For our smaller events, like the Saturday Series or the evening Street Series events, one person normally handles both the organising and the planning of the event. But for our larger events, technically what are know as Level C (or Regional) and Level B (or National) events, there are two officials:
- the Planner – who plans the courses
- the Organiser – who, other than selecting the competition area, organises what else is needed to make a successful event
There is also a Controller, who normally comes from a separate club. There are separate articles about the role of the Planner and of the Controller. This article covers the Organiser and what they do.
If you have been to one of our larger events, you may very well wonder what the Organiser actually does. Because you have probably seen them wandering about at the event chatting to a few people, but not actually doing anything at all. And that is absolutely right. If they have done their job correctly, all their hard work will have been handled in advance. On the day, they hope to have nothing to do other than watch the smooth running of the event.
So what does the Organiser do for our larger events? Well, as they name implies, they organise the event. In broad terms, they are responsible for everything up to the Start, and everything after the Finish (the Planner is responsible for things in between). So what do they organise:
- Ensuring that we have permission from the landowners to orienteer over their land
- Sorting out an appropriate car park and Assembly area
- Thinking through the safety aspects of all competitors and helpers, and what mitigating action might be required
- Producing a Risk Assessment – documenting all the risks that might affect individuals at the event, and what mitigating actions are to be taken and who will do them. The Risk Assessment for the last event at that location, or another recent event, usually covers most of the key points
- Arranging for toilets to be on site
- Arranging appropriate provision of First Aid, to deal with the inevitable injuries (almost always relatively minor) that arise
- Arranging for any traders to come to the event
- Creating a web page for the event, containing pre-event details – it’s an easy job, as our webmaster has created a template that merely needs filling in
- Asking the Results Secretary to set up the event on SiEntries, our entries platform
- Drafting Final Details and posting them up on the event web page a few days before the event.
It is important that the key tasks on the day (Car Parking, Enquiries, Start, Road Crossings, Finish, Results, Control Collecting) have enough helpers available, at the right time and the right place. Just sorting this out would be a big job in itself. However, some time ago the club appointed team leaders for each of these tasks, and also split the membership between each team. All the Organiser now needs to do is contact the team leaders and ask them to mobilise their teams. The team leaders then work out who they want and when for their teams. The Organiser then just needs to check with the team leaders a week or so before the event that they have their team in place. If necessary they may need to facilitate swapping some spare helpers from one team to fill a hole in another.
A number of our newer club members have yet to be assigned to a TVOC team. A piece of work is underway to allocate those ‘orphan’ members to a team. If you are one of those, expect an email soon. And when your team leader gets in touch to ask for your help, do embrace the opportunity to join in. It is good to feel you are helping to make the event happen, and you will receive a free entry for your trouble.
One of the big risks of orienteering is a missing competitor. They might be lost, disorientated, and not sure how to find their way back to the Finish. Or they may be injured and unable to move. Either way, it is vital that we know they are missing and, once identified, to search and find them. Our SI timing chips are key to identifying missing competitors. The Start controls record who has started, and the Results software identifies who has failed to return to the Finish and downloaded.
A key task for the Organiser before the event is to think ahead how they will organise a search. In the rare event that a competitor is missing, the Organiser needs to take command of the search. It needs to be done quickly – the missing person may need urgent medical attention, there may be limited daylight, and TVOC members held back to help will want to get home as soon as possible. And the search needs to be documented so we know who is out in the forest searching. A major search is a very rare occurrence, but you need to be prepared for it. You also need to think about what action to take when concerns arise about competitors, for example when they are out for longer than expected, or fail to return by the Courses Close time; you probably will not kicj off a search at that stage but you will want to monitor and be ready to react if the competitor does not appear quickly.
Meanwhile on the day itself, and after all your pre-event preparation, you can sit back and watch as the event goes like clockwork. You will have a chance to chat to some of the participants, and to some of the TVOC members who are helping at the event. But you will also be ready to step in if any issues crop up as they day progresses. Hopefully there are none, so you can have a relaxing day.
After the event, you can write to landowners to thank them, and to team leaders and ask them to pass on your thanks to their teams. And you can look forward to a few emails of thanks from participants, whilst reflecting on a job well done.
A thought: do you ever write to thank organisers and planners of the events you go to?