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Maximizing Business Success

The 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games offer the opportunity for lasting economic benefits.

The Whistler Chamber of Commerce has assumed a leadership role to ensure Whistler businesses leverage the Games opportunities. The Chamber's mandate is threefold: to maximize business opportunities pre, during and post Games; to ensure that Whistler businesses are strategic and not opportunistic in their approach to the Games; and to prepare businesses for operational opportunities and challenges during the Games.

“It’s not about the 27 days –
it’s about the years following the Games.”

— Joey Gibbons, Gibbons Hospitality

The Chamber is providing strategic and operational support, information and education, as well as business connections through 2010 business events, member directories and databases, the Whistler Spirit Program, and the Commercial Space Matching Program.

Many Whistler companies will capitalize on the opportunities provided by the Games. Some are now retailers for VANOC merchandise. Others will provide services to visitors during the Games. Others may rent space to organizations associated with the Games. Others have been involved in multimillion-dollar venue construction projects.

Whistler Excavations
Whistler Excavations has been involved in many Games-related construction projects in the Sea to Sky Corridor. Their fleet of excavation equipment has played a major role in the upgrades to the alpine venue on Whistler Mountain and construction of the Whistler Athletes Village. Construction superintendent Cam Fellows will tell you that the 2010 Winter Games have opened a new world of opportunities for Whistler Excavations.

Doug Bush Survey Services
The Whistler Sliding Centre has a 1,450-metre track, constructed of six-inch concrete with a required precision of within three millimetres. Coming up with precise calculations was a challenge that Doug Bush Survey Services revelled in. The company was given the task of completing survey work for the entire Whistler Sliding Centre project from site layout to intricate curves of the track. Stu Pinkney, project manager, says everyone is proud of their involvement
in the three-year project.

Westin Whistler Resort and Spa
The Westin Whistler has been host hotel to several Games-oriented initiatives and events. In 2008, VANOC held a sponsorship conference at the hotel for several hundred delegates. During the Games, the hotel will host members of the “Olympic family.”

Key Deliverables

2010 Business Opportunities Resource
Sport Events Opportunities Plan
Brand Protection Workshops
2010 Business Opportunities Workshops
Merchandising Information Sessions
Business Mediation Support
Commercial Space Matching Program
Business Readiness Guide
Whistler Spirit Program – Games Awareness
Store Front “Games” Theme Program

GAMES AMPLIFY OPPORTUNITIES FOR ROCKY MOUNTAIN PRODUCTION SERVICES

July 2, 2003, and thousands of people are crowded into Whistler Village Square. All eyes are turned toward a giant screen. The crowd falls quiet as the audio equipment blasts out the words, “The 21st Olympic Winter Games in 2010 are awarded to the City of... Vancouver!”

You could say the 2010 Winter Games has bolstered the success of Whistler's Rocky Mountain Production Services from day one – as it was their team that brought that bid announcement to life in Village Square with their audio and visual talents. And from that day forward, Rocky Mountain has been keeping busy providing support to events ranging from the Paralympic Games emblem launch to the 2008 Cultural Olympiad to sport events on the host mountains.

If you ask general manager Scott McPhee, he'll tell you that the quality and profile of these Olympic-related events has resulted in benefits for the Whistler business community. More companies are booking their corporate events in the resort – and they're returning more than once, with bigger budgets and more guests.

Sporting and arts events in Whistler are rising to the quality of the Games, and that's boosting Whistler's reputation as a world-class host community and destination.

While McPhee is the first one to credit his staff for growing and rising to each new challenge, he also acknowledges the great relationships developed among VANOC, the municipality and the Whistler business community and sees more of the same leading up to the Games.