Can you tell me about your background?
I was born in Vorarlberg in western Austria and hold a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Innsbruck University.
I gained substantial experience as a marketing and event director of large-scale international events for more than 15 years and held various top management positions in different organising committees. I am an expert in music, arts and sports consulting, with a focus on youth-oriented strategies.
In September 2009, I was appointed asCEO of the Innsbruck 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games (YOG)
What did your role involve during the Games?
As CEO I have been overseeing all functional areas to ensure the smooth delivery of the Games. My main tasks were solving problems and taking decisions. Special focuses of my work include government relations, strategic planning, marketing and sponsoring.
What are your views on the success of the Games?
The Games encouraged young people from around the world to celebrate the Olympic values of excellence, respect and friendship. The unique combination of high-level sports competitions and the Culture & Education Programme inspired young people from across the globe.
What was the concept behind the Culture & Education Programme?
Basically, we followed our motto ‘be part of it!’, which meant that we provided hands-on experiences ranging from digital-media and cooking workshops to Meet the Role Model sessions with world-famous athletes. We offered a platform for youngsters with different cultural backgrounds who spoke different languages to get to know each other through music and art, to build friendships and to spread the YOG message.
What was the facility strategy?
Innsbruck is famous for its affinity with winter sports. Before the Games we had almost all the sports venues ready and being tested regularly at the highest level. Nevertheless, we used the Games as a catalyst to upgrade some venues, such as in Seefeld where a new ski jump and a biathlon shooting range has been built. Through the Games, Kühtai was able to create Europe’s first freestyle park superpipe, a slopestyle course and a boarder-cross course. All these venues will be used for further high-level competitions and as training facilities for our grassroots sports.
How did the young athletes’ needs differ from adult athletes?
As far as the basic event organisation was concerned, there was no difference. We offered the same level of competitions, venues and organisation as at World Cup events. What was different was the atmosphere, the speakers, the music, the look – everything was a bit more colourful, louder and younger.
What was the social media/marketing strategy?
Social media was key for us in order to reach our clearly defined target group. If you want to reach kids you need to go where they are instead of waiting for them to watch the TV highlights. Facebook was part of our daily life – we ran many contests, competitions and activation programmes. We also had live tweets from all sport events, and the Innsbruck 2012 YouTube channel received more than one million views. We developed a digital ski jumping game with Samsung, a digital concierge with all necessary information on Innsbruck 2012, and a USB flash drive called the YOGGER was installed by the IOC to allow athletes and officials to share their profiles by holding their USB flash drives together.
