Dr. Heather Lawrence-Benedict from Ohio University speaks with Contemporary Services Corporation's Stephen Mirabile and Incognitus' Paul Lovett about megaevents. (VT Photo)
REPORTING FROM COLUMBIA, S.C. — Everything is bigger with mega events, from the number of attendees to the gross potential. Unfortunately, that also includes the difficulties. Paul Lovett of Incognitus and Stephen Mirabile of Contemporary Services Corporation discussed the trials of hosting megaevents at the Sport Entertainment and Venues Tomorrow conference, held here Nov. 19-21.
CSC has provided crowd management and event security services for 30 Super Bowls, nine Olympic Games, four presidential inaugurations, two Papal visits and two FIFA World Cups. Incognitus provides developmental, operational and various services for megaevents such as sporting events, venue development, festivals and galas, and event creation. The company was charged with event recruitment of more than 4,200 cleaning and housekeeping staff for the 2012 London Olympic & Paralympic Games.
“Our difficulty with these megaevents isn’t that I’m making beds or that Steve handles security, it’s the recruitment, retention and motivation you need to staff them,” said Lovett, who added that just in cleaning services there were millions of man hours of work during the games, including making 21,770 beds every day in the athlete’s village. “NBC (which broadcast the event) wanted to tell us that it was 16 days, but it was four years of work and 4.5-million man hours.”
Ideally companies involved in staffing megaevents will have a multiyear period with which to recruit and train.
“A lot of times people think that ticket takers, ushers and security just show up the day of the event. Realistically, the earlier that we’re in, the better,” said Mirabile. “I think four years out is a good time to really start to get involved.”
Some organizing committees may not be quite as proactive in contracting guest services with the early focus falling on other aspects.
“In sport, everybody’s driven by what’s happening on the field, but the least important thing that services have to be concerned with is what happens on the field of play,” said Lovett. “In Steve’s case the fans won’t see the CSC on the back of people’s jackets because they’re not looking at the field, they’re standing at the sidelines looking at the crowd — we’re always focused from the pitch outward.”
Many large-scale events have aspects at more than one venue, which creates a domino effect with the administration. Not only do companies have to find the right people, but there is also training, uniforming and accreditation to consider.
Mirabile cautioned that it’s important to remember the basics and workshop the culture and environment of an area before going in.
“Sometimes people don’t exist — if we go to a place where we need 10,000 licensed security guys and the country might only have 500, that’s a problem, so we look for people who want to be part of something special and make memories,” he said.
Recruiting from a diverse geographic pool can help offset the problem. For the Olympics, Incognitus hired from not only central London, but also regionally, from the Greater United Kingdom and Ireland, the European Economic Area and other Commonwealth countries.
Lovett said all staff involved in the 2012 London Olympic Games had to be accredited through Scotland Yard, all the way down to the housekeeper making about $8 per hour.
“We had to attract that person to stay passionate about the job more than six months in advance,” he said. “It’s hard to wrap your arms around so many thousands of people six months out and keep that person interested to want to do 30 days.”
Incognitus recruited the labor through online advertising and job fairs and kept them excited through constant communication of relevant information, even using Facebook, Twitter, and social networking sites to continue fostering the connection with staff.
One of the most important aspects of retention comes during the recruitment process.
“You have to set up expectations: you will not be on the field of play; you will be standing all day in conditions where it’s hot or cold; you might never see an athlete,” said Mirabile. “We don’t do a very good job selling what exactly we do because we want to make sure that people are committed to be part of the event, so you have to be honest up front and plan for certain phases of attrition.”
“It’s about the journey for us, from the front end to the training, the uniform — it’s about the retention program and letting people know that maybe they’ll be part of this again,” he added.
Sometimes people don’t particularly want to make beds or do the hard tasks in front of them, let alone endure the conditions of living on-site if a workforce camp has been set up.
“Some people might think ‘what am I doing here on a side trailer living in bunk beds and walking through the rain?’” said Lovett, who added that those with a purpose for working, such as coming from a migrant workforce background or with a backpacking mentality, tend to thrive.
Incognitus trained staff for 2012 London Olympic Games, with overall training through DVDs and online communication that continued and repeated during every staff sign-on session and venue-specific training carried out by venue managers at each facility.
From a security standpoint, a successful event is one that attendees come to, have a good time at, and feel safe during.
When it comes to cleaning and housekeeping services, Lovett is inspired by the company name, Incognitus,” which is Latin for incognito: to be behind the scenes, quietly and confidently in support.
“I want to be unnoticed. If my company goes unnoticed, it’s played the right role,” said Lovett. “If I can get through an event and we’ve done all of these turnovers of stadiums and looked after nine million ticketholders, go through that unnoticed, and our employees and management go home to their families with a pocketful of money and are safe, that’s a success to me.”
Interviewed for this story: Paul Lovett, +61 3 9629 1544; Stephen Mirabile, (818) 885-5150