Registration Opens For SportAccord In Athens

Delegates, exhibitors and sponsors are beginning to sign up for the 2008 edition of SportAccord, the annual convention of the sport movement, taking place in Athens, Greece from June 2-6, 2008, at the Athens Hilton. Registration is now open online at http://www.sportaccord.com/ for the biggest yearly gathering of international federations and their commercial partners. Organisers are working to make the upcoming sixth edition of an event already well-known for networking opportunities  the most socially dynamic meeting to date.
 
SportAccord in Athens will take centre stage in the world of sport as it plays host to the announcement by the International Olympic Committee of the names of Candidate Cities bidding to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games.
 
Alongside the exhibition and networking activities, the 2008 conference programme will feature leading figures from sport and business speaking on key topics, including the future business model of sport.
 
Sir Martin Sorrell, Group CEO of advertising conglomerate WPP – who was a keynote speaker at SportAccord 2007 in Beijing – said: “SportAccord is the Davos for anybody interested in the power and business of sport.  If you are serious about sport, you can’t miss SportAccord.”

Early booking is strongly recommended. Places once again are limited and early sell-out is expected. Already, 50% of exhibition space and sponsorship packages have been sold, with further options being held on reserve. Organisers are initially restricting delegate places to three individuals per organisation in order to embrace as many organisations as possible after having to turn delegates away from the event in Beijing. An early bird rate of is available until February 1, 2008.
 
SportAccord’s ability to deliver value for its partners has been underlined yet again, as top-line sponsors have renewed their participation. IEC in Sports has signed a two-year Gold Sponsorship agreement – marking six consecutive years as a top sponsor of the event.  The Contemporary Group has also renewed its Gold Sponsorship for the fourth year running, while Schenker has confirmed as Official Logistics Partner to the 2008 event.
 
An innovation for  2008 is the launch of the SportAccord Yearbook, which will be distributed with the organisers’ compliments to all delegates shortly after the Athens event. This new publication is designed to be a useful reference tool and keepsake and will include key thoughts and conference summaries, informative city and federation ‘listings’ and more. 
 
For more information on advertising and promotional opportunities now available please contact Fiona Lunnon or Polly Hammond on +44 207890 7905 or via e-mail at fiona.lunnon@SportAccord.com or polly.hammond@SportAccord.com <http://mail.sportaccord.com/cgi-bin/compose.exe?id=010ad5b2f150a5aaae3b414aaf3e282b391&amp;new=&amp;xsl=compose.xsl&amp;to=polly.hammond@SportAccord.com> .
 
For more information, visit http://www.sportaccord.com/ SportAccord annually brings representatives from the 100 international sports federations affiliated to GAISF (General Association of International Sports Federations), ASOIF (Association of Summer Olympic International Federations) and AIOWF (Association of the International Olympic Winter Sports Federations), as well as the International Olympic Committee Executive Board, together with sponsors, bidding and host cities, architects, sports lawyers, broadcasters, games organising committees, rights holders and other specialists to discuss the key issues facing the sports industry. 

Owned by GAISF, ASOIF and AIOWF, SportAccord encompasses the annual  Congress and General Assembly of each association, while offering the sports community a powerful opportunity to come together in an exclusive and authoritative networking environment to build relationships, exchange knowledge and develop ideas.

Jay Stuart
Media & Press Relations Manager
SportAccord

Tel: +44 20 8340 5352
Mob: +44 7747 805 075
email: mailto:jay.stuart@sportaccord.com