About ANOC
The Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) represents the collective voice of 206 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) across the globe. Headquartered in a compact team of just 11 staff members, ANOC works to advocate for its member committees within the broader Olympic movement, supporting their development and enabling better service delivery to athletes. With members ranging from global powers to small island nations, ANOC’s mission is to foster organizational excellence, equity, and innovation across a highly diverse international landscape.
AI capacity through global webinars
As part of ANOC’s Digital Accelerator Program, a strategic initiative to enhance digital competencies among its members, the organization partnered with DataNorth to explore the growing relevance of AI in sports governance and communication. Recognizing the broad disparity in digital maturity across NOCs, ANOC sought a partner that could simplify complex topics and empower both beginners and more advanced users.
The collaboration began with a series of five interactive webinars led by DataNorth, tailored to meet the needs of a globally distributed audience. The inaugural session drew over 200 participants, a record-breaking turnout that underscored the rising interest in AI. Subsequent sessions maintained strong engagement, consistently drawing around 100 attendees from across all continents.
DataNorth’s workshops were praised for their clarity, accessibility, and practical insights. Topics included working with data, digital communications, and advanced AI use cases. Importantly, the sessions were structured to appeal to participants at various stages of AI adoption, from those experimenting with tools like ChatGPT for the first time to those already integrating AI into daily workflows.
Translation support and simple, real-world examples helped bridge language and experience gaps, ensuring inclusive learning for ANOC’s multilingual, multicultural audience.
Impact and future direction
The workshops helped demystify AI, reducing apprehension and sparking interest in practical applications. Participants came away with a clearer understanding of how AI could streamline tasks such as data analysis, document creation, and content generation within widely used tools like Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint.
Feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with many attendees expressing a desire to explore AI further. In fact, the success of the program has spurred ongoing discussions within ANOC about how to scale this effort, particularly in support of smaller NOCs where AI has the potential to significantly amplify limited resources.
As ANOC looks ahead, it is exploring tailored AI applications, including virtual assistants for specific functions, referred to as CRA (contextual role-based assistants). These could offer country-specific support in areas like travel planning, finance, or translation. One notable success already includes the use of AI-generated communications in Luxembourgish, a breakthrough in inclusivity and localization for smaller member nations.
While the digital landscape continues to evolve rapidly, ANOC remains committed to thoughtful, effective AI integration, guided by the early foundation established through its partnership with DataNorth.
