XX ANOC General Assembly

XX ANOC General Assembly
November 1, 2015

The Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) held its annual General Assembly at the Hilton in Washington DC from October 28-29 which attracted around 2000 delegates and guests. I volunteered for nine days in total before, during, and after the event. Each day was different, but before the event I spent time stuffing bags for the delegates and guests, setting up meeting rooms, making credentials, and getting a lot of paperwork ready. During the assembly itself, I was helping delegates find their seats and checking credentials. I was also able to listen to some of the presentations. After the assembly was over, I helped break down the main meeting room and sort out all 204 countries’ flags and name cards into their correct boxes and bags.

The Hilton transformed with signage like this all over the building. Everyone in the hotel knew
the event was happening. There were also signs and volunteers all over the place directing
delegates where to go as it can be a confusing hotel.

The General Assembly was very well run. ANOC and the USOC (United States Olympic Committee) worked together to pull off a successful conference. The volunteers were all assigned to different tasks, and there was always someone checking up on the volunteers to make sure they were still ok doing what they were doing and still had things to do. The USOC did not want to waste any volunteers’ time.

It was quite a process to make sure every delegate (close to 1100) had the correct
paperwork in the correct language as well as many giveaways in his
or her briefcase ready to give out, but we managed to get it done.

One challenge for an event such as this is that many delegates bring guests with them who then have nothing to do during the day long meetings. To ensure the guests also felt welcome, the USOC organized cultural visits to the monuments and local shopping malls that the guests (and delegates) could sign up for. The outings proved very popular and went a long way to make sure everyone coming to to conference felt welcomed and like they could really experience the US capital.

Delegates from 204 countries met to discuss the Olympic Movement

Overall, the event was a success and left ANOC with a positive impression of the USOC which will be helpful in future (and current!) U.S. bids to host the Olympic Games.