Olympic Technology and FEMA

I still enjoy the Olympics but it no longer holds the magic it once did, now that I understand the business of the games. I am still very fascinated by the logistics and technology used to pull off such on massive international event.

There are certainly technicians at NBC who deserve gold medals for their performance. I spent three years working with folks at ABC and watched them move small cities from the Indy 500 Brickyard to Monday Night Football stadiums to the Kentucky’s Churchill Downs and back again. If FEMA needs people who know how to handle disasters they need to look to the media networks. Think about it, who were first on the scene after Katrina hit?

One change at this years Olympics was the name change for traditional sponsor IBM. Lenovo is hoping to use to the event to increase brand recognition now that they own IBM PC group. Another little known heavy weight running the games is Altos Origin. Other top partners include Coca-Cola, GE, Kodak, Manulife, McDonalds, Omega, Panasonic, Samsung and Visa. According to the IOC’s “Celebrate Humanity Sponsor Recognition Page” …

 “Not only to these companies understand the importance of the Olympic Movement, but they have provided food, shelter, training facilities and more to the world’s athletes”

Perhaps when the games are over we could get some sponsorships for New Orleans and those forgotten in Mississippi.  FEMA trailers still sit empty while Americans refugee are being evicted from crowded hotels. Once proud neighborhoods have remained untouched for the last six months. At some locations the only growth is in E. coli.  These are not non-motivated welfare cases living it up in hotels. There are no jobs in towns still without stores, restaurants, electricity or sanitary services. It’s time to bring back the media and get things done.