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etween venue operations and the phone
bank should allow for maximum intercommunication
and exchange of information. An
overall programme for similar direct communication
between future Olympic organizing
committees and the local, national and
international publics is strongly encouraged.
Speakers bureau
The establishment of a speakers bureau allows
spreading of information to interested parties
in a more active and detailed way. The OCOG
would be able through its speakers to reach an
extensive variety of groups, of different interests
and concerns, carrying enthusiasm for the
Games and aiming to found public support.
This project underlines the substantial attention
given to community understanding and
acceptance, enhancing the community profile
of the OCOG. Training and constant news
updates to speakers, as well as suitable speakers
selection are essential to the success of the
programme. Los Angeles OCOG being the first
to have introduced a speakers bureau, did so
with careful planning and selection procedures,
which should be followed by future
organizers as well (Macnamara, 1996).
Events
Public relations events should be optimum to
generate enthusiasm and promote favourable
messages (Haberman and Dolphin,
1988). Media coverage is an important
prerequisite for the success of the events,
which should be organized in a special context,
as could be Olympic Games countdown
days, first launched by Seoul OCOG.
Events should be organized by as many
departments of an OCOG as possible, in order
to raise public awareness and communicate
the multiple dimensions of the Olympic
Games organization.
Community relations
Community involvement opportunities
Two major projects that require community
involvement are volunteerism and torch
relay. Special publicity, including speeches,
publications and events should be organized
to inform the public of these opportunities to
participate in the Games (Burke, 1999).
Educational programme
In co-operation with the government the
OCOG should give emphasis in educating
people and particularly students on the
Olympic Games values. The example of
Sydney organizers who realized the importance
of supporting an educational programme
should be taken further. Additional
features of the programme could include lectures
and seminars, film projection and publications
distribution, and motivation for
participating in less popular Olympic Games
sports. To conclude, as the ultimate purpose
of public relations is to generate publicity,
media exposure is considered vital for the success
of any PR project. For that purpose, media
relations should never be overlooked. On the
contrary, all opportunities for promoting PR
activities through the media should be
exploited.
The completion of this research has confirmed
the original hypothesis that there is
connectivity among the various public relations
programmes as exercised by OCOGs.
Furthermore this connectivity is expressed in
an evolutionary pattern. Each organizing body
for the Olympic Games has introduced at least
one new public relations programme. This
may be justified due to the cultural differences
among the different host cities. The only
country to host two Olympic Games in the
© 2004 Sandra Oliver for editorial matter and selection;
individual chapters, the contributors