Impact Dialogue – Meeting Professionals: What can we learn from the Olympics?

Supported by:

Stronger, Faster, Higher – Together is a motto most meeting and events professionals could make their own.

With the Tokyo Summer Olympic Games just behind us, Martin Boyle, IAPCO CEO, will ask Barbara Martins-Nio, Sports Business Unit Director at MCI, Sarah Cecil, Chartered Sport Psychologist, and Panos Tzivanadis, Director of Corporate Events & Services for IOC, the International Olympic Committee to draw from their experiences key learnings to apply in the meeting and events industry.

Panel includes:

Barbara Martins-Nio Sports Business Unit Director at MCI.

Build a better world through Sport! Barbara strongly believes in sport as a force, in the excitement that a victory can bring to an entire nation, in the education a trainer can provide to young practitioners, in the values that sport cultivates amongst people & communities, and in its heroes and their dreams.

For nearly 20 years, she has had the chance to live & share experiences around major international sports (& non-sports) events from the sport industry :

2020 FIA Prize Giving- 2020 Tour de France- 2019 FIFA Congress & Women’s Convention,- 2019 EPCR Strategic Consulting,- 2018 FIFA World Cup In Russia,- 2018 Gay Games,- 2017 Lima (Paris’ nomination as host for the 2024 Olympics)- 2017 World Handball Championships,- 2017 FIVB launch of the New Volleyball League- 2017 FIA Sports & Mobility Conferences- 2016 Rio Summer Olympic Games… and many more.

At MCI, Barbara works with International Federations, National Olympic Committees, National Federations, Organising & Bidding Committees, leagues, Clubs & Sponsors. She and her team design & produce physical / digital / Hybrid experiences, events & shows, advise & assist major sports stakeholders on their event strategy, offer customized & exclusive experiences around major sports events, and much more.

Panos Tzivanidis, is the Director of Corporate Events & Services for IOC, the International Olympic Committee, widely known for the Organisation of the Olympic Games, with headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. 

Panos and his team are responsible for a large variety of activities, including all events organized by the IOC worldwide, as well as all accommodation needs, travel, accreditation for the Olympic family for all events around the Games period, as well as the Olympic Club; the main and exclusive Hospitality area for the Olympic family, Head of States, their Top VIP & Dignitaries guests. Under his responsibility is also Facilities Management and general services for all IOC premises. 

Panos has direct responsibility and decision power for a large variety of activities including all strategic marketing events organized by the International Olympic Committee worldwide. Reporting for specific projects, directly to the President and Director-General of the IOC, he is accountable for a budget of over USD 50M and a team of 88 permanent staff and over 100 contractors during major events. 

Panos is responsible for the strategic planning, all operational aspects, content coordination as well as all events during and around the Olympic Games period. His role often brings him to the negotiation table with local authorities and government representatives to create a win-win situation for all parties involved. 

He joined IOC in June 2013 after having spent two years as the Head of Conferences for UEFA, widely known for the organization of the Champions League, Europa League, and National teams EURO soccer tournaments, and previously having spent 11 years with SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication), and organizer of Sibos, the world’s premier annual financial services event. Panos was the Head of Events at Sibos, dealing with all organizational aspects and strategic planning of the exhibition and the conference in all five continents that the Sibos event was organized. 

Sarah Cecil is a Chartered Sport Psychologist and has worked for the English Institute of Sport since 2005. She has 20 years of experience working with Olympic and Paralympic athletes as well as coaches and support staff across a wide variety of sports. She was the sport psychologist for the British Athletics team at London 2012. Post 2012 she worked at the Team GB Intensive Rehabilitation Unit for 5 years and on UK Sport coach education programmes. In 2013 Sarah wrote and delivered the Front Line to Start Line, an innovate military transition programme which resulted in military athletes competing in Rio and Tokyo. Sarah was the sport psychologist for the UK Team at the Invictus Games from London to Sydney. As a mentor and registered supervisor she has an extensive record of developing sport psychologists, support staff, coaches and leaders in the high performance system. Sarah sits on the UK Sport Mental Health steering group and has cowritten guidelines for promoting good mental health. She has presented and published work in mental health and injury. She currently works with the Lawn Tennis Association and GB Snowsport. During the pandemic she has delivered training in Lockdown Debriefs to support athletes and staff as they return to the workplace and Performance Decompression to support adjustment post the Olympics. Sarah uses the expertise she has to enable athletes to deliver under pressure and to support coaches and performance staff to fulfil their potential.