Q1: As a Head of the Media & Broadcasting Committee – what is your special anticipation for the 24th Men’s Handball World Championship in Qatar in terms of media?
As we are getting closer to the Opening Ceremony of the 24th Men’s Handball World Championship on January 15th, the excitement is growing and thousands of people from all over the world are gathering here in Doha for a unique celebration of sport.
We are expecting Media from practically every corner of the Globe and we are taking all necessary steps to ensure that their experience will be quite memorable, always having in mind that we will provide to them top-level media services and superb hospitality, in order to make their job easier.
Q2: How huge is the global media interest in the event?
Well over a thousand journalists from all over the World and of all types (journalists, photographers, non-right and right holders) have been accredited, out of which over 200 are photographers, who will convey images, full of sporting achievements and human effort from Qatar to every corner of our Planet.
We fully acknowledge the importance the Media play in our digital era: They are the messengers who will deliver to a worldwide audience the handball action, images and feeling of the Handball Championships in Qatar and this is exactly why we have left no stone unturned in making sure that we will be providing the Media with state-of-the-art facilities.
Q3: Which facilities and working conditions can the media representatives from all over the world expect in and around the three newly-built venues?
The Media are an integral part of our planning and we are proud to offer facilities that can be considered top class in every aspect: Lusail offers to the Media facilities such as Media Tribunes, a Restaurant and a Working room, and at the same time it is the main operational hub for all Media, volunteers and staff – the Main Media Centre (MMC).
The Main Media Center is the headquarters of the Media Operations during the 24th Men’s Handball World Championship and is located at the ground floor and the mezzanine level of the Lusail Multipurpose Hall. The Media Accreditation Centre in Lusail (MAC) is located outside the MMC and includes the Guest Pass Office. Similar top-class media facilities are of course available in all venues that will host games of the 24th Men’s Handball World Championship. The Venue Media Centres in Al Sadd and in Duhail offer similar services to the MMC; and in all cases, the media working areas, the tribunes, the mixed zone area, the press conference halls, are all prepared to the highest international sport competition standards. And they will be available for the Media three hours before the beginning of the first match and two hours after the end of the last one, providing Media more than necessary time. In the meantime, Media can move from their hotels to the venues and back and from one venue to the other through the well organised transportation system we have prepared for them.
Q4: For the first time ever at a handball World Championship an organizer provides a Main Media Centre. What makes this area so valuable for all media representatives and which service will be provided?
The Main Media Centre at Lusail and the Venue Media Centres offer a wide array of services that cater for the most demanding Media representatives; We have made all efforts possible to ensure that the level of services and infrastructure is of the highest possible level, not only in comparison to previous editions of the Handball World Championships, but also in accordance with global multisport events directives, such as the Olympic or the Asian Games.
Please allow me to elaborate on what we have prepared, in order to facilitate all media in fulfilling their tasks in the most professional way:
We have established a Main Media Centre Info Desk, which is located at the entrance of the MMC, it will provide support on media service matters, general information, specific media information, lost and found, and support finding locations inside and outside the venue.
The Media Transport Help Desk, located at the Main Help Desk, provides assistance with transport related questions/issues and information concerning the shuttle timetables. The Media Work Room provides 400 working stations in 2 levels equipped with power sockets, cabled Internet connections, and printers. PCs and free WiFi are also available for media.
Pigeonholes, where specific competition results information (start lists, results, cumulative statistics, flash news etc) will be available as print outs in specific spots at the MMC and at competition venues. This information will also be available electronically on the INFO website. Lockers will be at the disposal of media in order to store all of their equipment. Locker keys can be collected from the Media Info Desk.
The Press Conference Room, located on the Ground floor of the MMC, has a capacity of 140 seats. Nikon & Canon Service Desk provides camera repair, maintenance and loan services to accredited photographers.
We have also taken into account that during the short breaks between competitions the Media will need some time to relax and enjoy some time off their hectic schedules. We have therefore arranged for a Media Lounge, located on Lusail’s second floor, which will offer catering services to the media. Complimentary coffee, tea and juices will be available throughout the day. On top of that, a Media Restaurant, located on Lusail’s second floor will be dedicated to Media.
During the actual competition, Media Tribunes offer a spectacular and unobstructed view of the venues, making sure that the Media will enjoy the best level of services possible. There are two types of media tribunes, tabled and observers’ (non-tabled) seats. There are 240-tabled seats and more than 520 observers’ (non-tabled) seats. Tabled Seats have power and LAN cables and WiFi as well as shared 17” screens showing the broadcast feed from BeIn Sport main broadcaster. Observers’ seats have complimentary WiFi.
Q5: Like at Olympic Games journalists have the opportunity to improve their work by using an Info System and a picture library. What is the intention to implement those systems?
For the first time in the history of the Handball World Championship, the News Service will provide a web-based news and information system called INFO system published in English and Arabic, to assist accredited media in covering the competitions. This is a service usually offered at multisport global events, such as the Olympic or the Asian Games and we trust that it will prove to be an essential tool for all Media.
The INFO system will contain competition results and schedules provided by a statisitcs expert company, as well as news, biographies, historical records, Team profiles and other useful background information. Hard-copy reports, such as start lists and results reports will also be distributed to pigeonholes at the MMC as well as to journalists and broadcasters in venue tribunes and in Venue Media Centres. Flash quotes, press conference highlights, previews and reviews, will also be available for media and broadcasters at competition venues and the MMC.
The purpose of the photo service is to provide media with images from the Qatar2015 event for print or online viewing purposes. The libraries for the World Championship are updated on a daily basis during each match of the game with photos from all three venues. “FIND PHOTO” feature will help media to search with keywords such as participating countries and athletes. Even though all images are watermarked and under Qatar2015 copyright, images can still be downloaded in both low and/or high resolution for editorial purposes to promote either handball or The State of Qatar as the host country, in print or online.
We provide also to our accredited Media and later to all the visitors of our official site the opportunity for a Virtual Tour in all three venues where the Championship will take place. With the help of the most recent technology, the virtual visitor gets a 360® view in all areas of each and every venue.
Apart from that, the 24th Men’s Handball World Championship is a unique opportunity to demonstrate our commitment to Qatar’s 2030 Vision and further enhance the image of our Nation to a global audience. Sport is in our hearts! We sincerely want to demonstrate to the Media not only state-of-the art venues and sporting facilities, but also the infrastructure and people who have put Qatar in the frontline of world-level Sport and the cultural heritage of our people. This is exactly why we offer to all accredited media the opportunity to follow Tours around the city of Doha, to ensure that they get a taste of Qatar, a leading global sport destination, which also offers a wide variety of cultural landmarks that make our Nation proud.
I would like to emphasize the team work at the M&B Committee, which plays a huge role in making this mega event a unique experience for media. This wouldn’t happen with the full support we have from Dr. Thani Al Kuwari Director General, Organizing Committee Qatar 2015.
Q6: How can this sport-specific content provided by Media & Broadcast promote handball on a global scale?
Sport is associated to human effort and is not just statistics, scoreboards and sporting achievements. It is much more: This is exactly what we want to demonstrate, that behind every success story, a big win or a dramatic loss of a handball game, there is the human element, all the virtues sport promote and above all highlight the fact that Sport is an integral part of Life. We, at Qatar 2015, will offer to the World Media sport news and stories that will enhance their reports and will offer an insider’s view of what will be happening during the 24th Men’s Handball Word Championship.
We have built all this time a sports communication strategy based on the human factor of handball: the heroes, the protagonists and their stories. A storytelling developed around the players, the coaches, the teams, whereas at the same time we have been feeding local and international media with the latest updates on all handball events taking place in Doha. We have been producing handball stories in the form of press releases, website uploads, newsletter content organizing our material in a geographical way, so that we provide an overall view on handball from all the 24 participating countries as per continent (Asian or African handball etc) or area of continent (Central or North Europe for instance).
Q7: TV viewers from all over the world will see those images produced from Qatar 2015. How was the cooperation with beIN sport, the host broadcaster – and how will their production ensure a successful event?
BeIn Sport has established three separate production teams that will cover all activities in the three venues that will be used during the Championships, in order to ensure that the TV coverage will be of the highest possible standards. We acknowledge the global popularity of handball and we want to make sure that all fans, no matter where they live, will have a world-class TV show unfolding right before their eyes.
beIN Sport has carefully planned to have wide distribution based on territories of Europe, Asia, Americas, Middle East, Oceania to cover more than 150 million TVs globally.
Generally, we offer rights holders open / indoor studios, commentator positions and booths, ENG positions, Flash Interview area in front of the field of play and Mixed Zone to all media, along with Stand up positions. In addition to the TV broadcasters with studios inside the arenas, including but limited to: beIN Sports Arabic, Al Kass 1, TV2 Denmark, DR DK, and SBS Sweden.