The Debriefing, held 29th June – 2nd July 2014 in the host city of the 2018 Olympic Winter Games, successfully concluded under the key messages of inspire, manage, engage, empower and deliver.

Attended by more than 360 stakeholders, the gathering featured plenary and breakout sessions, as well as one-to-one meetings and a specific three-day seminar on Games technology, which helped to advance the knowledge of the future Organisers and strengthen the relationships between them.

The participants looked at a number of key themes, in particular how to create an attractive product; how to establish a strong governance model; how to engage with the Olympic Movement stakeholders; how to prepare the team for delivery; and how to deliver the event.

Presenting the perspectives of the International Winter Sports Federations (IFs) in the break-out session: Athletes and Sport, alongside Sochi 2014 Sports Director Irina Gladkikh, Sarah Lewis additionally presented the IFs perspectives in two panel discussions on “Creating an attractive product” and “Engaging with the Olympic Movement Stakeholders”.

After the meetings, Sarah Lewis commented: “The Debrief from Sochi 2014 will prove to be a key step for the PyeongChang Organising Committee as part of their preparations for the Games in 2018. All stakeholders involved in the organisation of the Games provided many key learnings. The focus is becoming more intensive with the first FIS World Cups that will serve as test events taking place in in February 2016. It was also an invaluable opportunity to gain knowledge during the Debrief both for AIOWF and FIS.”

Source: the official FIS site