McDonald’s Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games
As a Worldwide Partner of the Olympic Movement, McDonald’s is preparing to once again feed the athletes and share the excitement of the Games with millions of customers around the world during the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada.
Feeding the World’s Best Athletes
– As the Official Restaurant of the Olympic Games and the only branded foodservice retailer, McDonald’s is building three new Olympic venue restaurants: one in the Olympic Village in Vancouver, one in the Olympic Village in Whistler, and one in the Main Media Center in Vancouver.
– McDonald’s Olympic Champion Crew, made up of more than 300 top performing restaurant employees from across Canada, will serve menu favorites to the world’s best athletes, coaches, officials and media at McDonald’s on-site Olympic venue restaurants.
– Spectators will be able to share in the Olympic Spirit and enjoy McDonald’s quality and variety at any of the more than 40 McDonald’s restaurants located in the Vancouver and Whistler areas.
McDonald’s Champion Kids(TM)
– The McDonald’s Champion Kids program debuted at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games as part of McDonald’s ongoing commitment to children. The program provides a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for kids from across the globe to experience the Games first hand.
– For the Vancouver Games, one child from each province and one child from the territories in Canada will join kids from around the world to attend Olympic events, meet athletes, visit the Olympic Village, tour the cultural sites of Vancouver and Whistler, and receive their own gold medals from Olympic champions.
– The children will also have the chance to serve as special youth correspondents to share their experiences with their hometown news outlets.
Giving Back
– As part of McDonald’s Olympic tradition of giving back to the host country, Ronald McDonald House Charities® will make a lasting contribution to Vancouver that will live beyond the Games.
– Ronald McDonald House Charities of Canada, in cooperation with The Province of British Colombia, the Rick Hansen Foundation and 2010 Legacies Now, is funding three world-class accessible playgrounds.
– These playgrounds – located in the three venue cities of Vancouver, Richmond and Whistler – will meet the needs of children with disabilities and enable these children to play side by side with their siblings, families and friends.
– The Richmond playground and the majority of the Whistler playground are planned to be completed in time for the 2010 Games; the Vancouver playground will be finished in the summer of 2010. More information to come on playground celebrations that will take place during the Games.
Environment
– In keeping with a green Olympic Games, McDonald’s three new Olympic venue restaurants will be fitted with energy-efficient lighting and equipment.
– The equipment from these restaurants will be reused and recycled at McDonald’s restaurants in Canada after the Games have ended
McDonald’s Canada
– As host country, McDonald’s Canada is activating a wide variety of programs and promotions leading up to and during the Games to celebrate Canada’s Olympic Spirit nationwide.
Activities include:
– Flying Olympic flags at select McDonald’s restaurants across Canada to celebrate their role as host country
– Exciting restaurant promotions such as Olympic-themed McDonald’s Vancouver 2010 Olympic Sport Water Bottles featuring graphics of athletes participating in popular winter sports
– Alliances with top Canadian athletes such as speed skater Cindy Klassen, figure skater Patrick Chan and Cassie Campbell, former caption of the Canadian Women’s Ice Hockey Team
– Celebrating the importance of family and community on the journey to the pinnacle of sport through McDonald’s 2010 Hopefuls, a grant program that supports the Olympic aspirations of 26 Canadian athletes and recognizes the efforts of their parents by allocating a portion of the funding to the family
– Canada holds a special place in McDonald’s history as the first country outside of the U.S. to open a McDonald’s restaurant in 1967.
McDonald’s Olympic Games History
McDonald’s became an Official Sponsor of the Olympic Games in 1976 and has a long-standing commitment to the Olympic Movement, which first began more than 40 years ago. At the 1968 Olympic Winter Games, McDonald’s airlifted hamburgers to U.S. athletes competing in Grenoble, France, after they reported being homesick for McDonald’s food. Since then, the company has served its menu of choice and variety to millions of athletes, coaches, their families and fans. The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games mark McDonald’s seventh Olympic Games as a Worldwide Partner and eighth as the Official Restaurant of the Olympic Games. McDonald’s current sponsorship will continue through the 2012 Games in London.
Source: McDonald’s
Microsoft reveals Office Winter Games Contest
Two bloggers will win a trip to cover the Vancouver Games using Microsoft Office 2010
One female blogger and one student blogger will be sent to the 2010 Olympic Winter Games as winners of an online contest announced today by Microsoft Corp. and the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC). The winning bloggers will use the latest Microsoft technologies to report daily from the Games alongside members of the credentialed press corps. Starting today, qualified bloggers may enter the contest at http://www.officewintergames.com/.
The Microsoft Office team will award the winners a seven-day trip to Vancouver, British Columbia, and the technology and press access needed to report from the Games. The top-of-the-line technology includes Microsoft Office 2010 Professional and the Acer Aspire 4810 laptop that, thanks to its high performance and more than eight hours of battery life, is the winners’ ideal hardware companion.
“Microsoft Office will give bloggers the reporting, editing and communication tools they’ll require across the PC, mobile phone and browser,” said Janice V. Kapner, senior director of Information Worker Group Communications at Microsoft. “Because blogs and online reporting are an increasingly popular way for sports fans to consume news about their favorite events, Microsoft will equip the two talented bloggers with Microsoft Office 2010 Professional to help them report with ease right from the sidelines.”
Ten contest semifinalists will be chosen by a panel of celebrity judges, including five-time Olympic gold medalist Bonnie Blair and online video stars Jake Hurwitz and Amir Blumenfeld from CollegeHumor.com. The public will then vote for their favorite semifinalists online, and the winners will be selected based on the number of votes they receive.
“As an Olympic gold medalist, I know the passion and excitement of being behind the scenes at the Winter Games,” Blair said. “We’re excited to give these two bloggers the chance to experience the thrill of this time-honored event as well.”
Microsoft Office is the premier productivity solution across PCs, mobile phones and browsers. From broadcast and video editing in Microsoft Office PowerPoint to co-authoring and the ability to post directly to blogs in Microsoft Office Word, Microsoft is delivering technology to help people work smarter and faster from virtually any location using almost any device. Microsoft Office 2010 will deliver innovative capabilities and provide new levels of flexibility and choice that will help people do the following:
– Work anywhere with Office Web applications — the online companions to Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote — that help provide access to documents from virtually anywhere and that help preserve the look and feel of a document regardless of device
– Collaborate better with co-authoring in Microsoft Word 2010, Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 and Microsoft OneNote 2010, as well as advanced e-mail management and calendaring capabilities in Microsoft Outlook 2010, including the option to “ignore” unwanted e-mail threads
– Bring ideas to life with video and picture editing, broadcast capability in Microsoft PowerPoint 2010, easy document preparation through the new Microsoft Office Backstage view, and new Sparklines in Microsoft Excel 2010 to visualize data and spot trends faster
Contest Eligibility and Rules
Contestants must be at least 18 years of age and have written a blog for at least three months at time of entry. Contestants must be United States residents and either a female blogger or a currently enrolled full-time undergraduate or graduate student in good standing at a U.S. college or university. Winners will be announced at the International CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas Jan. 7-10. Complete contest details can be found at http://www.officewintergames.com/. Microsoft Office 2010 will be available in the first half of 2010; for more information visit http://www.microsoft.com/office.
Source: Microsoft Corp.