Since the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Otto Kamenzin has been responsible for planning torch relay events for more than twenty years. More than an opening activity, torch relays are relied upon as a beacon of excitement, engagement and support for communities around the world, and they require meticulous planning to succeed. For his role as Torch Run Senior Manager at the Special Olympics World Games Berlin 2023, Otto needed a solution that offered complete control, visibility and efficiency for both organisers and stakeholders.
Events on the scale of the Special Olympics World Games require more than an overarching planning strategy – each element of the event must be meticulously organised to ensure the seamless success of the project. Working specifically with the torch relay, Otto needed to consider a range of factors.
A moving event such as the torch relay requires significant logistical planning, including weighing the operational parameters like distance and duration against available resources and budget.
Key stakeholders such as local municipalities, police, traffic authorities, and sponsors must be able to access the latest version of the route, amend and approve it as necessary. This approval stage can often pose significant challenges. Traditional reliance on hard copy maps and Excel spreadsheets proves inefficient and is prone to costly mistakes.
The route must be developed in a way that ensures exposure and attendance as well as safety and security, which requires a collaborative effort across multiple stakeholders.
The introduction of the Iventis Planner significantly improved Otto’s experience when planning the torch relay for the Special Olympics World Games Berlin 2023, enabling a streamlined approach that allowed continued visibility for everyone who needed it.
Iventis provides a secure and precise solution for plotting, measuring, and storing relay routes. It streamlines the development process, enabling real-time route amendments and oversight for everyone involved without the worry of disorganised version control.
Multiple user groups with various access rights allow key stakeholders to stay informed and engaged, promoting better communication and coordination.
The maps, and even specific aspects of the maps, such as the routes, start/end points and celebration sites, can be edited within the Planner and exported to PDF and KML formats. This ultimate accessibility proves invaluable when seeking support or approval from external parties or agencies involved in overseeing a particular area of the operation.
As well as being used during planning stages, the Planner can be used as a navigation tool during route reconnaissance and the actual relay, ensuring efficient awareness of location parameters and real-time updates for all participants.
The Planner also provides a publishing feature that allows event planners to make their maps accessible to the public online. Participants, attendees, and other interested individuals can view details of the route, enhancing their overall experience and helping to foster a sense of anticipation.
“The Iventis mapping software has been instrumental with plotting, measuring and storing the relay route on a secure platform. Relay route planning, before online maps, was developed using hard copy maps and excel spreadsheets. With today’s technology, route development is far more efficient and cost effective.”
Otto Kamenzin, Torch Run Senior Manager, Special Olympics World Games Berlin 2023
With the help of Iventis, Otto was able to significantly reduce the time taken to plan, optimise and manage the torch relay for the Special Olympics World Games Berlin 2023. The capabilities of the Iventis Planner, from real-time route adjustments to seamless stakeholder collaboration, represent a shift in the logistical management of outdoor events – allowing experts like Otto to focus on the event’s bigger picture of celebrating inclusivity and engagement.
To find out more about how Iventis can help streamline your event planning, speak to an expert and set up your guided tour.
“We were happy to team up with such a renowned company as Iventis which significantly supported our team in their planning and delivery. The system was used across several functional areas to develop plans and co-ordinate our efforts in the run up to the event.”
“Birmingham 2022 is the largest event to be held in the UK since London 2012. That means it is an incredibly complex operation for us to manage. Iventis allows us to knit all of those requirements together in a single platform. It’s absolutely fantastic and so useful across the supply chain for everybody to have access across all of the different venues and fantastic from an efficiency and commercial value perspective”
