Five Tips to Planning a Sports Event with Daniella Orsi a Specialist, Game Presentation & Talent Management’ for the Toronto Raptors

By: Cass Ferguson

Toronto’s sports history dates back as far as 1917, if not further, when the Toronto Maple Leafs (NHL) team was established. Over the years, Toronto’s rich sports history continued to grow when, in 1994, Toronto was granted its very own NBA franchise; the Toronto Raptors were born. Just a couple of years later in 1998 the Toronto Maple Leafs merged with the Toronto Raptors, which saw MLSE (Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment) born.

Yesterday, now and tomorrow MLSE wants to “BRINGING THE WORLD TO ITS FFET”, and with that, it brings us to our next story about Daniella Orsi, ‘Specialist, Game Presentation & Talent Management’ for the Toronto Raptors.

In her current role right now Daniella wants to “BRINGING THE WORLD TO ITS FEET’ on an everyday basis, and her journey to her current role has allowed her to do just that. 

We asked Daniella what both her education and career path was, and what has led her to her current role today.

Like most of us it, “Started off with university” she said. “I’m a proud alumni from Laurier University. I originally went there for kinesiology, but it was during my first year where I was thinking if I was meant for kinesiology because it was a lot of science, but I did know that my heart was set on sports.” Even though she was having second thoughts, she kept on going.

As time went on in her first year a position opened up with the men’s basketball team in athletic therapy. Daniella said, “Maybe this will be a great time and thing for me to get into sports, but after chatting with the coaches and others my thoughts about kin beforehand were opened up again. With these chats, it led to a new position; The student manager position, and this position seemed to be more of something I would enjoy.” 

From Daniella’s second to fourth years at Laurier she took on the student manager role, and she said, “This role was an absolute dream and it kind of paved the rest of my journey.” This role included things like: 

• Creating the team uniform 
• Managing team equipment
• Managing all of the away team trips (hotels, meals, etc.)

This role really opened her eyes and grew her love for the behind the scenes of sports. Growing up playing basketball this role allowed her to stay connected with the sport where the love all began. 

One would think that after four years of schooling one would be done with school, but that wasn’t the case for Daniella. She went on to pursue more school at George Brown College in their Sports & Event Marketing program. During this journey at George Brown she was able to intern with the Juno’s. Yes, this is not sports, but she said, “I looked at my resume and saw I had a lot of basketball experience, and yes my dream is to work for the Raptors one day, but I don’t have experience in marketing and this is outside of my comfort zone.” She went on to say that this was the best experience and she was very happy she went out of her comfort zone.

So you could say that trying something new, stepping outside of your comfort zone and continuing to grow personally and professionally will get you to that dream job. 

Daniella mentioned that coming outside of her comfort zone and seeking opportunities led her to where she is today as the ‘Specialist, Game Presentation & Talent Management’ for the Toronto Raptors, and with that we asked:

What does an average day look like for you in your role? 

“Every day is different, but an average day leading up to a game is a lot of planning ahead for a game that’s coming up that week and planning for the games coming up in the next two weeks, but like most jobs it doesn’t stop there. I am always planning for our BIG games coming up. For example, in like September/ November I was looking at our Christmas game. It’s all about planning for that next big game.”

The layout of the days seem to be a lot of logistics planning, organization and communication, but a GAME DAY is a whole different story. “It’s very go, go, go. I get into the office between nine and ten in the morning, and from there it is being available for a lot of people as their main contact, doing rehearsal, producing in-game content, and so much more.”

Knowing that game presentation is very go, go, go role, and chatting with Daniella, we have generated “5 tips to planning a sports event”:

1. Start with your end in mind – People get anxious to start their event, and feel the need to start doing something, but sometimes you need to take a step back and oversee the event as a whole. For example, start with that equipment you may need to have on-hand at the finish line and build from there.
2. Prioritize your key people – You might want to ask yourself who is most important at the event/ game. Is it the athletes? The parents? The venue? The sponsors, etc. Know who or what is going to need the most amount of attention before, during and after the event/ game.
3. If no one noticed, don’t sweat it – It’s as simple as it sounds. Things will go wrong, but fans don’t see it. When something you know didn’t happen or went wrong don’t sweat it because if you know events, things are bound to go wrong, and you will be the only one that noticed. 
4. Carry a notepad – Having notes of what went well or maybe not so well could be the saving grace in the end because you can then go back and look at your notes to change something for the next time around. 
5. Communication is key – Communication is what’s going to help you get through an event/ game. Too much communication is never bad, in fact it’s better. 

In today’s world of sports and events there is always room for growth, so we asked Daniella how do you & your team “BRINGING THE WORLD TO ITS FEET” when you know you have already reached the highest of high when the Toronto Raptors won the 2019 NBA Championship?

She said, “People love sports. Sports are people’s lives so bringing the entertainment side to sports can be a challenge, especially since we reached the highest we can go, and that’s winning the NBA title. So moving forward, we are always staying true to the Raptors roots, following best practices, thinking outside the box, and yes, always seeing what other teams, leagues and sports are doing to see if we can do it, but make it our own.

If you can remember one thing, remember that just because you aren’t ‘meant’ for one thing doesn’t mean you aren’t meant for something else. That’s what happens in your journey. You just have to keep moving forward and remember something will come out of it in the end. 

Connect with Daniella: 

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/daniella-orsi

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