The Doha GOALS Forum will most likely be held in Doha next year, but the advisory board will explore several possibilities for the global sport conference, including holding it in other countries and hosting regional conferences, said Richard Attias, executive producer of the forum. A decision on the '16 Doha GOALS Forum should be announced by the end of the year, Attias said in an interview with SBD Global from the site of the '15 conference in L.A. Attias said there was a 90% chance next year's conference will be held in Doha, and will be held in November or December, but the advisory board will explore other options as well. Those options include holding the conference in another country every two years and rotating it from country to country, Attias said. "The third option, because the Doha GOALS forum is becoming so inspiring, is to decide to do the Doha GOALS forum main conference in Doha, and to have every year -- why not? -- some regional version of the Doha GOALS forum."
WORLDWIDE OPPORTUNITIES: Under that option, the regional conference could be held somewhere in the world where there is a global sporting event and the global sports community is gathered. Attias said, "It would not make sense to be very rigid and to not think out of the box. Why am I mentioning that? Because the first mission of the Doha GOALS forum is to inspire people." The conference was held this year in L.A., the first time it has been held outside Doha in its four-year history, and the number of people registered was about 800. Usually, the Doha conference has had about 1,200 attendees. "What is missing here?" Attias asked, rhetorically. "It is unfortunately far for people from Doha to fly to Los Angeles, but more importantly, the timing was not the best," Attias said. Many of the attendees of the conference are on vacation at this time of year.
A SPECIAL PARTNERSHIP: Attias is founder of Richard Attias & Associates and has advised global leaders on conferences and platforms such the New York Forum, the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, and the Clinton Global Initiative. "Based on my experience in putting together some platforms, usually you don't move from the city where you were born for at least before five or six years," Attias said. "You need five years, maybe 10 years, to build strong roots." However, a decision was made earlier this year to partner with the Special Olympics in L.A. and the conference was planned in four months' time, Attias said. Tim Shriver, chairman of the Special Olympics and a member of the Doha GOALS Forum advisory board, suggested that the conference be held in L.A. in July to coincide with the games. The partnering with the Special Olympics provided a lot of synergies, as people and athletes who attended the games were able to participate in the conference. Swimmer Michael Phelps participated in the opening ceremony for the Special Olympics on Saturday night, and then helped kick off the Doha GOALS Forum conference Sunday morning, by participating in a question and answer session.
GOOD VIBRATIONS: Special Olympics board member Maria Shriver, a journalist, former first lady of California, and Tim Shriver's sister, spoke at the conference, as well. Attias noted that L.A. is the entertainment capital of the world and home to many athletes. Other athletes who participated as speakers at the Doha GOALS Forum included Olympic Gold Medal-winning figure skater Scott Hamilton, U.S. Women's National Team World Cup champion Abby Wambach, former NBA player Jason Collins, and nine-time Olympic Gold Medal winner and track and field star Carl Lewis. Although there are challenges with holding the event in L.A., including a 16-hour travel time from Doha and a 10 hour time difference, Attias would not rule it out as a site for future conferences. "At the end of the first morning, many of the participants came to see me and said, 'Oh, fabulous! We are so happy to be here, because we are feeling the same energy and the same quality content,'" Attias said. "You are here in a city and a state where sport means a lot. So many champions, so many colleges and universities who are connected with sports. And you feel sport, you feel energy everywhere in Los Angeles."
