Raise your hand if you are fully invested in the Paris Olympics right now. Even if you aren’t a sports fan its hard not to find the scenes being featured around Paris completely mesmerizing. What a perfect host city to welcome the Olympics back to full capacity since the days of the Pandemic. If you didn’t have a vacation in Europe already this summer I bet you are planning one for the near future.
It has us thinking, though, about Olympic themed events – venues, past host cities, décor, keynote speakers. What Olympians accomplish and spend their life training for is sometimes hard to wrap your head around if you stop to think about it too long. You could be at the top of your field and be at a loss to comprehend the dedication and discipline that goes into training just to make it to the Olympics, not to mention how to get your feet on the podium. Even harder is to comprehend that they spend years working towards a moment that might last only a couple hours, a couple minutes, or 45 seconds. But when they do accomplish this goal, we the audience, beam with pride on behalf of these perfect strangers representing our country with so much dedication, strength and enthusiasm. We remember where we were when they won, when they were defeated or when an unexpected moment happened. We remember their names, their faces, their legacy. There is something about the Olympics that brings us so much joy.
There are venues like the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs who allow private events to be held there. These events are often paired with a tour of the facility lead by an Olympic hopeful who gets to share their story with the group as well as a demonstration by athletes from the various sports that train there, including fencing and men’s gymnastics. It gives your guests exclusive access to be able to stand just a few feet away from these athletes and watch them do incredibly powerful things with their bodies then be able to interact and ask questions. Talk about a WOW moment.
Or you can bring in your own WOW athletic demos, like the high-energy Flying Ace All-Stars aerialists out of Park City, Utah! Talk about mesmerizing.
Afterwards you will find your attendees will follow that Olympic hopeful’s journey, or even invest in it with a donation towards their training, as the U.S. is one of three countries in the world who does not fund Olympians. It is up to the athlete to find a way to fund their training. Talk about having a drive to succeed!
There are so many former host cities that have space and activities available at the former Olympic sites – Atlanta, Munich, Sydney, Salt Lake City (Park City), Lake Placid, to name a few. These cities have their own Olympic stories they can tell and set your event up in an easy way to incorporate the theme.
In the U.S. decorating for an Olympic themed event takes your mind straight to the red, white and blue, which is never a wrong choice.
But what about the colors of the medals instead? How about bronze, silver and gold themed tables, which is a particularly apropos choice for an awards gala.
There are stories to be told by Olympians, too. If you are lucky enough to get them in a setting that is intimate enough they may just share the secrets of the Olympic Village with you. Or walk you thru what happens to their body when they are coming down from the high of a race. Or share with you what happened when they had a bad performance. Or fall deep into thought sharing with you what it meant to them to represent their country….even if they are a pro! You will see them relive it before your eyes as they recount their Olympic stories for your audience. Even members of the original 1992 Dream Team pinch themselves when they recount their Olympic experience playing on a team with some of their biggest rivals professionally. The unique spirit of the Olympics was cause to put all that aside and embrace the moment.
The Advisory Board at Retreats Resources was fortunate enough to have former Olympic speed skater, Apolo Ohno, come speak at a virtual meeting last September giving our board members access to ask questions and interact in person, thru chat or thru a moderator. To have that rare kind of access can be a thrill for the deep thinkers in the group. When thinking about a keynote speaker for a business meeting, what better motivation than to have someone who has reached the top, who has experienced the highs and the lows, who has had to learn how to navigate change when their Olympic career and training ends, and something Apolo is a big advocate for, talk about the importance of prioritizing mental health. All of these topics translate well to business and everyday life. And Apolo is one who can deliver all of these topics with eloquence and humor.
So as you fall into an Olympic rabbit hole for the next couple of weeks, while also falling in love with Paris, think about how the spirit of the Olympics can live on thru your own events. It doesn’t have to be an Olympic year to incorporate the theme, but having that kind of momentum behind you, as the Clark Kent of the Pommel Horse said, sure does help.
