As Katarina Witt glided from my memories of the 1988 Calgary Olympics to a podium not thirty feet away, the 1,500 SportAccord delegates drew quiet in anticipation, awe and admiration. (And no, it was not because she was announcing a sequel to her 1998 Playboy appearance!)

Witt is currently heading the Munich 2018 bid team for the Winter Olympics, and was at SportAccord in London, England, this week to conduct a public presentation of their bid, along with key members of her bid team. Munich is up against Annecy (France) and Pyeongchang (Korea). Pyeongchang is bidding for a third time and were defeated by Vancouver for the 2010 games.

The SportAccord International Convention is the most important gathering in the world for sports federations. It’s a grueling six-day affair featuring 104 annual meetings of Olympic and non-Olympic federations, along with the spring Executive Board meetings for the IOC, networking sessions and panel discussions. It’s more geared to the business side of sports events than the marketing side, but where it really shines is the networking.

If you are a community that wishes to host a major sporting event, a firm that wants to help build or manage said event, or a federation looking for more government and hosting support… this is the place to be. Read the rest of this entry »