Hosting an international event in multiple venues
Presented by Gethin Jenkins – head of event delivery, Rugby World Cup 2015

Gethin’s presentation will offer an Insight into Rugby World Cup 2015, the third largest global sports event, which will be hosted in England between 18 September and 31 October 2015.

He’ll cover details on the regional spread of the tournament across 11 cities and 13 venues and the touch points and opportunities that the RWC 2015 event brings.

He’ll also highlight the use of multi-event, football and rugby stadia and ways of working/key learnings that can be taken from multiple industries.

Three main learning outcomes include:

• Insight into the tournament
• Discussion starter on ways of working together
• Awareness of potential touch points with RWC 2015

The road to Brazil – preparing training and stadia pitches for the FIFA 2014 World Cup
Presented by Andy Cole, STRI

Andy’s presentation will look in-depth at the challenges facing Brazil in the delivery of the FIFA World Cup in 2014.

He will reference all 12 stadia that will be used for the event, together with Venue-Specific Training Sites (VSTS) and team base camp provision for the event.

Andy will also offer a ‘behind the scenes’ look at the infrastructure and delivery of services for the event plus a walk through the FIFA Confederations Cup – a dress rehearsal for the main event in 2014.

Machinery, manpower, money and materials available to the contractors and stadium managers will be presented alongside a guide to the management of the turf to achieve uniform standards where, in such a vast country, the STRI travels through different time zones and extreme climatic change from north to south and east to west.

Three main learning outcomes include:

• Managing sports turf in an extreme environment.
• The challenges facing a groundsman in Brazil – dealing with contractors with low expectations
• Managing warm-season grass in a shaded environment