South East 2012 - Conference & Exhibition
Sunday, 12th July 2009
June 11th saw Germaine Broadbent from Cactus on the road to Leeds Castle…well almost! She attended a Business Link event at the Ramada Hotel, near Maidstone, which is about a mile away from Leeds Castle, but sadly she didn’t get to see it. Germaine tells us about the day…
There were some great speakers at this event who really managed to convey information clearly to a great number of people. There were people from organisations handling furniture production to landscape gardeners, security firms to language trainers, and all were looking for information on how to make sure their organisation benefits from London 2012.
For me, the day as a whole managed to pin down some solid information regarding contracts connected to the London Olympics. The speakers included John Armitt, CBE, Chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority. He was very down to earth and coined the very self explanatory phrase ‘the ODA build the Olympics and LOCOG (London organising committee of the Olympic games) put on the show’. ODA public sector / LOCOG private sector. – OK, I geddit.
Morag Stuart, followed Mr Armitt. Morag’s role is Head of Procurement for the ODA – not a title that inspires the thought of being entertained, but actually Ms Stuart was also great at plain speaking and answering questions honestly and helpfully. Nuggets of info that I found useful included things like the ODA must follow EU procurement rules whereas LOCOG do not need to follow these rules, and Local Authorities will also have a pot of money to be spent on providing for the games, so look there for contracts too.
Finally, Giles Long (pictured with Germaine) finished off the day. Giles is a Paralympic swimmer, with 2 golds and 1 bronze no less! He is now also a motivational speaker and boasts perfect comic timing! So much so that I personally think he should consider stand up! His story inevitably involves illness and overcoming harder times than most of us will ever encounter, but then again most of us will also never achieve what he has.
Giles was very personable, passionate and let’s face it – rather handsome! He finished with a phrase that is famous among sportsmen but does have a resonance in a business setting also – ‘if you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you always got’….but remember there are other people in the race – if they try harder, they are going to leave you behind!
Finally, the slides showing the stage we’re at in building the stadia were impressive and exciting – we are actually ahead of schedule apparently, and the aquatic centre is going to be stunning!
Tags: 2012, olympics, language learning
Posted by Michelle Curtis 2009-07 under Cactus Language Worldwide, Cactus Events,
Permalink
