COVID-19 Webinar Series

Grant is a leader in sport and event hosting in Canada with over 28 years’ experience in leadership positions. He has established a reputation as a trusted and knowledgeable leader of organizations and major projects.

A member of the STC’s Board of Directors from 2007 to 2019 he served as Chair from 2011-14. Grant now works as the Head of Consulting, leading the  STC’s Consulting Services Program.

A strategist specializing in major events, sport tourism, destination marketing, facility operation and economic development, Grant has worked with clients across Canada on both national and international profile projects while maintaining a focus on the development of communities of all sizes.

Grant led both Events Nova Scotia and Events Halifax and played a lead role in the development of the provincial tourism strategy for Nova Scotia in 2013. More recently he has led the effort to establish the Atlantic Canada Event Summit and its governing association, Event Atlantic.

Earlier in his career Grant worked with Hockey Canada and other organizations in Halifax staging the World Junior, World Women’s and World Men’s Hockey championships. 

He began his career in amateur sport while also working as a Scout for the Toronto Blue Jays for eight years, including the World Series year of 1993.

Grant MacDonald shares lessons learned from past recovery processes and specifically how sport tourism can be a short-term tool to help support the reopening of business and engagement of residents in the community.

In May 2016, all residents of Fort McMurray and surrounding communities evacuated due to the emergency situation of the Alberta Wildfire. During the displacement, sport tourism played a role in supporting planned events and attracting new events that would bring business to the region and help to tell a positive story about the recovery and rebuilding of the community.

Based in Vancouver, Derek Mager is the managing partner at The Data Jungle, a boutique insights-driven research and consultancy group focused on providing strategic consulting and market intelligence that supports key business decisions.

With over 20 years of experience in the sports, entertainment and media industries, Derek has successfully managed hundreds of projects including return on investment and economic impact assessments, sponsorship / naming rights valuations, feasibility studies, and consumer / media research projects for a diverse set of clients.

He brings his experience working with international brands, sports leagues, sports teams, government agencies, tourism bodies, sport federations, and marketing agencies to the STC consulting program.

The landscape for bidding and hosting events may look considerably different once we get past the current COVID-19 environment. Economic impact (EI) data can form the basis for determining your strategy and decision-making as you go forward. Use CSTA’s steam2.0 to run projections on what your event EI might have been, or what it could be if held in the future. Use the facts to help you determine if postponement or cancellation is the better option, what events you should bid on in the future, or what infrastructure may be the right investment.

This session will double as a refresher about how to navigate steam2.0, which is populated with spending profiles of primary data collected at over 500 sport events across Canada. Since its launch in 2002 it has become the industry standard in projecting the economic impact of a sport event on a host community.

Derek will also use the real-life example from a just completed EI assessment on the 2020 Arctic Winter Games in Whitehorse which measured the economic impact of the cancellation.

Brent Barootes is President and CEO of the Partnership Group – Sponsorship Specialists®, a leading Canadian sponsorship / sport marketing consulting firm supporting sponsors and properties like national sport organizations and DMO’s.  Brent has been at the forefront of the sector since mid March delivering virtual workshops and seminars as well as working virtually one on one with his clients to help them through COVID-19 from a sponsorship program perspective and provide them with the tools and understanding to move through the recovery period and the new “norm” post COVID-19.

Brent is also the author of Amazon.ca’s #1 Best Seller in the Nonprofit Marketing and Communications category: Reality Check – Straight Talk about Sponsorship Marketing. Brent is a regular speaker at conferences and conventions as well as a TEDx presenter on “Busting the Work-Life Balance Myth”.

Brent is living and self-isolating with his wife and 14-year-old daughter in Nanaimo BC.

As we work to cope with COVID-19 on a daily basis within our organizations, we need to begin to look to the horizon and post COVID-19. You may have postponed or cancelled events or are sitting on the sidelines waiting to see if you will still postpone or cancel. Thoughts might also include wondering if the sponsors you had will be back or will new sponsors even emerge. You may be concerned about what sponsorship will even look like post COVID 19.

This virtual workshop session will walk you through the three stages of your corporate sponsorship revenue program amidst COVID-19; The Immediate Need through the bottom of the trough; The Recovery period and The Post COVID 19 reality with a focus on understanding what that new norm will look like for your sponsorship programs and revenue opportunities as well as what to plan for, how to adjust and what to expect.

This session will provide both delivery of content on these subjects and allow for engaged discussion and Q&A.

Benoit Girardin is a sports lawyer, strategic consultant, lobbyist, university professor and President of LBB Strategies / LBB Sport, a boutique consultancy firm (team of 15+) with offices in Montreal, Ottawa and Europe (Annecy).

Benoit has 20 years + of experience in major sporting events such as 8 Olympic, Paralympic and Pan American Games, 2 ISU World figure skating Championships (acting as the General Manager for Worlds 2020), the FIFA 2026 World Cup, the FIG 2017 World artistic gymnastic Championships, the CFL Grey Cup, Tennis Canada ATP/WTA Rogers Cup, the ISU short track speed skating Championships, the FINA World Championships and more than 100 other sporting events. He also advises and guides Canadian sport cities and event promoters in strategic planning, sport facilities and in developing their sport tourism strategy and attracting major sporting events as well as being the business or legal advisor for many sports organizations including most national sport organizations in Canada, international federations, the IOC, Pan Am Sports and professional sport teams.

An overview of the legal, financial, human, operational and sport impacts of COVID-19, lessons learned and strategies to relaunch the event business in Canada.

In this webinar, facilitated by event expert Benoit Girardin, you will learn the hard lessons learned from these cancellations or postponements from the legal, human, financial, operational and sport perspectives. Benoit will discuss the lessons learned from key sporting events that were cancelled or postponed in Canada but also internationally such as Tokyo 2020, the Euro 2020, Wimbledon, Tour de France to name a few.

Benoit will also facilitate a discussion with a panel composed of three Canadian sport leaders, Debra Armstrong, CEO of Skate Canada (ISU World Figure Skating Championships), Eugène Lapierre, VP and Tournament Director for Tennis Canada’s Rogers Cup and Ahmed El-Awadi, CEO of Swimming Canada (SNC Olympic trials) who will share their experience on how COVID-19 impacted their events and organizations. Strategies to prepare for future forces majeures, the new normal and relaunch the event business will also be discussed.

Iain is one of the founding directors of the International Association of Event Hosts, created to help not-for-profit organizations generate the best possible return on investment from major events. In 2018 he led the development of new Event Impact Standards to provide guidance, and standard definitions, for measuring the impact of events and contributing to global sustainable development goals.

From his role in the bid team, to 10 years of leading the Major Events team at London & Partners, Iain played a key role in delivering a legacy from the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. This included creating the concept and leading the development of RideLondon – the Mayor of London’s annual world-class cycling event, which annually raises over £12m for charity. Prior to his involvement in London 2012 he delivered a number of multi-million pound public/private partnership projects for new sports facilities and events.

Iain now specializes in strategic leadership for public authorities, rights-owners, venues and sponsors of major sporting and cultural events who are seeking to identify, evaluate and deliver a meaningful legacy.

Iain has an MBA degree from the University of Cambridge and is a Trustee of the London Youth Rowing charity. He has a passion for participating in sport, from rowing at the Henley Royal Regatta to competing in the London Marathon, RideLondon and World Triathlon Series age-group races.

As public authorities start to consider how events can be part of the COVID-19 recovery plan, it has never been more important to articulate the wider impacts of sport events.

This webinar launches the latest STC tool to assess the wider tourism, social and environmental impacts of events – STEER (Sport Tourism Event Evaluation Report). STEER and STEER Pro will enable STC members to report on, plan for, and quantify wider impacts, complementing the direct economic data available from steam2.0 and steam pro2.0.

Norm O’Reilly is recognized as one of the leading scholars in the business of sports. He is currently Professor and Assistant Dean of Executive Programs in the College of Business & Economics at the University of Guelph, a leading university near Canada’s largest city of Toronto. As Assistant Dean, he leads the College’s two professional programs, the MBA and MA(Leadership) degrees. Dr. O’Reilly is also the founding Director of the International Institute for Sport Business & Leadership at Guelph, a think-tank devoted to improving the sport business globally. Dr. O’Reilly is a full professor in the School of Hospitality, Food and Tourism Management at Guelph, jointly appointed to the Department of Management.

He was previously the Richard P. and Joan S. Fox Professor of Business and Chair of the Department of Sports Administration at Ohio University’s College of Business. During his tenure at Ohio University, its programs were consistently ranked amongst the best in the world according to Sport Business International’s annual rankings, including Ohio’s MSA program which was named the #1 sport business graduate program globally in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.

Dr. O’Reilly has expertise in a range of business topics, including analytics, marketing, sponsorship, social media, sport finance, social marketing, tourism management, and management education. He has authored or co-authored eight books, 14 case studies in the Harvard/Stanford series, and more than 100 peer-reviewed journal articles. His books include the 2016 release Sports Business Management: Decision Making Around the Globe with George Foster and Tony Davila, and the 2015 book Global Sport Marketing: Sponsorship, Ambush Marketing and the Olympic Games, with Richard Pound, Rick Burton, Benoit Seguin and Michelle Brunette. At conferences, he has won 12 Best Paper awards and has more than 150 conference presentations to his credit. Dr. O’Reilly is the lead researcher on the Canadian Sponsorship Landscape Study, a highlight of the annual Canadian Sponsorship Forum since 2007, currently in its twelfth edition.

In 2015, Dr. O’Reilly was awarded the Career Achievement Award by the American Marketing Association’s Sport Marketing Special Interest Group. His research has been recognized with a number of other awards over the years.

Prior to coming to his time at the University of Guelph and Ohio University, Dr. O’Reilly taught at the University of Ottawa, the David Falk Center for Sport Management at Syracuse University, the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University, the School of Sports Administration at Laurentian University, and the Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University. He has previously held positions as school director, vice-dean and director of a research centre. In recent years, Dr. O’Reilly has taught courses in Athabasca University’s MBA in Ice Hockey, the graduate program at the Russian International Olympic University in Sochi, sport business at the University of Bayreuth in Germany, and in a sport business certificate program in Mumbai, India.

Dr. O’Reilly works closely with industry. He was recognized in 2013 as one of the “Five to Watch” in sport business in Canada by the Globe and Mail and is a lifetime Research Fellow of the North American Society for Sport Management. In 2011, he was the recipient of the University of Ottawa’s Media Excellence Award (for media coverage of his research). He is often interviewed on television around the world (CTV, CCTV, Bloomberg Business, TSN, Sportsnet and others) and comments regularly in major print media. For more than a decade, he has been minority owner and partner consultant Toronto-based agency, T1, where he has worked for clients including Nike, UFC, Nissan, Canadian Olympic Committee, Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs, and many more. He also acts as a specialist on legal cases and has sat on the boards of many sport organizations. Dr. O’Reilly was ‘Assistant Chef de Mission’ for the Canadian Paralympic Team headed to the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio, Brazil. In 2017, his work was highlighted publicly in the media as part of the Canadian Hockey League legal case around player compensation.

Dr. O’Reilly holds a PhD in Management from the Sprott School of Business at Carleton University, a MBA from the Telfer School of Management at the University of Ottawa, a MA in Sports Administration from the University of Ottawa, and a B.Sc. (Kinesiology) from the University of Waterloo. He currently holds visiting/adjunct appointments in Canada, the United States and Australia, and also holds the CGA/CPA Accounting Designation.

Prior to joining academia, Dr. O’Reilly had involvement as an administrator, including senior policy officer at Sport Canada, team manager and office manager at Triathlon Canada, and event manager for the 2008 Toronto Olympic Bid. In addition to his leadership role for Team Canada at the 2016 Paralympic Games, he has been a member of the 2004, 2008 and 2010 Mission Staff for the Canadian Olympic Committee at the Olympic Games, and attended the 2012 Olympic Games in a research capacity.

The Canadian Sponsorship Landscape Study (CSLS) provides the most comprehensive information on the scope, scale and trends of Canada’s sponsorship industry, including industry size, spending by sector, activation trends, evaluation practices, strategic priorities and future outlook.

This session will review the results of the 13th annual CSLS and outline the trends in the industry in Canada, going back to 2006. The study draws on the insights of Canadian brands, properties and agencies to provide information that is relevant and ethical. The CSLS seeks to provide outstanding sponsorship expertise for sponsors, properties and agencies. Commentary will be made on the impact of the current COVID-19 crisis on the industry.

Barb MacDonald is an award-winning senior communications consultant, respected world-wide for managing media operations at large sporting events. Her experience covers +20 different sports at the Olympic, World Championships or Major Games level, working in North America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the Caribbean.

Her sport portfolio includes work in such summer sports as artistic gymnastics, artistic swimming, badminton, basketball, boxing, cycling, rhythmic gymnastics, road races, marathon, trampoline, and wrestling, as well as the winter sports of figure skating, short track, and hockey.

She has been a Director of Communications for several organizations, including Stock Transportation, the Carleton Board of Education and Skate Canada. Accredited by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), in 2014, Barb joined the small group of Canadians who have received IABC Canada’s highest distinction, named a Master Communicator for both her professional expertise and contributions to the profession.

Her most recent projects include managing the media operations for the 2019 Pan American Games, Lima, Peru (Gymnastics Venue), the 2018 European Gymnastics Championships in Glasgow, the 2017 Invictus Games in Toronto and serving as Associate Producer, CBC Television, 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, Korea. She served as the Venue Media Manager for the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships held in the Olympic venues in February 2017.

She currently serves as Communications Consultant for Sport Tourism Canada and her consulting practice includes many of the leading sport organizations and associations in Canada, as well as corporate clients. 

Fluently trilingual, Sylvie Bigras is an accomplished emcee and facilitator who has conducted national and expert stakeholder consultations, strategic planning, and organizational development projects. Her client list comprises local, national and international organizations, including the Canadian federal government, as well as not-for-profits and corporations. 

She has hosted numerous major events including the Nelson Mandela Citizenship Ceremony, State Dinners for George W. Bush, Vicente Fox Quesada, Prince Charles and other dignitaries.

A specialist in Communications at international sporting events, she has worked at 15 Olympic Games, 4 Commonwealth Games and 5 Pan American Games. She was the Press Chief for the Canadian Olympic Team in 2008 and 2010, as well as for Canada at the Glasgow 2014 and Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.

She has narrated numerous videos and presentations and is the “voice”​ of the Canadian War Museum.

Currently, she hosts and facilitates major events, as well as working with Canada’s Great Kitchen Party, a celebration of excellence in sport, music and food.

As Executive Director, Communications and Brand since August 2012, Martin Richard oversees the broadcast and digital media, public relations, athlete marketing, branding, and corporate communications portfolios of the Canadian Paralympic Committee.

Under his leadership, CPC has become an international leader in marketing for the Paralympics. Brand recognition has strengthened, as has media coverage and awareness of the Paralympic Movement in Canada. The Communications and Brand team has greatly increased its capacity in producing original content across multiple platforms and sharing the stories of Canada’s Para athletes.

Notably, Martin developed the award-winning and innovative Canadian Paralympic Broadcast Media Consortium, acquiring the broadcast rights for the Paralympic Games in Canada ahead of Sochi 2014 and bringing together a dynamic group of broadcast and corporate partners to provide world-class, fully accessible coverage of the Games. This broadcast model has evolved through the last few Paralympic Games, and for PyeongChang 2018 reached nearly 10 million Canadians. The consortium took home the 2017 Paralympic Media Award in the broadcast category for its coverage of Rio 2016. 

With more than a decade of experience working in senior positions in the field of sports communications and marketing, including a 10-year period as the director of communications of Swimming Canada, Martin brings a diversified wealth of skills to his current role.

Over the span of his career, he has secured long-term national broadcast partnerships, launched digital web television portals, and spearheaded the development of PSA campaigns to educate Canadians on drowning prevention. Prior to joining CPC, he led the communications activities for national teams at two Paralympic Games, four Olympic Games, two Commonwealth Games, several world championships, Pan Am Games, and World Cups. In addition, he was part of the organizing committee of the 4e Jeux de la Francophonie in Ottawa-Gatineau as part of the marketing group.

Martin, who is fully bilingual in English and French, was named Swimming World Magazine’s 2012 Sport Information Director of the Year and is a recipient of the Aquatic Federation President’s Award.

In March 2020, he was appointed to the Board of Directors for the International Wheelchair Rugby Federation (IWRF).

Three of the leading sport communications professionals in Canada will share their experiences from a variety of challenges that provide lessons learned for the sport event/tourism industry. 

Barb MacDonald is STC’s Communications Consultant, and has lived through bomb scares, declaration of war, tragedy, and judging scandals in various roles as a communicator and media operations manager over 20 different sports and 10 countries. 

Sylvie Bigras, in addition to being a dynamic emcee and facilitator, is a specialist in communications at international sporting events, including leading an entire media relations/communications team at several Olympic, Commonwealth, and Pan American Games. 

Martin Richard is the  Executive Director, Communications & Brand at the Canadian Paralympic Committee. Also a veteran of multiple major Games, he most recently was integral to the communication of the CPC’s decision, in conjunction with the Canadian Olympic Committee, to not send the Canadian team to the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games as a result of COVID-19.

Each panelist will share the practical application of effective communications throughout a crisis, and the positive opportunities that may occur as a result.

Heather Reid is Founder and CEO of Planner Protect Inc, Canada’s only consulting agency dedicated to reviewing and negotiating balanced event contracts. To date, Heather and Planner Protect have saved clients in the event industry more than $8.5 million in real costs and reduced risk.  With more than 25 years’ experience as an independent event planner, Heather helps event hosts and industry professionals negotiate balanced contracts.

Planners, venue representatives and corporate events teams all recognize Heather as a trusted and knowledgeable expert in her field.  Heather has received awards for her thought leadership and commitment to the field including a Smart Women in Meetings award in the “Innovator” category, and the Meetings & Incentive Travel Canada’s Hall of Fame award – also in the “Innovator” category.

No one has been left unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic.  As event organizers consider moving forward with future in-person events there seem to be more questions than there are answers.  This session will examine the current landscape of contract negotiations and discussions involving termination and force majeure, share contract lessons learned to date, and provide insights into possible future considerations for events and event contracts.

Objectives:

1. Review termination and force majeure clauses in event contracts and how current negotiations due to COVID-19 have been shaped by them

2. Share observations and lessons learned to date that will inform contract negotiation moving forward

3. Discuss future events and how contract negotiations can support them

Grant is a leader in sport and event hosting in Canada with over 28 years’ experience in leadership positions. He has established a reputation as a trusted and knowledgeable leader of organizations and major projects.

A member of the STC’s Board of Directors from 2007 to 2019 he served as Chair from 2011-14. Grant now works as the Head of Consulting, leading the  STC’s Consulting Services Program.

A strategist specializing in major events, sport tourism, destination marketing, facility operation and economic development, Grant has worked with clients across Canada on both national and international profile projects while maintaining a focus on the development of communities of all sizes.

Grant led both Events Nova Scotia and Events Halifax and played a lead role in the development of the provincial tourism strategy for Nova Scotia in 2013. More recently he has led the effort to establish the Atlantic Canada Event Summit and its governing association, Event Atlantic.

Earlier in his career Grant worked with Hockey Canada and other organizations in Halifax staging the World Junior, World Women’s and World Men’s Hockey championships. 

He began his career in amateur sport while also working as a Scout for the Toronto Blue Jays for eight years, including the World Series year of 1993.

STC’s Head of Consulting, Grant MacDonald, will hold a ‘lunch and learn’ session to walk people through the completion of their individual STAT report. 

Sacha joined Montreal’s BFL CANADA’s Sports and Leisure Department in 2011.

With close to ten years of experience in sports management and holder of a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology from the University of Montreal, Sacha has had the opportunity to be involved in several national and international sporting events. For more than eight years, he was in charge of Hockey Canada’s Quebec office. This role led to him working closely with the International Ice Hockey Federation, the Montreal Canadiens, the Ottawa Senators and the National Hockey League.

Sacha was also a member of Hockey Canada’s Risk Management Committee for many years and was recently named Chairman of the Ambassadors Committee for INS Quebec, a not-for-profit organization that supports all athletes involved in Olympic or Paralympic sports and high performance coaches in Quebec. He was Chair of the Volunteer Committee for the 2015 IIHF World Junior Championship and Chair of the Hospitality and Protocol for the 2017 IIHF World Junior Championship.

In addition to his intimate knowledge of daily activities and the business environment of amateur and professional sports organizations across Canada, he holds the designation of Risk Manager in Canada of the Global Management Institute. Sacha counts among his clients Hockey Canada, Football Canada, Tennis Canada, Canadian Hockey League, Judo Canada, Ringette Canada and many more.

Over the last five months, we’ve all had to change the way we live and do business, while adapting ourselves to a completely new reality. The insurance industry was already into a constriction phase for some time when we were hit by the virus. This new reality only added more challenges to a situation that was already difficult for everyone involved. This webinar will review the various products offered in the marketplace related to sport and the sport tourism industry, including event cancellation, liability, risk management, etc. We will also review the current trends in the insurance market place along with the impact of COVID-19 on the event hosting landscape.

Sport Tourism Canada has teamed up with Swimming Canada to bring you an additional webinar. This is the third in a series of facility webinars, presented by Myrtha Pools.

This webinar features a round-table discussion with Facility Operators on how they are handling the re-opening of their facilities. It will focus on the strategies and best practices of the re-opening of facilities across the country during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a round table format, facility operators will discuss their re-opening plans and lessons learned so far.

Agenda:

• Welcome & Opening Remarks, Ahmed El-Awadi, CEO, Swimming Canada & Rick Traer, CEO, Sport Tourism Canada
• Round Table Discussion moderated by Jocelyn Jay, Events Manager, Swimming Canada with special guests:
  • Rafael Torre, Director, Sport and Recreation, Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre
  • Jeff Booke, Chief Executive Officer, Repsol Sports Centre, Calgary AB
  • Annie Bouthillier, Section Head, Culture & Leisure, City of Beaconsfield
  • Éric Hervieux, Director General, Centre de la culture et du sport de Sainte-Julie

If you have a specific question for our guests, please submit them prior to the  webinar to:

Martine Rodrigue, Coordinator, Operations and Marketing, Swimming Canada
[email protected]

Grant is a leader in sport and event hosting in Canada with over 28 years’ experience in leadership positions. He has established a reputation as a trusted and knowledgeable leader of organizations and major projects.

A member of the STC’s Board of Directors from 2007 to 2019 he served as Chair from 2011-14. Grant now works as the Head of Consulting, leading the  STC’s Consulting Services Program.

A strategist specializing in major events, sport tourism, destination marketing, facility operation and economic development, Grant has worked with clients across Canada on both national and international profile projects while maintaining a focus on the development of communities of all sizes.

Grant led both Events Nova Scotia and Events Halifax and played a lead role in the development of the provincial tourism strategy for Nova Scotia in 2013. More recently he has led the effort to establish the Atlantic Canada Event Summit and its governing association, Event Atlantic.

Earlier in his career Grant worked with Hockey Canada and other organizations in Halifax staging the World Junior, World Women’s and World Men’s Hockey championships. 

He began his career in amateur sport while also working as a Scout for the Toronto Blue Jays for eight years, including the World Series year of 1993.

Grant MacDonald, Chair of the COVID-19 Task Force, will present an overview of the report and the work of the group over the past five months.