412. Jay Holder, Olympic Stadium Deputy Venue Media Manager
Ali on the Run Show
Ali Feller
4.9 • 4.2K Ratings
🗓️ 19 August 2021
⏱️ 71 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
"I had never done this before. I mean, I've done press conferences before, but at this level, this was a whole other ballgame… I mean, there were several moments where I was like, 'This is the Olympics, so I better do this right, and I better not screw this up, and I better look like I know what I'm talking about even if I don't. Because this is the Olympics!'"
Jay Holder knows his way around a press conference. As the director of marketing and communications for the Atlanta Track Club (remember this episode?) and as a former journalist himself (he has worked for ABC and with New York Road Runners at the New York City Marathon), Jay is the guy you want running your communications operations if you're putting on a race. And Jay just got to work his biggest gig yet: as the deputy venue media manager for Olympic Stadium at the Tokyo Olympic Games. Jay spent nine weeks in Tokyo running all communications-related matters inside the stadium, including managing the press tribunes and moderating and facilitating 53 press conferences in a 10-day span! This is a fascinating conversation about all that goes on behind the scenes at the Olympics.
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What you'll get on this episode:
- What is a press tribune? (5:15)
- Where Jay was during most of the races (7:40)
- Jay explains his role for the press conferences (10:00)
- What makes a great press conference question? (17:30)
- Is Jay's role stressful? (21:30)
- How Jay measured success in his role at the Olympics (24:20)
- How Jay got this job (26:40)
- All about Jay's quarantine once he got to Japan (40:00)
- What it was like getting ready for the Opening Ceremonies (53:40)
- What was the best part of it all? (59:30)
- What's next? (1:06:45)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This episode of The Alley on the Run Show is brought to you by Aftershocks. |
| 0:04.4 | Go to ontherun.aftershocks.com to say 15% on all wireless headphones. |
| 0:15.7 | Welcome to The Alley on the Run Show. |
| 0:17.8 | I'm your host Allie Feller and every week I talk with people who are doing cool things on the run |
| 0:23.2 | and beyond. We all share that love for running and that's what brings us all together. |
| 0:28.0 | But of course there is more to life than what happens on the run itself. |
| 0:32.6 | This show is about the in-between. The water stops, the bathroom breaks, the moments and decisions |
| 0:38.4 | that have shaped who we are today, and the wise. Why do we do what we do? And how does getting |
| 0:44.3 | sweaty factor in? Now it is officially post-alimpy season here on The Alley on the Run Show. |
| 0:50.7 | I am so excited about all of the great conversations coming up and we kick things off this week. |
| 0:56.8 | On Monday we heard from Josef Herzog, the stage manager for the today show, who just returned |
| 1:02.0 | from working his fifth straight Olympics with NBC. And yesterday, Cara Goucher returned to the show |
| 1:08.4 | to tell us all about being a part of the track and field and marathon broadcast team. |
| 1:13.2 | So not only is it Olympic season, it's officially behind the scenes week, you could say. |
| 1:19.0 | Because today, Jay Holder returns to The Alley on the Run Show to talk about his role as the |
| 1:24.3 | deputy venue media manager for Olympic Stadium. Not sure what that role entails. Neither did I. |
| 1:31.8 | Jay just spent nine weeks in Tokyo helping set up and run all of the communications related |
| 1:37.5 | things inside the stadium. He was the guy running all the press conferences and I think my biggest |
| 1:42.6 | takeaway from this conversation was that by the times a metal-winning athletes got to sit down |
| 1:47.6 | at their press conferences, they were already on their fourth round of post-race interviews. |
| 1:53.8 | Man, I feel for them, they are answering a lot of questions on the record and they've got to be |
| 1:58.7 | so exhausted. And Jay's got to be pretty exhausted too. It was really fun learning about everything |
... |
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