2014 ARCTIC WINTER GAMES Team Nunavik-Québec, Chef De Mission Nancianne Grey
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CHEF DE MISSION FINAL REPORT 2014 ARCTIC WINTER GAMES Team Nunavik-Québec, Chef de Mission Nancianne Grey Section I Evaluation of Performance of the Host Society Registration and Accreditation Was the pre-Games registration convenient and functional? · Overall worked very well. · A couple of glitches with the right rooms not being available on the system for heads to beds with our cultural contingent. · Gems did not send emails to all our VIP’s inviting them to register. Did the accreditation system at the Games work well? · Yes, but (although this was corrected) Chef’s and Assistant Chef’s should have full access1-4 on their badges. Provide comments or recommendations. · Additional supplies as the Accreditation room ran through their supplies early in the week. Welcome/Arrival Services Was the arrival of your team handled in a timely manner with a minimum of confusion? · There was some confusion over were athletes should gather once off the plane in the airport. Also some confusion on which exit to take the bus, but overall went smoothly. Provide comments or recommendations. · There was little to show designation of who was in charge of guiding the participants on were to go. A better strategy with signs indicating designated areas and were to go could be utilized. Opening Ceremonies Did the opening ceremonies do a good job of kicking off the week? · Yes, but the exit strategy to take the busses was ill organized and completely chaotic. · Having a free for all allowing all athletes to take any bus at random was an error. Some athletes ended up at the wrong lodging venue and were not taken to their appropriate dormitory. Further to this the AWG specific bussing system stopped operating for the day and they had to take a taxi back to their dorms. · Were they well organized and choreographed? · Yes the shows it self were very well done. Provide comments or recommendations. · For the exit strategy teams should have designated places on the floor (you could use temporary paint on the floor or colored lighting to designate the areas. Then announce each team or multiple teams leaving and what busses they are required to take. Each bus or buses should be designated per team and go to each venue the team resides at. Keep the teams together. 1 Team Accommodations Were accommodations sufficiently spacious or too crowded? · The rooms this year were very spacious and not very many athletes per room. This was very much appreciated by our team. Were they well-located or too spread out? · The venues were close together as much as possible. This was also appreciated by our team. Were there sufficient washrooms and shower facilities? · Yes, however some of our male teams had to go outside to another building to take a shower. This proved inconvenient. · Also some of the male showers were one large public shower. This caused some concern among coaches and our younger athletes. Was cleaning during the Games adequate for the maintenance of hygiene? · Yes. Was security in the accommodations area functional and effective? · Security was very well done at the venues. Provide comments or recommendations. · If possible having showers available at all venues without the need to go outside. · Private showers. If needed curtains or temporary walls in public shower rooms. · There were two types of beds. Air mattresses and cots. Of the two the larger air mattresses were very much more appreciated. · For the cot’s there were two sizes. The larger sizes was appreciated by our larger athletes. Food Service/Village Dining Were the hours of operation/serving sufficient and convenient? · Yes Was the quality of food adequate? · Adequate but fresher food (especially fruits and vegetables) could have been made available. Was enough food available to meet your team’s needs and appetites? · Appetite yes. Did the snack program work well? · No, it was often the snack room had a number of people in it delaying some teams to reach their sporting venue on time. · It happened that some teams would arrive only to be told they were not on the list. Provide comments or recommendations. · For the snack program I recommend we return to the system of pre ordered box lunches for athletes as was done in Whitehorse or have lunch canteens at all sporting venues. This is easy to accomplish. Offer to local organizations the opportunity to have lunch canteens as fundraisers. They purchase the food and collect the revenues. Awards Ceremonies · Overall went well but for some of the long distance events there were complaints from our staff that not all the athletes racing were allowed to finish before the awards ceremony for that event. Information Technology/Communications/Computer and Network Services 2 Evaluate how the Games’ IT system and staff, communications system and computer and network services performed and provide any comments or recommendations. · The internet at our office was slow and sometimes would not connect. · The IT staffs were very helpful and supportive. · Having the IT contact number in the phone was a great idea. · Some of our phones were muffled sounding when speaking into them. · Having the AWG phone book was great, however not being able to modify it specifically to the needs of our team proved to be a problem. · In future specific phonebooks for each team would be better rather than one public phonebook for all teams. Mission Offices, Services and Accommodations Were the mission offices located in a place that facilitated the work of the Mission Staff, and were the offices conveniently reached by coaches? · Yes Were offices sufficiently spacious and adequately furnished? · Yes Were the supplies provided adequate for the Mission Staff to do its work? · Yes Provide comments or recommendations. · The office space was well organized and more than adequate for our team. Cultural Program and Facilities Did your cultural delegation feel that they were an integral part of the Games? · Yes. They received all the same gear. They were very happy with the opportunity. They had time to visit other athletes during meal times or after practices. They were busy as much as the other athletes with their schedules. Did they have enough performance opportunities? Too many? · Yes, once per day was perfect. · We could have had better rehearsal space set up. After we disturbed security at Lathrop, we were put into a big room where we couldn’t disturb anyone. It worked out eventually. Did your Team members attend entertainment events? What is your impression of their experience? · Several of our athletes, coaches, VIPs and mission staff were able to attend the gala nights. A group of students and teachers from Kangiqsujuaq also attended one of the gala evenings. Provide comments or recommendations related to the Cultural program only. See Entertainment Program section below for other comments. · Each of the lunch time performances were unique experiences and venues that challenged the performers to be adaptable. It helped get their performance out to the general population of the city and to promote the Games. The first venue the drummers performed at was like an Elders long-term care facility attached to the hospital. The second was in a mall. And the third one was in a company building with amazing light. · Part of the requirement from the contingents was to have participants who were open and willing to try new things. Karin was unable to screen the participants for this aspect since there were not that many who could be part of the drumming group. This may have hindered the TNQ participation in rehearsals and exploration time with the rest of the group, especially with the artist director hired to coordinate a finale piece. 3 · The contingents needed to have more interaction with the other groups on the first day rather than a few days later. The workshop held at the University of Alaska Fairbanks was excellent opportunity to explore theatre, acting and meeting people. This workshop was excellent for the drummers to be part of but they were still shying away from fully participating, except Mark Adams. · The transportation services given to the cultural team to move themselves and their gear was excellent! · It was good the bus was meeting us at the cafeteria so there was less time to get going to the venues. There could have been more time given for lunches prior to the lunch performances. At least 30 minutes instead of 15 minutes. · The Arctic Winter Games’ Got Talent was a success for a few of our TNQ athletes. It was great to see other athletes jump to the stage. It was very thoughtful of the Host Society to give each person a participant medal. Forms and Publications Evaluate the effectiveness of forms provided by the Host Society and any publications of the Host Society; including Ulu News, directories, sport schedules/programs, results, posters, etc. · This was very well done, Ulu news was great, and the scheduling worked well. The app for the schedules was a fantastic idea. Media Describe the media coverage you saw in the host community, both print and electronic. · Ulu news had stories from all angles of the AWG`s including a story of our visiting elder. This newspaper was very well done!!! Provide comments or recommendations. · YouTube AWG video of the day. · Facebook links to all AWG media related items. Our contingent has its own AWG Facebook page and would love to add have more links so that those in our region can have as much access to the games as is possible. Medical Services/Polyclinic Was the medical staff helpful? Did they provide quality care? · The medical staff was great, professional, informative, and accountable.