Olymphusion 2012

Happy 2 years anniversary to the Olymphusion Sportsman dinner-event that was held at Murrayfield Stadium on the 29th March 2014! I was one of the three co-founders of Olymphusion, which grew after Christmas to a team of 7. I wrote a blog on Olymphusion being nominated for a Scottish Event Award. We are the first Queen Margaret University events team to be nominated in the student category for an award.

The 7 career driven Events Management students raised a staggering amount of £2,300 for the charity Scottish sports Aid! Our aim was to ignite the London Olympics and bring the spirit to Scotland! According to the BBC News The Olympics brought £9.9bn to the British economy.
After thorough research myself, Craig Wilson and Kirsty Haxton concluded Scotland was isolated from the hype of the London 2012 Olympics games. This is where our idea came from so we conducted a video proposal Olymphusion Youtube, which Olymphusion was successful to be put forward!! In between trying to produce an event, conduct a 4000 word event manual, submissions from 4 other submissions AND part time employment we were successful to have 150 attendees at this sportsman dinner

PreEvent
Olymphusion was part of a number of fundraisers to help raise money towards the event! This was also our marketing strategy as we can publicise our event at the same time. The team and I tried our best to cut costs and think outside the box. We did a number of bake sales within Queen Margaret University. I had the idea of making little mixture sweetie bags which the students and lecturers loved and we made a 50% profit! As a marketing tool, presentation is key! This is why the Olymphusion team ensured the table was approachable, presented well by making sure it was clean and hygienic and ensured the audience were interested by our beautiful, eye catching stand. One thing we did out the box was we bought 5 luxurious cupcakes from Bibis bakery. Customers rolled two dices 50p a shot. And if they’re dice equaled to 6 then they win the cupcake. The university members loved this aspect of the table. It was fun and really got everyone to engage.
As two of the team members Amy and Tamara were in the Queen Margaret University cheerleaders and Katherine was part of the sports society in hockey, we had a karaoke fundraiser at Supercube Edinburgh. During this fun fundraiser we also done a mini raffle.
Me, Craig and Rory (Kirstie Fordyce’s partner) did a sponsored ariel assault course at The Edinburgh International climbing Arena. Friends and family sponsored us to complete this course. This was a huge deal for me as at the time I was not very athletic. This was such a fun experience! I am so glad I completed the course as I overcame my fear.

During the event
Olymphusion hosted a Sportsman’s Dinner on Thursday 29th March 2012 at Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh.

The £40pp ticket included a drinks reception, three course meal, video and guest presentations from ex sporting associates, a presentation from the charity, a raffle and auction!

Speakers
The event was hosted by Doddie Weir, the ex Scottish Rugby Captain and British Lions player. During the event we had guest speakers Shirley Addison – an Olympian and Commonwealth Athlete, Michael McCreadie – Five time Paralympian for Team GB and Pauline Stott – a two time Olympian for Team GB Hockey Team.

Venue
Murrayfield Stadium was the perfect location for such a grand event!

Joe Goldblatt

Situated in the heart of Scotland’s historic capital city, Murrayfield is the iconic home of Scottish Rugby boasting facilities that offer the conference and event organiser one of the largest and most individual venues in Scotland.

With the winning combination of flexible conference facilities, the city’s largest banqueting capacity’s, vast exclusive outdoor areas and the possibility of holding all or part of your event within the main pitch, you can leave your guests with a memory and a message they will never forget.

Photography
We ensured that guests entered the venue pitch side. This ensured clients got a photo in the stadium surroundings. This was a great amenity for our attendees.

Raffle
We had a total of 20 raffle prizes and a number of auction prizes which include; match ball signed by the Scottish Rugby squad from the RBS 6 Nations 2012 Scotland V Ireland fixture, Official The London Olympics 2012 Games T-shirt signed by guest speakers and Rangers FC football signed by Rangers Legends.

Design
The official poster and programme was designed by my sister Husna Uddin. The centre pieces were created by Tamara and I. We wanted something unique and that would stand out. We had Olympic themed props and ensured our volunteer were wearing a T-shirt that had the Olymphusion logo written on the back. As previously mentioned we ensured post and pre-event we thought outside the box.

Feedback

This was such a great event! We had feedback from an event attendee that stated:

We forgot it was a student run event! They acted in a professional manner and the overall event ran so smoothly!

Kirstie Fordyce (Olymphusion)

Olymphusion was an amazing experience! From the organisation and planning stage to the actual night, I enjoyed every moment … even when we were all extremely stressed and tired. I will never forget the moment when everyone was seated and the music began to begin our evening… one the of my proudest moments. The feedback from all of the attendees was amazing and made all our months of hard work worth it. Best of all was the Olymphusion team, everyone had their own strengths and talents and the way we came together as a team is what made the Olymphusion dinner the massive success that it was.

The team received a Grade A for this successful event! This is a short statement from my evaluation report;

Olymphusion was my personal trophy event that I can take away from. As an original team member I have seen this project grow from a little idea to a successful unique evening. The process was at times draining but this was worth the time and hard work. The team really pulled together during the event stage and I am greatly proud of the outcome and could not ask for it to be any other way, it was a great accomplishment.
As Bowdin et al. (2006) defines a great project manager is someone that can take responsibility and work as a team.

Olymphusion Channels

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Olymphusion/260963780621283

http://olymphusion.weebly.com/