Josh O’Boyle is the major sports event consultant here at All About Sports Events, he has experience working on a wide range of world class events including the 2014 Tour de France Grand Depart, Tour de Yorkshire, 2019 UCI Road World Championships and an array of mass participation running, triathlon and cycling events.
One thing’s for sure, Josh has had his fair share of event days. From the good, to the bad (and the really really bad!). Here’s what a typical event delivery day looks like for Josh, including some of his favourite memories and worst experiences on an event site.
Early Mornings
For me events equal early starts, it’s part of the buzz of delivering an event. Going to the eve of event dinner, catching up with old friends and doing any final briefings. Then getting off to bed and counting the three or four hours I have before the 3am alarm goes off, hoping that I can drift off to sleep with running orders, procedures and task lists bouncing around in my head.
Once that alarm goes off I'm in full event mode. I always leave my breakfast in the car ready for the morning. The drive in gives me time to have some decent food, it can be a full day before I have time to eat anything more substantial than a cereal bar or piece of fruit again.
Setting up the Morning of the Event
The job can often start before arriving on site, I normally wake up with messages from staff and suppliers that need problems sorting immediately, all of which need solving whilst managing the tasks outlined in the running order that I’ve written. The 2019 UCI Road World Championships Men Elite Road Race stands out as one of these moments, immediately after waking at 5am I was sat in my kitchen getting status updates on the route from staff and highway maintenance teams on the ground that had offered to get out early (complete legends for getting up at 2am!). Flooding was causing major problems on the route, and by 6am I had drawn up the route contingency plan that was most appropriate for the issues presented to us and sent it off to our gold command and the UCI for sign off.
Every event can look different for me, sometimes I’m situated in event control managing from a distance and sometimes I’m on site or out checking the route (certainly my preferred role). Either way, the event starts with a comms check on radio, an onsite staff briefing and then a systematic approach to working through a running order. This includes managing time sensitive builds, siting suppliers, welcoming sponsors, solving problems that arise during the build, all whilst keeping the team well fuelled with coffee and biscuits!
The Live Event
The arrival of participants, whether that be elite athletes or thousands of amateur sportspeople marks the culmination of months or hard work and planning. I’ve often described events to be like trains, they carry a lot of momentum once they start and if the planning has been done properly there is very little that will need doing except ongoing monitoring. Everyone is in place, well briefed and getting on with their roles to make the event run like clockwork.
When things are going to plan and the weather is favourable, the outdoor sports event sector is one of the best sectors anyone can work in. We get to visit beautiful places, with like-minded people and manage the sports that we all love and are passionate about. I’ve spent many summer days around Dorney Lake, in the Brecon Beacons or the Lake District watching athletes cross the finish line with painful smiles on their faces.
However, managing events doesn’t always mean hanging out in VIP taking advantage of the free food (although it can be a perk from time to time!). There is a less glamourous and rarely talked about side to delivering events, often involving bins and toilets. Whether it’s restocking porta loos with toilet paper or emptying the bins at the end of the day, sometimes you just have to do what needs doing. One of the memories that sticks in my mind was from a triathlon a few years ago, it was a corporate event and the participants had left a lot of rubbish. Failing the arrival of cleaning contractors, to clear the site up we were filling up transit vans full of bin bags and driving them to the skip to unload. During one of these runs, a colleague of mine chucked in a bin bag and slammed the door shut behind it. Sadly, without realising the bin bag rolled out and got half trapped in the door, he then proceeded to drag the bin bag 500m along the road depositing rubbish as he went. Not what we need after a 14-hour day, but that’s delivering events for you!
Packing Down
Once you see that last participant or athlete cross the line that’s the end of your working day, wrong! From this point on all the infrastructure needs to be derigged, kit sorted and packed back into the van to be transported to the next event in the series. As Event Director you are the first one on site in the morning and the last one off site in the evening.
However, it’s these long days that bring the team together, delivering an event creates an element of comradery between team members and gives you a real element of achieving something out of the ordinary. For me, it’s for this reason that I’m still working in the events industry today!
To share your stories or get in touch about event management support please email hello@allaboutsportsevents.co.uk.
Image Credit: Mia Boyd (Fred Whitton Challenge)
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