Tour of the Press Centre

You think that a lot of work goes into the Olympic and Paralympic Games. That is a huge understatement.

I don't even think I understood how much time, effort, money and planning went into the Winter Games until I got a first hand look at the Main Press Centre at Canada Place. You'd wonder how much space people need to write an article or edit a photo, but the entire Canada Place is all taken up by media. Not only is the media provided with stations for their journaling or blogging, but they are also provided with food courts, lounge areas, merchandise stores and even massage therapists! I was blown away by how massive the centre was; we got to visit 2 floors of the centre, but there were at least 2 more. And to organize the building they had it themed as the West Coast, with the main hallway names the "Straight of Georgia" and the rooms with names of islands such as Galliano. I can't remember the number of people they said were employed at the Press Centre, but I know it was a massive number and would have blown your mind. And the amount of money they must spend on uniforms alone for the employees, must be outrageous. I asked our tour guide whether all the TVs and such were donated by sponsors or if they were bought. They said that all the TVs were bought by VANOC and after the Games will be sold for cheap prices. It was crazy though how many TVs there were in the centre. They need to have a lot so that the media can be watching several events at once to cover all the necessary events, but I was just amazed at the numbers (and the size). Our tour guide said that the sponsor companies which have separate little booths in the centre have a contest to see which company can get the best quality images up the fastest onto the TV screen in front of their office. Apparently at the Beijing Olympics they could get the photo of someone winning gold up on the screen within 5 seconds. Impressive! It just shows you how great technology is getting these days, and how much they are affecting the Games.



Now I thought the Press Centre was amazing, and I couldn't imagine the organization and money involved in it. But if you think about it, that is only one small aspect of the Games. And then you start looking on the big scale of the Games and if they're spending that much money on media alone, think of every other aspect of the Games, and that is what blows my mind!