Event management (BHT2005)
Field trip reflection report
Sentosa National Optimist & Byte Championships
(11th-15th June 2008)
1. Introduction
Organised by the Singapore Sailing Federation, the Sentosa National Optimist & Byte Championships have been growing in recent years with rising participation from the region. Top Optimist and Byte sailors are treated to five days of sailing action at the National Sailing Centre off East Coast Park.
2. Background of the organizer
In 1966, Singapore Yachting Association was founded, with Jack Snowden as its first president. He actively promoted the involvement of Singaporeans in sea sports. However, the history of Singaporeans sailing dates back all the way to 1956, when members of the Republic of Singapore Yacht Club, including Snowden, competed in the Melbourne Olympics.For more than 20 years, Singapore’s sailors have achieved success at the SEA Games and Asian Games level, accumulating 21 Gold, 18 Silver and 17 Bronze medals between 1969 and 1993. Rising stars of the founding generation included Lock Hong Kit, Tan Tee Suan, Yeo See Teck and Ng Ser Miang (Vice-President of the Singapore National Olympic Council and member of the International Olympic Council).Then came the significant milestone in Singapore’s history during the 1994 Asian Games in Hiroshima, when Laser sailor Dr. Benedict Tan clinched sailing’s first Asian Games gold medal. It was Singapore’s only gold that year. Encouraged by his feat, we went on to pick up 2 more gold medals at the 1998 Games thanks to the 420 pairings of Joan Huang and Naomi Tan, and Siew Shaw Her and Colin Ng.
3. Discuss the role of events to the organizer(or attraction/venue)
The Sentosa Byte & Optimist National Championships serve as a selection event for the 2008 Asian Sailing Championships and the 1st Asian Beach Games both held in Bali, Indonesia in October and also the 2008 ASEAN Optimist Championships in Pattaya, Thailand in December. Athletes of the 2008 IODA Worlds Team and 2008 IODA Asian Team will not be eligible for selection. This is in line with SingaporeSailing's developmental plans for 2010 Asian Games and Youth Olympics.
4. Identify the stakeholders in the event
Employees
In any event, employees play a crucial role in the operation of the event. They are responsible for the safety of the participants, allocation of limited resources, planning of the event, etc When organizing prestigious events such as the Sentosa National Optimist & Byte Championships, they must be capable of communicate effectively with the participants so that the objectives of the event can be achieved.
Media
All the great moments of a particular event are captured by the media and broadcast internationally. The media provides us with a first-hand experience of the event. It constantly updates the audience of the event from the beginning of the event to the end of the event. From the economic perspective, organization of the event use media as a channel to promote their products. Large sum is expected to generate from the selling of products.
Government
Singapore is well-known for its strict laws and tight security. Legal actions will be taken against participants who violate the rules and regulations of Singapore. The government will make sure that the logistic & operations, programming, food and beverage, financial and legal department are all in place before Singapore held the event. This is to ensure the event will run smoothly and contingency plans will follow up in case of unforeseen circumstances. In the event where the event requires a relatively large amount of money, the government will pay a proportion of the total expenditure that is needed to run the event.
Suppliers
All the food, equipments used in the event are provided by suppliers. Given the detailed checklist of the event, the suppliers will have enough preparation time to supply the required materials to the venue of the event. The quantity of equipments, food & beverages, etc is determined by the demand of the participants. This is to ensure that there is little or no leftover at the end of the event.
5. Identify the target market
The young generation of sailors will be the main target market. The Sentosa National Optimist & Byte Championships provides a good opportunity for the youth to compete with world-class sailors. Young generation of sailors is the hope for the coming YOG 2010. As Singapore is striving for an Olympic medal, young talents are identified for intensive training in sailing. By holding a world-class sailing competition such as Sentosa National Optimist & Byte Championships, it helps the young sailors better prepare for prestigious sailing competitions such as the SEA game and Asian game. Victory at Sentosa National Optimist & Byte Championships signified the coming of age of sailing in Singapore, and sent the message that “we can be number one” to young sailors who had been training hard for many years. Since young, teamwork is encouraged among the young sailors. By going through intensive sailing training & major sailing competitions, the young sailors’ sailing skill’s being sharpened. Singapore hope that the young sailors will bag more medals for Singapore in the upcoming sailing competition such as Singapore National Windsurfing Championships.
6. Critically discuss the marketing strategies employed by the organizer
Accessibility Key
A large part of the success of SingaporeSailing’s programmes can be attributed to the accessibility the sport has within the country.
Sailing is recognized and available as a Co-curricular Activity (CCA) in schools. Another avenue for participation is through member sailing clubs, where there are opportunities to pick up the sport. The facilities provided also make it easy for members to continue sailing. SingaporeSailing has been working with these clubs to promote sailing to their members.
Promotion
Youngsters are attracted into the sport through promotion in schools, clubs and the media. Once they have had a go out on the water, most will continue to sail throughout school, progressing through the proficiency certification system, which SingaporeSailing adopted from the Royal Yachting Association, US SAILING and Canadian Yachting Association systems. A key challenge now is holding onto young sailors.
Instructors
With so many sailors coming through the programme, there is a lot of pressure on finding and recruiting instructors. This is a problem that SingaporeSailing have taken a very proactive approach to solving. There are limited coaching resources in Singapore. To meet with this shortfall, the Singapore government has created opportunities for sailors who have an interest in coaching by providing subsidies for training and development. The Singapore Sailing Federation will soon be embarking on a sponsorship campaign to seek long-term partners who are interested to work with SingaporeSailing to bring sailing to greater heights.
7. How would you rate the organization of the event? Why?
After study the organization of the event: the Singapore Sailing Federation, it can be ranked in terms of participation and performance. The keys to Singapore’s recent success are twofold, 'Participation and performance form the main elements of any sailing model. High participation helps feed the pipeline to elite sailing, and through high performance, the Singapore Sailing Federation create buzz and increased publicity, which will encourage participation. They believe both are interlinked, and they view themselves as equally important in contributing to the success of any sailing program. The standard of Singapore sailing has reached a new level over the past couple of years, with Singapore’s sailors reaching a new level of excellence. A massive victory came at the 2005 Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship in Busan, Korea, when Wee Chin TEO and Terence KOH (SIN) won their nation’s first ever gold medal at the Youth Worlds. Later in the year, Singapore’s sailors cleaned up at the South East Asian Games in the Philippines, bringing home seven gold and three silver medals in a nation-best performance.
8. Discuss the potential of the event by the organizer to meet tourist demand?
Sentosa National Optimist & Byte Championships success story offers massive encouragement for tourists worldwide. It has demonstrated what massive strides can be achieved over a relatively short space of time. One of the key ideas behind Connect to Sailing is to help the sport develop around the world by learning from some of our best practitioners – Singapore have shown that they fall amongst this category and are one of the nations at the forefront of the Asian sailing revolution. Tourists are looking for the unusual when travelling overseas. Event such as Sentosa National Optimist & Byte Championships offer them a new form of experience. It is believed that the Sentosa National Optimist & Byte Championship will be included as part of the tourist package. This is to offer tourists a wide range of recreational activities when they visit Singapore.
9. Suggest how the value of the event could be raised to be align with the tourism mission of Singapore?
Open communication
After the event is over, feedback should be provided so that the organizer of the event will make the necessary changes. The organizer of the event should communicate effectively with its main stakeholders. When everyone clearly knows its role in the event, the event would be carried out in a friendly environment.
Continuing education, learning culture, sharing of knowledge
The aim of the Sentosa National Optimist & Byte Championship is to provide an opportunity for sailors to exchange their experiences. The competition should be carried out in a friendly environment. Any undesirable behaviors will be dealt according to the rules and regulation of the event.
Reference
http://www.sentosa.com.sg/
