The Hosts and Federations Summit will return to the Olympic Museum in Lausanne (Switzerland) from June 17 to 20 in what is already its seventh edition. As on previous – and successful – occasions, the aim of these days is to create an environment that fosters the relationship between sports rights holders and the cities that host them. As if that were not enough, this event is also joined by the best possible suppliers to help offer and improve each event. There will be thousands of handshakes that will translate into the viability and strengthening of hundreds of sports projects around the world.
Organized by the prestigious Major Events International, these three days of meetings, networking and development of new opportunities will include the participation of speakers from the entire field of major sporting events who will share their knowledge of the issues and challenges facing the sector: from attracting new audiences or increasing the presence of women in sport to the latest technologies in sport, image rights or specific developments in a federation. In 2023, for example, Christophe Dubi, Executive Director of the Olympic Games (repeating this year), Damiano Zamana, Deputy Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer of the FIM, or Philipe Tuccelli, Director of Rugby Europe Competitions, were on hand.
To accommodate the line-up of speakers there are three streams of content throughout the Summit to cover the most important topics and issues for the industry. This year there will be presentations from, among many others, Omar El Zayat, Head of Innovation Integration of Paris 2024; Matthew Clarke, Chief Operating Officer of Saudi Arabia; Sébastien Griesmar, Director of the Fondation Lausanne Olympic Capital; Petros Mavromichalis, Ambassador of the European Union; Olivier Pascal, Event Development Director of World Skate; Benjamin Gauthier, Commercial Director of the FIBA Basketball Champions League; Marie Sallois, IOC Director of Corporate and Sustainable Development; Matt Roberts, Vice President of Business Intelligence at Formula E; Emma Sykes, Head of Women’s Football Development at UEFA; Kelly Fairweather, CEO of the International Tennis Federation; and Anita Hartung, Sports Manager for basketball at the FISU World Championships Rhine-Ruhr 2025.
PRODUCTIVE ‘ONE-TO-ONE’ MEETINGS
In addition to these presentations, the current edition will once again provide interesting and productive ‘one-to-one’ meetings for all VIP and high-level delegates. In these meetings, the organization helps to connect international federations, cities and expert venue suppliers through these one-to-one meetings. Last year, these meetings proved to be a great success and led to the conclusion of numerous deals favorable to the sports industry.
In addition, the privileged environment offered by Lausanne not only favors an unparalleled sporting atmosphere, but also makes it possible, for example, for the first informal meetings to take place in the offices of ANOCs, which in this case will act as host together with World Athletics. A luxury that will be combined with possible visits such as the Olympic Museum or an excursion to Evian.
In short, the Hosts and Federations Summit in Lausanne is the place to be for those interested and involved in developing a sporting event anywhere in the world, because there they will connect with other protagonists who will be of great help in carrying out any project successfully.