Wiz-Team helps City of Paris spread the Olympic spirit across the French capital
The Olympic Games are just around the corner and celebrations are already underway in the City of Lights. As Host, Paris is bringing the Olympics and Paralympics to life beyond the confines of Games venues through a series of events across 26 sites in each district and providing a centre for non-accredited media. Wiz-Team, as technical supplier for the City of Paris, is helping them fulfil this promise of a summer of festivities.
With the French capital set to take centre stage, the City authorities are keen to ensure that locals and visitors alike can soak up the Olympic spirit beyond the stadiums, courts or pool. Be it fan zones and leisure sites or administrative centres and dedicated Ville de Paris Media Center and its own Paris Operating Center, we catch-up with our colleagues Veronica Cino and Anne-Sophie Kupferschmied to shed some light (no pun intended) on delivering software and support for the City’s hospitality offerings on the fringe of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Catering to non-ticket holders and media at Games time
As Wiz-Team’s Senior Delivery Manager Veronica explains: “The City of Paris wants to leverage this unique opportunity as host to the Olympic and Paralympic Games and create venues for non-ticket holders, local Parisians and visitors, to enjoy the spirit and festivities of the Games beyond the official venues.”
To this end, the City of Paris has set up a host of ‘fan zones’ and festive sites in all but one Parisian district (arrondissement) to broadcast the competitions, celebrate the winners and propose fun sporting and cultural activities. Open to the public and free of charge, these venues are available throughout the duration of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Additionally, nestled in the heart of the Capital close to the Paris City Hall (Hôtel de Ville), the City’s Media Centre is serving as a hub for accredited and non-accredited media professionals during the Games with access to workstations, catering services, resources and all they need to cover the host city.
However, for the public, media, volunteers, public administration employees and suppliers to enter the City’s various hospitality sites, registration, accreditations and access control are required. That’s where Wiz-Team comes in, ensuring smooth and safe operations.
Working behind-the-scenes and the screens
As technical supplier, Wiz-Team is providing the City of Paris with its all-in-one event management solution Event-Works and its companion app EW Gate Pro for managing registrations, accreditations, access control, sessions and reporting across its venues.
More specifically, Event-Works is being used for reporting and uniform distribution management while EW Gate Pro (running on Android devices and operating within Event-Works) is used to scan accreditations and control access to venues as well as support with meal allowances by confirming which accredited individuals are entitled to a free meal.
“We are providing the event management platform activated with several of our applications such as access control, and customised configuration based on the City’s requirements and needs,” explains Veronica. “For instance, for the accreditation badge layout configuration, we have five different layouts created for the City of Paris, and two of which have been created on the spot in the past few days as new operational requirements arose.”
Despite there being requirements specific to each group of population, Wiz-Team’s solution allows – from media to volunteers, public administration employees to suppliers – to register through the same system. From a back-end perspective, the platform is connected to other services, such as local authorities who can run background checks and vet request. Through the power of configuration, Wiz-Team can also customise the different workflows according to the specific requirements of the City of Paris or of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games Organising Committee.
Leveraging real-time data to manage venue access
EW Gate Pro also provides a great way to track and monitor site usage and capacities. For example, the catering unit of the City of Paris could choose to monitor in real-time how many people have accessed a specific canteen. This then allows them to order additional meals if the number of attendees is higher than expected or redirect groups to a different, less crowded canteen.
Another example concerns access control of the “Terrasse de Jeux” – a large square in front of the Paris City – where the EW Gate Pro app is being used. The organisers can authorise or block access for accredited individuals (staff, artists, guests, etc.) based on two criteria: 1) the programme (e.g., an artist accredited to perform on a specific day can only access the venue on those designated days), and 2) capacity (e.g., if the area reaches peak capacity, the access gate can be electronically closed to prevent further entry until there is space available).
While Wiz-Team is not responsible for the operational roll-out, the team is on-hand to help its client understand how to use its system and troubleshoot. Veronica and Anne-Sophie have already shifted into event mode and have been on-site since early July.
“We are in Paris working from the City’s accreditation centre to help with system support and printing and delivery of accreditations as our primary focus,” outlines Wiz-Team Delivery Manager Anne-Sophie. “We are also trying to do some capacity-building to empower our counterparts as much as possible to manage our software and solutions autonomously as once the Games begin, we will leave Paris and provide remote support.”
Servicing the institutional sector
Over the years, Wiz-Team has accumulated a vast experience in delivering cutting-edge technology and support services to the world’s greatest events across different sectors – from sport to government, hospitality, and entertainment. This summer in Paris, Wiz-Team will support stakeholders from all these different sectors who are involved with the Olympic and Paralympic Games in one way or the other. However, the stakes when working with public and governmental authorities are different to those of sporting institutions or corporate organisations as Veronica can attest to.
“When working with a public institution, there are different ramifications and constraints imposed on them by other layers of public administration or government”, discloses the experienced international events manager. “You have to not only factor in these other parameters or stakeholders which can pose limits in what can be done and how it can be done but also support the clients by providing hassle-free and efficient solutions to help them cope with these limitations and comply with parameters that are sometimes beyond their control.”
Never one to shy away from a challenge, Wiz-Team sees such a partnership as an opportunity to get creative and put to good use its flexibility and extensive experience in event management and delivery to find ‘out-of-the-box’ solutions. “It spurs creativity, for sure”, concludes Veronica.
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