SVG Sit-Down: RWS Global's Kim Henshaw, Scott Horton Reflect on the In-Venue Experience of the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics in Paris More than 700 staffers drive in-stadium productions of 54 sports in 37 venues By Kristian Hern ndez, Senior Editor
Wednesday, November 13, 2024 - 12:29 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
Since the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, RWS Global - a production and entertainment company at the center of international sporting events, live performances, and more - has been responsible for the in-venue activations and overall fan experience in the host nation. With the eyes of the world set on the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics in Paris, their onsite team of 450 French staffers as well as support from afar helped create a magical environment for spectators of all 54 sports within 37 venues across the City of Light and France this past summer.
This included generating over 7,000 hours of in-venue content created, curating and programming more than 2,000 music tracks, arranging more than 40 new and original compositions to compile the Symphony of Sport' project, hosting 878 victory ceremonies that distributed over 4,700 medals, delivering 12,415 headshots graphics of athletes, and leveraging the power of their PV4 integrated software system with 70 operators, sports producers, content programmers and global support staff.
SVG sat down with RWS Global's EVP, Sports Business Operations, Kim Henshaw, and RWS Global Sports' EVP Scott Horton to discuss the process of planning and executing the in-venue portion of Paris 2024, how the in-stadium entertainment of this competition compares to the other global sports tournaments that they're involved in, and how technology has evolved since their first Olympic Games.
More than 700 staffers drive in-stadium productions of 54 sports in 37 venues.
What were your responsibilities in Paris and how does the multi-sport nature of these Games make your job different?
Horton: We were responsible for a huge footprint and a massive team that we needed to build across the Olympics and Paralympics. We work very closely with the organizing committee to ensure that the number of venues had consistency with our delivery and would allow fans to know that they were at the Olympics no matter what stadium or arena they were in. This included our branding, messaging, music, flavor, and experience was of high quality and synced together but most importantly, we wanted the spectators to have fun. We needed our presentation to be neutral, but also have fans understand what's going on if it was their first time watching a particular sport.
Henshaw: There's a big differentiator between productions for a franchise and producing for an Olympic Games. When you go to a specific team's stadium, their fans understand the rules of the game, know how gameday works, and are ready to be entertained. For a major multi-sports competition like the Olympics, these games are in a one-off location with new and different variables. Fans want to be a part of this global celebration but may not know the intricacies of a sport like fencing. Our job is to find that balance between entertainment and fan engagement while also educating these new fans in a way that's easy to digest.
Can you take us back to the pre-planning phase and what it's like working with the International Olympic Committee (IOC)?
Horton: We had a very short lead in, which made it difficult, but we luckily have the team and experience to get going right when we signed the contract. We embedded our producers and project managers at the LOC (Local Organizing Committee) and worked with their presentation department. We have what we call cluster managers, split them up amongst their dedicated sports, talk through the protocol of each event, and build our show around those parameters. In line with the Creative Strategy of the LOC, we intertwined these creative elements into each of the individual sports. . With a bunch of Functional areas within the organizing committee, we had to integrate [our staff] into venue management, broadcast, logistics, marketing, brand management, and other departments as well. For example, the area for 3 3 Basketball at La Concorde needed to transition into Breaking. We needed to prepare our technology and plan with both sports in advance to schedule rehearsal time and do the appropriate tech checks. It's a very big program with a lot of things to juggle.
How did the team adapt to last minute changes in Paris?
Henshaw: One of the things that RWS Global Sports is an expert at is mobilizing teams into foreign environments and creating an entire show on the run. We have our own content creating teams that are producing all of the graphics that go on the numerous LED displays in each stadium. With venues having their own challenges and specific deliverables, being flexible and adaptable is a specialty of ours. From the IOC and broadcast teams to every international federation wanting their athletes to be presented in the best way possible, there are so many stakeholders at an Olympic Games. You also have to add in difficult working situations that may come up like ordinary day-to-day challenges and getting production teams to and from different venues when transport isn't running properly. Those were operational challenges, but we were also tasked with executing a synchronized light show for the 100-meter final. This was decided less than a week away from the race, so we had to program the show on the fly, get thousands of light-up wristbands delivered to the stadium, and distribute them to the spectators as they entered into the stadium.
How were productions at venues with multiple events, like various games of Rugby Sevens or simultaneous Track & Field events at Stade de France, stitched together to create
Most recent headlines
16/12/2025
Hawkins has landed on Spotify, just in time for Stranger Things Season 5, Volume...
16/12/2025
Wherever you are, your favorite music and audio content should go seamlessly with you. That's why Spotify has partnered with NAVER Corp, Korea's leading...
16/12/2025
2025 Wrapped arrived bigger and bolder than ever. This year's experience is designed to be ultra personal and shareable, with new features like Wrapped Part...
16/12/2025
Three 12-kilowatt Advanced Electric Propulsion System thrusters, supplied by L3Harris Technologies, form the core of Gateway's propulsion system. Pictured i...
16/12/2025
The challenge facing America's defense industrial base is not just about speed - its about rebuilding the foundation that makes speed possible. Our nations ...
16/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
16/12/2025
SEVILLE, Spain Canal Sur, the public broadcasting service for Andalusia, Spain, has completed a total technology refresh based on Pebble's resilient, softwa...
16/12/2025
NEW YORK Teleprompting hardware provider Telescript International has acquired all software code and intellectual property previously owned by Telescript West. ...
16/12/2025
As cable operators face increased competition from 5G fixed wireless access providers, a new report from Ookla Research finds that T-Mobile is the FWA speed lea...
16/12/2025
Apple has announced a major upgrade to the Apple TV app for device owners outside the Apple ecosystem with news that the Apple TV app for Android now supports G...
16/12/2025
Space42 grows Direct-to-Device partner ecosystem through a Memorandum of Underst...
16/12/2025
16 Dec 2025
VEON Announces Release Date for Full Year and Fourth Quarter 2025 R...
16/12/2025
16 Dec 2025
VEON's Kyivstar Invests in Renewable Energy in Ukraine with Acq...
16/12/2025
Back to All News
Emma Appleton, Fares Fares, Frida Gustavsson and Jakob Oftebro...
16/12/2025
Back to All News
Docu-reality My Korean Boyfriend Gets a Trailer and Premiere D...
16/12/2025
Harmonic's XOS Advanced Media Processor Improves Streaming Video Quality and Boosts Viewer Engagement SAN JOSE, Calif. - Dec. 16, 2025 - Harmonic (NASDAQ: ...
16/12/2025
RT Sport Awards 2025 live on RT One and RT Player at 8:05pm on Saturday 20 December.
On Saturday 20 December live on RT One and RT Player at the earlier t...
16/12/2025
Singer -songwriter Brian Kennedy has been announced as the final celebrity dance...
15/12/2025
Harlem Globetrotters Celebrate 100th Anniversary With New Brand Campaign From Th...
15/12/2025
Top L-R: La Tierra Del Valor (The Home of the Brave), Mangittatuarjuk (The Gnawe...
15/12/2025
L3Harris will leverage 15 years of experience supporting the E-4B Nightwatch and...
15/12/2025
CONWAY, Ark. In a notable example of how the loss of federal funding is forcing public stations to make massive cuts and operational changes, the statewide pub...
15/12/2025
BOULDER, Colo. Public Media Venture Group (PMVG), Venture Technologies Group (VTG), and WQED have completed a multipart agreement that they say will significant...
15/12/2025
Cape Town, November 13, 2025 - SES and International artist and humanitarian, Fo...
15/12/2025
Luxembourg, December 15, 2025 - SES, a leading space solutions company, and Abra Group launched fast and reliable multi-orbit inflight connectivity service on t...
15/12/2025
How Rivian s Design Puts Drivers First-And Why That Matters Published on Dec 15, 2025 Categories: Business Solutions
LinkedIn Corporate Communications
Sha...
15/12/2025
Space42 and Cobham Satcom completed the full range of advanced terminals for the...
15/12/2025
15 Dec 2025
VEON's Beeline Kazakhstan Delivers First Starlink Direct to Cel...
15/12/2025
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor finds himself the topic of year's cracker jokes
Oasis, David Harbour, Celebrity Traitors and Angela Rayner all feature in this y...
15/12/2025
Comscore Expands Cross-Platform Campaign Measurement to Include Audio and Social New capabilities strengthen cross-platform campaign reporting suite; CCR rebran...
15/12/2025
NVIDIA today announced it has acquired SchedMD - the leading developer of Slurm, an open-source workload management system for high-performance computing (HPC) ...
15/12/2025
RT .ie has reached one billion page views this year and is on track to finish 2025 2% ahead of last year. Average time spent on the site is up 3% on 2024, with ...
15/12/2025
Modern workflows showcase the endless possibilities of generative and agentic AI on PCs.
Of many, some examples include tuning a chatbot to handle product-supp...
13/12/2025
Powering Client Growth: Horizon Deepens Nielsen Partnership, Enabling More Effic...
13/12/2025
In a move that will help it offer more flexible and less costly programming options, YouTube TV has announced that it will be launching YouTube TV Plans with mo...
13/12/2025
SINGAPORE Magna Systems has designed, built and completed what is believed to be the first full UHD and IP-based OB truck in Southeast Asia for a Singapore medi...
12/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Everything You Need to Know for Next Week's Big Sho...
12/12/2025
Hailey Gates at the Atropia premiere (photo by George Pimentel / Shutterstock for Sundance Film Festival)...
12/12/2025
Last month, Spotify announced a new collaboration with the ATP Tour, the global governing body of men's professional tennis, aimed at bringing the next gene...
12/12/2025
CONWAY, Ark. In a notable example of how the elimination of Federal federal funding is forcing public stations to make massive cuts and changes in the way they...
12/12/2025
Wisycom and DPA Microphones announce the appointment of Ren Moerch as Group Product Director, Wireless, a strategic leadership role that will guide the combine...
12/12/2025
SMPTE , the home of media professionals, technologists, and engineers, in conjuncture with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the Entertainment Technolog...
12/12/2025
Keepit, the vendor-independent, cloud-native data protection provider, today announced a strategic go-to-market relationship in Poland with Ingram Micro, a lead...
12/12/2025
Atomos announced the immediate availability of a new firmware update for its Ninja TX GO and Ninja TX monitor-recorders, unlocking Open Gate 48P RAW recording w...
12/12/2025
Professional Wireless Systems (PWS) once again played a critical role in delivering flawless wireless coordination and support at the 2025 Latin Grammy Awards a...
12/12/2025
The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS), together with the Video Services Forum (VSF), the Advanced Media Workflow Association (AMWA) and the European Broadc...
12/12/2025
DHD audio will demonstrate the latest additions to its range of digital audio production solutions on Booth 321 in Hall B6 at Hamburg Open 2026. The show will b...
12/12/2025
Chaos today announces the release of V-Ray for Blender, update 2, bringing its award-winning rendering technology to even more Blender users by adding support f...
12/12/2025
Lighting specialist UltraLEDs has launched Precision LED Tape, a high-CRI lighting solution designed specifically for professional film, TV, and studio use.
P...
SVG Sit-Down: RWS Global's Kim Henshaw, Scott Horton Reflect on the In-Venue Experience of the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics in Paris More than 700 staffers drive in-stadium productions of 54 sports in 37 venues By Kristian Hern ndez, Senior Editor 
