TABLE OF CONTENTS After studying this chapter, you should be ableto:
identify the implementation planning and execution requirements for sports events.
understand the requirement to align implementation planning and the execution of the event tolong-term objectives.
understand the importance of preparing for a successful event closedown, handover, after-useand long-term event evaluation.
The next two stages in the event planning processoccur after the decision to go ahead with the event. Collectively these two stages involve theimplementation of the event. The first involves the pre-planning of all that is required to producethe event where the aim is clearly to deliver an event at the time and on the day required. Thesecond stage is the execution of the event itself, that being the management of all that has beenplanned. Both of these stages are discussed in detail in this chapter with the intention ofhighlighting the processes that are required rather than being a definitive production list.
Whilst it is the period that lasts from the decision to go ahead and the closing of an eventthat is the theme of this chapter, the focus will be on how important it is to strategicallyidentify these areas at an earlier stage in the planning process. The processes to be discussed arerequired whatever the scale of the event. Whilst the level of complexity and quantity may differ,the same kind of organization, planning, division of responsibility and careful attention to detailis required as much for the local sports event as it is for the major event (Hall, 1997).
