To answer your question, we sat down with the head of planning to break down the process involved in putting our event together.
Introduce yourself.
My name is Sir T, I’m the head of planning at The SociaLiga sports & entertainment company.
How has it been planning the SociaLympics?
It was quite an experience, planning events is something I’ve always liked to do but SociaLympics means a bit more to me because we had to bring together so many elements vs our regular football matchdays and also timing was a big part of it. I’m happy we put it all together
What does it take to pull off a successful SociaLympics?
It takes team effort, I have a solid team behind me, we work together always and always keep looking for ways to get better and deliver better events
As Head of Planning, how would you assess or describe the overall performance of the third SociaLympics, in terms of organisation?
Success?- In terms of organizations I’ll score us a 7. A few things didnt quite go our way but we found a way to make the best of it and thats something I always admire in any team
If yes, where would you rank it vis-a-vis the previous two events?
I’d still rank it behind last years event, last year was special because it was the first one I worked on.
What is the process of picking the participants and teams and how difficult was it putting them together?
Picking the participants is all about giving people the chance to compete which we did by throwing it open to social media. Getting them together wasn’t difficult and we are glad we were able to make random strangers come together and fight for a common goal
Related : Gokada SociaLympics : The Arrows, Dolphins and Jaguars Teams Are All Set
What was the response from them (participants) compared to the previous two events?
This years response was overwhelming, we had to eventually close the gates but it was amazing that we had over 100 volunteers for a totally leisure activity . Next year we’ll be going for 500
In terms of attendance, how does the just concluded SociaLympics compare to the previous two what was responsible?
This event was well attended
How do you deal with hiccups on event days?
I’ve always prided myself as someone with an innovative mind. I actually smile sometimes when things gow rong because there will always be a way out. Moreso with the socialiga team behind me there are always awesome options to choose from and make the best with the hand fate deals us on event days
There were different teams with very interesting names, what was the idea behind this and is this a template for subsequent events or just a one-off?
It wasn’t a one off. We came up with the names to remind ourselves of our interhousesport days in school
Let’s talk about the track proper, changing a football pitch to an athletics track. How was this achieved and what were the biggest challenges encountered, if any?
The biggest challenge is always ensuring the equal lanes but thankfully we have a solid team of officials who for the 3rd year running got it absolutely spot on
Related : How Team Alimosho Worked Smart to win the 2019 Gokada SociaLympics
The sponsorship, tell us about that. From Gokada to Max FM, how were you able to get these bodies to be involved?
We’re a family , a family of teams and sponsors as well. People love to get involved with us and vice versa. When we pitched the event to them they couldn’t wait to get on board and they were pleased with the results of their involvement
The medals, how much did that cost to put together, in addition to the venue and vendors?
A magician never reveals his secrets
Security was water-tight, from the venue to the car park, give us an insight on how this was managed to an excellent level?
We get our security from Turret Solutions, they are a world class security company, you can always rest easy when you put them behind the wheels of security
Related : 5 Reasons to Choose Turret Security
Now the show is over for the 2019 edition, were there lessons? If yes, can you break them down into three words?
A little more, I always want to do a little more and I think we will do more net year
Finally, how will the the lessons described (in 10) influence future SociaLympics, if at all?
Yes Like I said a little more, we will go another mile in 2020