What to do and what not to do in China
The World Games family is already heavily focused on the next Games in Chengdu. This year’s IWGA Media Workshop focused on effective public relations for the 12th edition of The World Games (TWG), which will take place from August 7-17, 2025. Approximately 60 media representatives from IWGA member federations attended a two-day meeting at the IOC Headquarters in Lausanne; around 20 of them took the opportunity to follow the workshop online. The workshop was organized by Anna Jacobson, IWGA Communications Director.
During the exchange, the focus was not only on developing a strategy to attract the world’s attention to the competition in the capital of Sichuan province. The next challenge will be to promote and publicize The World Games sport throughout China.
IWGA Director General Joachim Gossow welcomed the attendees and put them in the mood for a packed two-day programme. Gossow reiterated the growing importance of social media and the opportunity for athletes to engage more in communication. IWGA Vice-President Max Bishop spoke to workshop participants on behalf of IWGA President José Perurena. Christian Klaue of the IOC’s Department of Corporate Communications and Public Affairs welcomed the media experts “into his home” and gave support to the Olympic family.
Patrick Medley-Browne, the IOC’s social media localization manager, spoke about the experience of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. He also provided examples of how engaging athletes and fans through social media can be successful. As examples of best practice, Chris Wells from World Archery and Valentin Weber from the International Fistball Association shared how their federations communicate their messages to fans effectively and efficiently.
Julian Gornall-Thode, general manager of Shankai’s Lausanne office, outlined how social networking in China works and the rules of the game when foreigners seek proximity to the audience in the TWG 2025 host country. and what not to do for successful communication.
Ursula Romero and David Taunton from main broadcaster IWGA ISB in Madrid gave the first glimpse of what the new platform could look like, bringing signals from the Games in less than 900 days to sports fans on the show as simply and easily as possible.
Two discussion rounds, where participants could exchange ideas in smaller groups, sought to answer two questions: What are your new ideas on how to attract different target groups to the Games and what support do you expect from the IWGA for promoting the multi-sport event in China.
The opinion about the workshops was very positive. Valentin Weber expressed it on behalf of all participants: “The presentations and discussions were very informative and factual. But almost more important for us was that we could exchange ideas and compare experiences with media representatives from other federations.”
World games is a multi-sport event organized every four years by the International World Games Association, organized with the support of the International Olympic Committee. The 2022 World Games took place in Birmingham, Alabama, USA from July 7-17, 2022. 3,600 athletes from 34 sports and 100 countries participated in the Games. The 12th edition of The World Games will be held in Chengdu, CHN in 2025.
