IF Seminars

April 13, 2021

Communications, marketing and fan engagement at Tokyo 2020: How can IFs best prepare their communications efforts to make the most of the increased visibility of their sport during the Olympic Games?

For Olympic sports, the Olympic Games are always a very special moment in time. But the Olympic Games during the time of a pandemic are even more so.

The Games offer every sport on the programme an increased time in the global spotlight: more spectators, more coverage and access to the so hard to reach ‘non-sport’ or ‘not-yet-sport’ audience. ¨ However, due to the sanitary implications of Covid19, this extra stage time will partially be disturbed by special restriction and regulations.

Five months before the opening ceremony, the IOC, IPC and the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee launched a series of playbooks that list a set of rules for different stakeholders (media, international federation, broadcasters, officials and athletes) to ensure having safe and successful Games.

Some rules (e.g. wearing masks, no handshaking, no singing, no cheering and no high-fives allowed) will have a severe impact on the fan experience, as well as on the experience of any stakeholder involved. This means that, now more than ever, the appearance of a sport around the Tokyo Games in any kind of media ought to be well considered, well planned and well executed.

That is why the overarching question of this upcoming virtual IF Seminar will be: How can IFs best prepare their communications efforts for Tokyo 2020 in order to make sure that the extra stage time around the Summer Olympic Games is used in an efficient and effective way?

The Seminar aims at answering the above question by providing concrete examples and best practices both from an IF perspective, as well as from the perspective of a company specialised in sports marketing.

With confirmed guest speakers from:

• World Athletics

• Volleyball World

• Infront Sports & Media

Improving Member engagement: Creating stronger Member buy-in through increased participation in development plans

One of the International Sports Federations’ main duty is to engage their members into their development activities. But the sheer number of Members and their diversity in size and resources makes it a very difficult task. Over the last few years, in order to tackle this issue, we have seen an increase in participatory initiatives, aiming at generating feedback from the member federations in the actual development of plans – therefore increasing buy in when these plans need to be implemented locally. Indeed, local stakeholders (the members themselves, athletes, fans, etc..) hold countless valuable insights that can help IF’s refine their strategy, run new projects and design new plans.

By involving them in the process, IFs will have better informed and more engaged stakeholders ready to drive execution. This participatory approach requires a methods and tools that are not customary. So, how can IFs best engage their stakeholders to share their thoughts to cocreate inclusive strategies and developments plans? This is the question we will aim to answer in this IF seminar by providing concrete examples and best practices.

Esports: where we are and where are we heading?

Esports has burst into the spotlight in recent years, transforming from a vibrant niche to a central form of entertainment around the world, with 577.2 million viewers expected by 2024 (397.8 million in 2019). Over the past decade, the Olympic Movement has created new opportunities to integrate virtual sports into their offerings, with an Olympic Virtual Series and many esports competitions organised by IFs. Despite this, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the growth of esports has been transformative. While elements such as social distancing and travel restrictions have provided a clear challenge to physical sports, they have further increased the trend among some towards virtual sport offerings. As we slowly start to emerge out of lockdowns, and IFs continue their efforts to attract new audiences with fun and engaging innovations, now is a critical time to consider what the future of esports could and should be. How have IFs best integrated esports into their structure? And how do we see the role of esports evolving into the future? The Seminar aims at answering the above questions by providing concrete examples and best practices from the perspective of IFs, as well as specialised companies within the sport industry.