FISU WUC Seminar: Round-up

BRUSSELS – The World University Championships Seminar took place over the past Friday and Saturday inBrussels (Belgium). Organized every two years, the seminar seeks to aid in the preparation of the WUC events that will take place during the running year. This edition received 22 local organising committees with delegates travelling from different countries around the world.

At the same time, the WUC Seminar was used as a working session for the FISU Technical Chairs of the sports on the WUC program. The new members of this commission were at the same time welcomed and had their first contact with their colleagues and the organising committees of the respective sport event.

The two-day Seminar was setup focusing on providing all attendants an overview of the fields specifically related to the organisation and management of a FISU World University Championship. The 78 delegates present had the opportunity to hear a wide variety of topics, from a general presentation of FISU to the specificities of protocol and communication atFISUevents, from the administrative processes and cooperation to the roles of various delegates nominated to the events, amongst many other interesting and in-depth presentations.

This was also the case of three examples related to LOC’s that organised WUC’s in 2010 – a practical case of general organisation was presented from the Savate WUC in Nantes (France), the work done on brand image and communication from the Rugby 7 WUC in Porto (Portugal) and the involvement with the local authorities in the Golf WUC in Antequera (Spain).

Part of the seminar broke out into two divided sessions – with the Technical Chairs in one room attending presentations more specifically related to their work roles, such as regarding the WUC specificity, working relations with the ISF delegate, and others. The Organising Committees were presented the missions of the CTI, CIC and CMI delegates. Some presentations were common to both groups given their importance in the organisation and management of a WUC, such as the presentation on websites and social media or the CISCA mission.

Leonz Eder, CTI Chair for the World University Championships during the afternoon session with the WUC Organizing Committees

A roundtable session was also setup, allowing for each attending Organising Committee to meet the CT Chair of the respective sport. This was a form of establishing close and direct contact between the parties involved in the preparation of the event. Given the time still remaining to the manifestation, these meetings prove to be of invaluable importance. The representatives of the Medical Committee, International Control Committee and Technical Committee were also at hand to provide their experience and knowledge to the OC’s present.

Overall, the seminar had a very positive environment and all speakers were well received in the presentations delivered. The FISU CTI Chair WUC and Vice-President Leonz Eder considered the seminar to be a success, as it is always very important to have all the stakeholders at the same table – CT chairs, representatives from OC’s of and other FISU committee representatives and guests.

With this step concluded, we now look forward the work ahead and wish all OC’s the very best of luck for their event.

(Source: WUC Dept.)