Next Stage - Venue Specific Training..

The next phase of the delivery of the games is the Venue Specific Training. Now all workforce have attended functional area (department) training, its time to move to a venue focus. Venue Specific Training we invited 1500 workforce over 4 sessions within the Bodybuilding/Weightlifting Hall at the venue.

I was the MC for all sessions, throwing in a few Arabic words to mix things up. My major challenge was the correct pronouncation of all 6 Competition Managers, Venue Managers and the Venue Commander.

• Venue Manager - Tariq Al-Saddiqi
• Deputy Manager - Andjelka Bubalo, Ian Knox
• Venue Commander - Colonel Muhammad Hassan Al Saie
• Competition Manager Bodybuilding - Ibrahim Kafoud
• Competition Manager Chess - Yousef Ahmed
• Competition Manager Soft Tennis- Khaleid Al Khulaifi
• Competition Manager Squash - Khalid Al Obaidly
• Competition Manager Tennis - Mohammed Al Saoud
• Competition Manager Weightlifing - Ibrahim Waleed Al Abdulla

As you can imagine, I had to practice these names ALOT! The introductions and protocol are very important in the Arabic world therefore I had to ensure I did this correctly to avoid any offense.

Major Abdulla Aziz and our Emergancy & Evacuation Plan..
To spice things up slightly, the World Champion from Qatar in the 85kg Bodybuilding catogory gave the audience an introduction as to what to expect of the exciting competition.