By Cybele Negris

I will be doing a series of posts about the Vancouver Small Business community and how companies and their owners are taking advantage of the Olympics as billions around the world cast their eyes onto Vancouver.

Last week, I went to pick up five-year service awards which I had ordered for two of my employees. I have used Eclipse Awards (they specialize in personalized crystal awards, sustainable awards, wall plaques and gifts) for many years because they are local, they produce a great product, have very quick turnaround times, great service and they are socially conscious. Their CEO Toby Barazzuol has a company wide environmental action plan and is also Chair of the Strathcona BIA Sustainability Committee.

With my interest to see how local businesses are leveraging off the Olympics, I asked Toby to answer some questions about how the Olympics is affecting his business.

1. What has Eclipse Awards done to prepare for the Olympics? Did you change staff work hours to allow for them to attend events or to avoid traffic?

Most Eclipse Awards clients are located outside of Vancouver, so our business won’t change that much.  We’re located in Strathcona as well, so there aren’t many road or travel restrictions.   Of course I definitely plan on closing the office and taking the staff out a few times while the games are here – can’t forget about having fun!

2. Are you seeing any additional business as a result of the Olympics? 

Though we bid on a few projects in the lead up to the Olympics, none of them really worked out for us, so we took a wait and see approach to see if anything new would emerge closer to the games.  Recently though, we’ve done a few awards projects, using our newly designed green awards for VANOC’s Sustainability Champion Awards, and our LEED plaques for green buildings, including the Richmond Olympic Oval.

3. In your opinion, will VANOC live up to the goal of the “greenest games ever”?

Though there is still room for huge improvements, I think that VANOC has done a great job of raising the bar on sustainability.  No doubt these will be the greenest games ever, and hopefully, there will be even greener games in the future.  I think VANOC’s greenest legacy will be instilling a deep sense of Canadian pride around sustainability, while also branding Vancouver as a green leader in the world’s eyes.

4. As a small business in BC, what do you think the Olympics will do for Vancouver’s business community?

It will definitely have a mixed effect.  I don’t know many small businesses that have direct contracts with VANOC, however I’m sure that there are many that will benefit from the influx of people and attention being focused on Vancouver during the Olympics.  There will also be some that suffer because of disrupted traffic patterns or poor attitudes.  Overall though, I think it’s a unique event in our city’s history and I hope that the shared experience will make our small businesses more stronger, knowing we can compete with the best in the world.

5. Are you attending any of the networking or sporting events?

I don’t have tickets to any sporting events, but I’m planning on spending time with friends and checking out as much as possible.  I’m really just looking forward to walking around the city and feeling the amazing energy in our streets – there’s something special when this many people get together in celebration!

Toby was kind enough to show me around his production facility and I was excited to see the green roof that I have heard so much about.  They built it using refurbished deck materials and recycled materials throughout. From their roof, you can see the large cruise ship being used as accommodations during the Olympics. Check out some of the photos and the view from the green roof.

More info about Eclipse Awards: EclipseAwards.tel

Related Posts:

Preparing your Business Before the Olympics  by Cybele Negris
 Gold Medal Brands: Jones Soda - Love, Loss & the Art of the Brand by Rich Patterson

Cybele Negris is Co-Founder of Webnames.ca, Canada's Original Domain Registrar. She is on the Boards of the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs, Small Business BC, Government of BC Small Business Roundtable and the Vancouver Economic Development Commission. More information is available at cybele.tel or webnames.tel. Follow on Twitter @cybelenegris and @webnames

For those in the restaurant, hotel and retail sectors, the next 25 days are surely exciting and nerve wracking.  Hundreds of thousands of guests will descend on Vancouver, Squamish and Whistler and everyone will be spending money.  How will you serve them?  What will you do to standout?  What if it's too busy and you can't handle the rush?

In 2002 I was so fortunate to help manage a Roots store in Park City Utah during the Olympics.  This retail location (1 of 5 in the area) was small, under 1500 square feet, but due to a smash hit product; we had lineups of about 500 people waiting to get into the store from 10am daily until close at midnight.  The store was processing over 5000 shoppers each day, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in receipts, which lasted for more than two weeks!  How did we manage all those shoppers and what did we do to make the Olympic spirit come alive?

1. We made it Fun!  Since 300 to 500 people were standing outside at any given time, in the cold, we decided to make it enjoyable. Using a bullhorn we told jokes, sang songs, and handed out hot chocolate.  I would page lost shopper "Hugh Jass" or announce that the Official Olympic Thong underwear had sold out.  Sure it's sophomoric and off-color, but people loved it.
2. We Celebrated being Canadian.  Since the store was sort of a beacon for Canadianness we embraced it.  We taught Americans how to speak Canadian:
add eh to the end of your sentence, how to pronounce toque, what a toboggan is.  Again, you may think that's sophomoric and stereotypical, but visitors told us repeatedly that our store was a highlight of their Olympic experience.
3. Put Athletes First. If an athlete visited we went out of our way to let them know how much we admired their competition at the games.  We invited them into our store, gave out gifts and made a fuss over their families.  I heard at other venues athletes were shutout and/or families were given a hard time. Why?  Isn't the whole point of the games ultimately for the athletes?
4. Innovate, Innovate, Innovate.  Our smash hot product was a hat. We were selling tens of thousands of units daily. There was a no-fly zone around Salt Lake for private aircraft, so we hired a Learjet and packed it full of Garbage Bags filled with hats (you can't put boxes on a Learjet, the small fuselage limits capacity, but you can stuff it full of bags). We landed the Learjet 2 hours north of Salt Lake in Ogden Utah and trucked the bags of hats in after midnight. It worked very well.
5. Acknowledge screw ups, apologize and move on.  If something goes wrong, and it usually will when you're trying to host a world class event with hundreds of thousands of guests, then just apologize and move on.
People are amazingly forgiving but hate to be ignored.

That's it. Have a terrific Olympic Games and remember to have fun.

- by Rich Patterson @pattersonbrands