program may be considered to be efficiently organised. Besides, there were challenges as to the health
issues of the participants since most of the participants are aged ("IMGA", 2018). It may be recommended
that the program could have focussed more on health issues related to safety measures especially after the
advent of the Health and Safety at Work Act (HSWA) in 2016. It may, therefore, be concluded that a
well-designed event plan contributes largely towards the success of the plan and attainment of managing
committee’s goals of sustainability in the long-run in terms of long-lasting brand value and value
proposition (Hallmann & Zehrer, 2017).
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References
Amateur sports gain from World Masters Games 2017. (2018). Retrieved from
https://www.aucklandnz.com/news/latest-news/amateur-sports-gain-world-masters-games-2017
Darvin, L., & Sagas, M. (2017). Objectification in Sport Media: Influences on a Future Women’s
Sporting Event. International Journal Of Sport Communication, 10(2), 178-195. doi:
10.1123/ijsc.2017-0022
Hallmann, K., & Zehrer, A. (2017). Event and community involvement of sport event
volunteers. International Journal Of Event And Festival Management, 8(3), 308-323. doi:
10.1108/ijefm-08-2016-0058
IMGA. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.imga.ch/en/data/4
Post Event Report. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.imga.ch/assets/Uploads/Reports/Auckland-
WMG-2017-Final-Report.pdf
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