Some of my friends and family have been asking me what exactly did I do at VANOC. So I'll do my best to explain it...
I started at VANOC (Vancouver Organising Committee for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games) in late 2006 (I can't remember exactly when, but before Christmas) as a pre-games volunteer. I volunteered at the campus store at the VANOC HQ.
About 10 months later a paid staff position became available in the Licensing and Merchandising Function. I had little to no experience in retail, licensing or merchandising but Benjy (my boss) took a chance and in October 2007 I was hired as the Retail Coordinator.
What does a retail coordinator do? A little bit of this and a little bit of that, and a lot of "other duties as required."
My job could basically be separated into 2 areas. Managing the campus store and internal customers for corporate gifting.
Staff Store Closing Sale
The store was open Monday to Friday during office hours. I had 6 volunteers (Janice, Kathy, Margie, Sharon, Sheila & Barry) who worked in the store in the mornings, and a part timer, Norm who worked in the afternoons.
All I had to do was open and close the store, order all the product and authorise the invoices. I was also responsible for any sales we did at outside events like the 2 year to go and 1 year to go countdown concerts, The Chef de Mission Seminars, the CP Rail Spirit Train and the 100 day countdown in Whistler.
Red Mitten Sale in Whistler
Corporate gifting took up more of my time. You wouldn't think so, but it did. I had to maintain a supply of in-stock items for those very frequent times when someone phoned me and said "I need a gift and I need it in 5 minutes."
When a function was a little more organised I would order in ready made product for them. And when a function was a lot more organised I would work with the function, brand and the licensee to create custom merchandise for them.
There was a lot of work that went into custom merchandise, you can't just slap a logo on any product. First, what product did the function want? Second, which licensee held the rights to that product? Next - what quantity, what budget and when did they need it for? Then onto what design goes on the product and does it meet all the guidelines regarding size, spacing, font, language, colours etc etc. Paper proofs would need to be approved, then pre production samples and finally the final product. It could take months. And much back and forth.
Retail Tent During Set Up 2009
In August 2009 I started to transition into my games time role as Retail Venue Manager. For games time, I and one other co-worker from my team were based in Whistler. We oversaw the operations of all the retail kiosks at the venues in Whistler.
Altogether we had 9 kiosks. 4 kiosks at Whistler Olympic Park, 1 at Whistler Creekside, 2 at Whistler Sliding Centre, 1 at Whistler Medals Plaza and 1 at Whistler Athletes Village. We had a contractor who actually operated the retail kiosks.
Retail Tent 2010
We were the liason between our contractor and the venue management team. From November though January we made multiple trips to Whistler to check on the location and size of the tents, the orientation of the doors and ramps, and the location of lighting and heating units.
Inside Retail Kiosk
Inside tent before
Towards the end of January we pretty much moved permanently to Whistler, we were there to oversee the build out of the interior kiosks, delivery and merchandise of product, and training of staff.
Retail Kiosk
I wasn't sure how my role would play out at during the actual Games, I had a general idea but until the Games started I was a little unsure. Well our contractor had it all under control, so I had it fairly easy.
Retail Kiosk with Merchandise
Some examples of what I did have to manage:
Barricades that were erected to funnel spectators through the security gates, funneled them away from our kiosk. Event Services and I worked out a resolution that made us both happy.
The downhill events were delayed due to weather, the staff were rescheduled for the new day, but their meal tickets were still stamped with the old date. I had to contact F&B so the staff could eat.
At the Sliding centre, the tents were too hot, it was my job to coordinate with Energy Services to get the heating adjusted.
At one kiosk we were not getting as many spectators come through as we were expecting. Working with venue management we made some changes to drive traffic to the tent - announcements on the loud speaker, lights to highlight the entry doors, etc.
A Retail Kiosk Full of Customers
For the first week, I looked after Whistler Olympic Park and Whistler Medals Plaza. Benjy looked after Whistler Creekside, Whistler Sliding Centre and the Athlete's Village. For the second week Benjy went back to the office in Vancouver, and I had all the venues. I tried to get to each venue (except the Village) daily, to check in, say hi to the staff, and see if there was anything they needed.
So that's it. That's what I've been doing for the last 2 and 1/2 years.
Like any job it had its ups and downs. Some days were better than others and November 2009 was particularly horrendous. But overall I really enjoyed working for VANOC. I've had my fare share of jobs and this experience rates as one of the best jobs I've had.