Bringing Calgary’s Successes to London

By Jennifer Hilliker, Communications Coordinator, WorldSkills Calgary 2009 Ltd.

WorldSkills Calgary 2009 President and CEO Richard Walker wanted to make this event mean more than just a week in Calgary in September.

Every step of the way, WorldSkills Calgary 2009 will help the next host country, London, United Kingdom, develop their plans for 2011.

“It’s part of our legacy,” Walker said. “From the moment we put forth the bid in 2004, we knew we wanted to help make WorldSkills International a better organization, and helping the next host country is a part of that. We made available our entire sponsorship program so we could coordinate rather than compete with corporate sponsors. We also sent a complete copy of our global budget, developed by Dr. Sibylla Lane, so they knew what costs they would be in for.”

WorldSkills Calgary 2009 isn’t alone in its efforts to collaborate – WorldSkills International is also giving WorldSkills London 2011 experienced perspectives on the organizational requirements two years before their event.

“We have taken learning points from Calgary’s preparations so far with regard to the volunteer program and the visitor experience program,” said Sarah Moss, Director of Communications for WorldSkills London 2011.

To encourage the collaboration process, Walker visited with the London team last January. “It was useful to have the opportunity to meet Richard and his team. This was helpful as it gave us an opportunity to ask some detailed questions and to test some of our assumptions,” Moss said.

Moss is looking forward to learning more at the event in September, especially how to engage the public and media during the Competition. She said they will definitely take away some valuable knowledge from the positive work the Calgary team is doing to engage schools, both online and offline and through the One School, One Country Program, which pairs up an elementary school with an international team.