London 2012 blog

Each year the Mayor of London is required to make a presentation to Londoners and answer their questions on any topic.

This year that opportunity arose on Saturday at the 'State of London' event, an all-day conference in Westminster.

The whole event covered a range of topics including climate change, education and security but one of the first sessions was on the London 2012 Games.

An audience of several hundred Londoners heard from Paul Deighton, David Higgins and LDA Chief Executive Manny Lewis as well as Olympic Gold Medalist Denise Lewis and then had the chance to ask any questions they wanted to.

LOCOG and ODA also combined to provide an exhibition stall throughout the day featuring models of the Olympic Park at Games time (picture below) but also the transformation of the Olympic Park after the Games to provide community facilities, housing and parkland.

It's always interesting to hear from Londoners about their opinions on the Games and there were a few really interesting ideas that I've already passed on to colleagues working in those areas, for example on health and safety on site.

What was really interesting was to see first hand how many of the people we engage with on a regular basis, representing London's communities, were attending the event or even speaking in different sessions.

It gave me a lot of reassurance that the lower profile work we do week-in-week-out is really getting out into communities.

That was reinforced when, on a few occasions, we didn't need to tell people anything as they were using the models to explain things to their friends and they knew all of the important information.

But I have to admit my personal highlight was meeting Denise Lewis.

Her words to the conference were very powerful - relating her own experiences of how the Games can inspire young people into more active lifestyles - and, more to the point, she was a really lovely person as well!
A successful day helping people understand the Games and their part in them, plus meeting someone I've admired for a long time. It doesn't get much better than that.