The Nescafe Champs Leysin is the oldest snowboard competition in Europe. The event currently takes place annually in the Swiss resort of Leysin. The first Nescafe Champs Leysin event took place in 1990. The three main areas of interest in the event are athletics, art, and music.
The athletes involved in the event compete for a monetary reward. Artists who come to the event develop unique artworks that give the event its unique atmosphere. The music in the event has become a signature trait of the Nescafe Champs Leysin especially because of the concert location named “Place to be”.
The nature of the event calls for careful logistical planning to ensure that everything works. This paper assesses the logistical needs of the event required to make it a success.
Methodology
The primary method used to gather information pertaining to the logistical needs of the Nescafe Champs Leysin was a literature review. The literature reviewed provided insights into the logistical needs of the event. The event website was also invaluable in providing specific information relating to the event.
In order to arrive at the conclusions provided in the last section, it was necessary to choose and consider various reports with information relating to event planning, logistics, and supply chain management.
Survey Results and Analysis
The three main components of the Nescafe Champs Leysin event include snowboarding, music and art. These three categories informed the structural layout of the report. Each of these three activities presents a different set of logistical challenges. The challenges fall into three categories namely, the supply of people, equipment supply, and logistics at the venue of the event.
Supply of People
For the event to be successful, it is necessary to transport and accommodate a large number of people. The people in question include the event participants and the audience. In addition, many people provide technical support for the event. They include medical doctors, coaches, and security personnel.
The four main areas of concern when it comes to the logistical challenges of moving people to Leysin include marketing, ticketing, queuing, and transport.
The marketing of the Nescafe Champs Leysin involves finding ways of attracting and retaining the attention of participants and the audience. This involves finding people interested in snowboarding competitions and ensuring that they make a commitment to take part in the event.
In addition to the competitors, the marketing of the event also aims at attracting musicians and artists to the event. The other part of the mobilization exercise involves finding an audience for the event. The function of marketing in this sense is to raise awareness and to convince participants to engage with the process.
Ticketing is a very important element of the event. Ticketing is one of the primary methods that the event organizers use to raise finances to run the event. The options available to them for ticketing include the sale of online tickets and sale of tickets at the gate. Online ticketing is very attractive for an event of this nature because it reduces the logistical challenges associated with handling money.
When the spectators use the electronic ticketing solutions to buy their tickets, the organizers save on the cost of sending money to the bank. In addition, it eliminates the security issues related to the transfer of physical money.
At the same time, electronic ticketing reduces the number of people in queues at the entry points trying to buy tickets. Verification is the only activity that takes place at the gate for the people holding electronic tickets. No time goes to the exchange of money, leading to quick movement of the queues.
Queuing is a challenging logistical task in every major event. People queue to access the event sites. Queuing is also necessary to ensure that every person entering the venue goes through security checks. In addition, the queues are necessary to facilitate ticketing and the verification of electronic tickets.
The logistical challenge associated with queues is that people tend to become very impatient if the queues are long or if they are not moving at a reasonable pace. This means that it is necessary to find ways of reducing queuing time either by increasing the service points or ensuring the existing points work as efficiently as possible.
Transport is easily the most complicated logistical issue relating to the Nescafe Champs Leysin. Transport issues include human transport, and the transport of supplies and equipment. Mass transport to the remote resort of Leysin requires careful planning because there is no dedicated transport service to the resort that can handle the number of people who attend the Nescafe Champs Leysin.
Apart from the transport of people, there is also a serious logistical challenge of ensuring that once the people are at the resort, they have access to supplies. What complicates this part of planning is that the event brings together people from different parts of the world. The sheer number of brands that the planners need to cater for the needs of all the people is overwhelming.
Equipment Supply
Equipment supply to the Nescafe Champs Leysin includes the transportation of all the equipment for use by the athletes, musicians, and audience. As already indicated, transporting people and supplies to the venue is a logistical challenge requiring careful planning. In the same way, it is necessary to plan carefully on how to carry all the equipment that the organizers and participants need to run the event.
Just as transport requires careful planning, accommodation is also vital in the event. The large number of people visiting Leysin in a short period makes it necessary to plan on how to accommodate them. The organizers have several on-site and off-site options for accommodation. For this reason, it is necessary to ensure that all participants and spectators finalize their accommodation plans before they arrive at Leysin.
Apart from the transport of people, there is also the logistical challenge of ensuring that once the masses are at the resort, they have access to supplies. What complicates this part of planning is that the event brings together people from different regions of the world. The sheer number of brands that the planners need to cater for the needs of all the people is overwhelming.
Venue Logistics
Once people arrive at the venue, they present an ongoing logistical challenge associated with crowd control. Depending on the time of the day, people tend to crowd at certain venues. For instance, the concert venue is always filled to capacity during the concert, and is always empty at any other time. This means that crowd control must follow the patterns of the movement of people.
The management of equipment at the venue is also a logistical challenge at any time. Usually, the participants come with their own snowboards based on the specifications given by the event organizers. It is common to find participants who have misplaced their boards. Similarly, it is important to ensure that all the music equipment is on site and in good condition at all times.
The final aspect of venue logistics is planning for security and emergencies. The recent bombing in Boston during the 2013 Boston marathon is a reminder that sports events are prime targets for terrorism. In this sense, the organizers must ensure that the venue remains secure. At the same time, security concerns usually emerge as soon as many people gather in one place. The police must keep an eye on the people at all times.
Conclusions
In order to handle the logistics associated with the Nescafe Champs Leysin, the following issues need to be considered. First, there is need to consider ways of reducing obstructions to the flow of people. For instance, the ticketing and verification system can run using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technologies to eliminate the need to check each ticket physically.
Secondly, planning for the transport of people to the venue would work best if there were contracts with local bus and tour companies to transport people to the venue. Thirdly, the organizers should work with a local retail chain to open a mobile supermarket within the venue. This will ensure that the planners do not worry about supplies.
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