EUROVISION BEIJING BRIEFING. Welcome to Beijing Briefing - a regular look behind the scenes in the count down to this summer's Olympic Games.
A team of twelve people under the leadership of Oscar Teran is cabling all the EBU members' premises and the EBU master control room (MCR). The group started the cabling activities on 4 May and is expected to finalize the work around mid-July.

For this issue of the Beijing Briefing, we caught up with Sonia Sancho, EBU Operations Booking Manager who, with her team, will be responsible for what she calls "The main gate to the Games."
What is the mission?

As Manager of the EBU Booking Office before and during the Games, the mission is clear: meet and satisfy EBU members in the most professional way possible. To do this, the EBU Booking Office works in close contact with three main sources: the host broadcaster, the local Olympic Committee and Eurovision. We serve as the main coordinator and make the lives of rights holders much easier, hopefully, by being the single point of contact.
What can you tell us about the equipment that has been delivered to
Beijing so far?

Back in February, we started sending cable to Beijing. We actually sent five containers' worth of all kinds of technical equipment that we're going to need to build our facilities in the IBC. We've also arranged for direct shipments from the UK, Ireland and Germany and, just this week, now that Euro 2008 is over, we're sending out the last of the equipment from Vienna. It's an absolutely massive undertaking.

Is Eurovision working with any partners for the freight forwarding?

We are very lucky to be working with Schenker, the official freight forwarder and customs clearance supplier for these Olympic Games. They have the expertise and the knowledge to help us get everything to Beijing and, equally important, to get everything cleared through Chinese customs.

China can be a very complicated and confusing place in which to do business. We've had some equipment stopped at customs and encountered some difficult situations! With big efforts from both EBU and Schenker, everything has worked out and our equipment is exactly where it needs to be.
What words of advice can you give to EBU members and clients about the
upcoming Games?

I would say that everyone should double and even triple check booking details. Planning ahead, being organised and being careful are always important in major events; here, those qualities are absolute MUSTS. I would also say that this is a totally different culture and so we all need to be as clear and as precise as possible. Keep instructions simple, and be on top of everything.
Finally, Sonia, tell us what you think life is going to be like for you over the
next month!

I leave Madrid on 19 July and head to Beijing. At that point, we will close the EBU's Madrid office; we will all be in Beijing. Our booking office will grow from three people
to eleven during the actual Games.

Our team will work through the Games and then stay on to do the International Paralympic Games. When it's all over, I'm going to take some time off and
just recover!
VITAL STATISTICS
>7 STM 4 fibres  Two through Russia, one to Los Angeles and four trans-Pacific and trans-Atlantic to Europe. >4025 Md/s Usable bandwidth. >4 Exit points from China: Guangzhou, Shanghai, Qingdao, Manzouli. >6 Submarine cables trans-Pacific. >15 Uplinks. >504 Mhz satellite capability.
Eurovision, L'Ancienne Route 17a, CH-1218 Grand-Saconnex, Geneva, Switzerland.
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