Media Centre
The Media Centre is located on Level -1 of Arena Torun.
An area of over 400 square meters has been reserved for the Media Centre to guarantee the best possible facilities and services to media representatives.
Media Centre Services and Facilities
The Media Centre offers the following services and facilities:
• Over 100 work spaces available on a first-come, first-served basis;
• Power, wired and wireless internet connectivity;
• TV screens showing in-venue feed;
• CIS terminals showing live timing and scoring;
• Printed, collated start lists for each session;
• A refreshment station offering free tea, coffee, water and snacks.
In addition, there is a help desk managed at all times by Media Operations staff. The team is there to assist you so please don’t hesitate to letting us know if you require any support.
Media Centre Opening Hours
| Wednesday 3 March | 13:00 – 18:00 |
| Thursday 4 March | 15:00 – 22:00 |
| Friday 5 March | 08:00 – 00:00 |
| Saturday 6 March | 08:00 – 00:00 |
| Sunday 7 March | 08:00 – 23:00 |
Press Tribunes
The Press Tribunes are located on Level 1 of Arena Torun.
All Press Tribunes are tabled and equipped with internet connectivity (both Wi-Fi and cabled), power and shared CIS terminals.
The Press Tribunes seating plan is available in the Media Centre. In order to comply with all sanitary rules in place during the event, we kindly ask you to always take the seat that you have been allocated.
The Media Operations Team will assist you in finding your position.
Mixed Zone
The Mixed Zone offers the opportunity for media representatives to interview the athletes after competition and is divided in two sections:
- the Broadcast Live Mixed Zone, and
- the Press Mixed Zone.
The Press Mixed Zone is located at ground level.
Media wishing to follow the action taking place in the Arena can do so from the Mixed Zone as TV screens with integrated feed and CIS terminals will be available.
The order in the Mixed Zone is the following:
1 – Right Holders TV and Radio who have booked positions,
2 – News Access Rights,
3 – ENG,
4 – Written press, digital and non-right holders radios,
5 – Non-rights holder TV.
Athletes will pass through the Mixed Zone after all events, with the exception of the combined events. For the combined events, the procedure is as follows:
| Pentathlon: | |
| Friday morning session – 5 March: | |
| Following 60mH | Not via the Mixed Zone |
| Following HJ | Not via the Mixed Zone |
| Following SP | Via the Mixed Zone |
| Friday afternoon session – 5 March: | |
| Following LJ | Via the Mixed Zone |
| Following 800m | Via the Mixed Zone |
| Heptathlon | |
| Saturday morning session – 6 March: | |
| Following 60m | Not via the Mixed Zone |
| Following LJ | Via the Mixed Zone |
| Following SP | Via the Mixed Zone |
| Saturday evening session – 6 March: | |
| Following HJ | Via the Mixed Zone |
| Sunday morning session – 7 March: | |
| Following 60mH | Not via the Mixed Zone |
| Following PV | Via the Mixed Zone |
| Sunday evening session – 7 March: | |
| Following 1000m | Via the Mixed Zone |
Please note that during the Sunday evening session, the medallists of 60m H M, 60m H W, Heptathlon M, 3000m M and 800m W will pass through the Broadcast Live Mixed Zone and will then be escorted directly to the Medals Ceremony. Once the Medals Ceremony is over, they will be brought back and go through the Press Mixed Zone.
Please note that although all athletes are required to go through the Mixed Zone, it is at their discretion to stop and talk to the media.
TV screens with live feed, CIS terminals and Wi-Fi will be available in the Press Mixed Zone.
Virtual Media Services
Context
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, European Athletics and the Torun 2021 Local Organising Committee (LOC) have had to limit the number of accredited media on-site in Torun by approximately 60% when compared to recent previous championships.
On the other hand, we have had to balance a limited number of media in Torun with the huge interest in these championships and our aim of bringing our sport into every home across the continent and beyond. To achieve this, European Athletics is implementing what we believe to be an innovative solution – the Virtual Media Centre.
Virtual Media Centre (VMC)
European Athletics, our Broadcast Partner EBU and our Official Digital Partner Atos have designed a Virtual Media Centre – a browser-based platform – to allow all accredited journalists to watch the live action and simultaneously access all the information that is normally available to media in a physical Media Centre.
You can access the Virtual Media Centre through the following link: https://ebu.icdn.video.
Services Available
The Virtual Media Centre will offer a wide variety of services, useful to both on-site and remote media, such as:
√ Watch live streams (international feed)
√ Watch live streams (field events feed)
√ Access live results
√ Watch live athlete interviews
√ Access the Virtual Mixed Zone
√ Request and conduct interviews (registered remote journalists only)
√ Access Event Information and Publications
√ Access the Photo Gallery
√ Chat with others in the Virtual Media Centre (registration and login required – please follow the steps below).
The following steps will enable you to access the chat option in the Virtual Media Centre:
- Visit https://ebu.icdn.video/user/register and register with our technical partner for access to the Virtual Media Centre;
- You will receive a confirmation email giving you access to the Virtual Media Centre;
- Our partner’s website will guide you through the rest of the process.
Virtual Mixed Zone
Besides having access to all the services available in the Virtual Media Centre (as described above), accredited remote journalists will be offered preferential access to the “Virtual Mixed Zone”. This service will allow remote journalists to request interviews and virtually interact directly with athletes.
Registration
To activate your rights as an accredited remote journalist and access the Interview Booking System, we kindly request you to complete two separate registration processes:
Step 1:
Please register for the Virtual Media Centre:
- Visit https://ebu.icdn.video/user/register and register with our technical partner for the Virtual Media Centre. Please note that your email address will also be required for registration in the Booking System for remote interviews with athletes, so please make sure you use the same email address for registration in both steps 1 and 2.
- You will receive a confirmation email giving you access to the Virtual Media Centre.
- The website of our technical partner will guide you through the rest of the process.
Step 2:
Please register for the Booking System for Remote Interviews:
- Visit https://europeanathletics.atosone.com/registrationPage.html and provide all details requested.
- Please enter your email address and the registration code you must have received this week. You must use the same email address for registration in the Booking System (Step 2) that you used for registration in the Virtual Media Centre (Step 1).
- You will receive a confirmation email giving you access to the Booking System.
- Again, the website of our technical partner will guide you through the following steps.
Request and Conduct Interviews
Once registered, you can login using your username/email and password.
Once logged in, remote journalists should comply with the following process and rules to request and conduct interviews:
1) Request for an interview:
The interview request service for an individual athlete will be available from the moment the Start List for his/her event is published until the moment the official Results for his/her event are released.
Due to limited time, space and resources, each remote interview for a given athlete will consist of maximum seven (7) questions by remote journalists, each remote journalist only being entitled to one (1) question per athlete.
The number of questions for remote interviews for the most popular events, high profile athletes or ‘national heros’ will be slightly higher.
We kindly advise you to submit your request for an interview as far in advance as possible.
Rules for Interview Requests:
√ Requests for interviews must be submitted between the moment the Start List for a given event is published and the official Results are released.
√ Remote journalists can request interviews with only one (1) athlete per event.
√ In case a remote journalist requests an interview with two athletes competing in two different events and these interviews start approximately at the same time, the remote journalist will be directed to the room and interview that starts first.
√ When the maximum number of interview requests for a given athlete is reached, this event / athlete may not be visible for further selection.
2) Conduct a remote interview:
Interviews by remote journalists will start as soon as the selected athlete finishes his/her last interview in the physical Mixed Zone.
Remote journalists that requested for an interview and have been selected to ask a question will be automatically transferred to a “Virtual Mixed Zone Room”. As soon as the athlete is ready, the Room Moderator will open the interview session.
Room Moderators will ensure that all interviews are conducted in a respectful and timely manner.
Rules to Conduct Remote Interviews:
> Minutes before the interview starts, journalists who have requested for an interview will be brought automatically into the Virtual Mixed Zone Interview Room once this “opens”.
> The room moderator will do an audio and video check with interviewers prior to the arrival of the athlete.
> Interviews will start as soon as the selected athlete finish his/her last interview in the physical Mixed Zone.
> When the athlete arrives in the Virtual Interview Room, the moderator will open the virtual interview session.
> Interviews will be moderated to ensure these are conducted in a respectful and timely manner.
> Please keep your microphone muted until the moderator prompts you to ask a question. You can use the chat option to communicate with the moderator at any time.
> There is a maximum of 7 remote journalists in the interview room, and each one is allowed to ask one question only. The moderator will prompt you to ask your question. Please do not ask additional questions unless prompted by the moderator.
> The duration of the interview is expected to be around 5 minutes, approximately. At the end of the interview, you will be redirected to the main lobby where a range of live feed options are available.
> When interest for interviews is very high, remote journalists may be asked to wait in the ‘Waiting Room’ for their turn to ask questions. While waiting, remote journalists will still be able to listen to the interviews with the selected athlete, and/or to follow the competition live.
> You can leave the interview room at any time, but you will not be able to re-enter. Instead, you will be able to continue to watch the virtual interview through the live feed available from the main lobby (of the Virtual Mixed Zone Room).
> If you have requested more than one interview, and these are happening simultaneously, you will brought into the interview room that starts first. You’ll be directed to the second interview room, only after you leave the first interview room.
Moreover, in order to ensure a reliable connection to the Virtual Mixed Zone, please see a useful check list. Regular users of conferencing software may be familiar with technology but it is still worth acquainting yourself with this check list:
√ Use a headset for better audio quality for both athlete and interviewer;
√ Disconnect from any other conference platform, such as Zoom or Teams, when an interview is taking place;
√ Test your connectivity to the “Virtual Mixed Zone Room” by clicking on the link to the support room available in the “lobby”.
Please note that all athletes will be required to pass through the Mixed Zone, including the “Virtual Mixed Zone”. However, they are not obliged to stop and speak to the media if they do not wish to do so. Even though only remote journalists will be able to request and eventually interview athletes in the “Virtual Mixed Zone”, all accredited media (both remote and on-site) are able to watch any interviews taking place in any of “Virtual Mixed Zone Rooms”.
Feedback
Our aim has been to create a single online location where accredited media, regardless of their location, are able to access a wide variety of services simultaneously, and have at their disposal working conditions as similar as possible to actually being at the Championships.
Many of the services included in the Virtual Media Centre have never been offered at a major athletics event and will be available to remote media for the first time ever.
We have tried to provide a robust and engaging set of virtual media services to enhance your experience and compensate those not able to be present in Arena Torun.
However, as some of these services are being inaugurated at the European Athletics Indoor Championships Torun 2021, we would very much appreciate your post-event feedback on how the Virtual Media Centre functioned and have your suggestions for potential future improvements.
For any further information please contact media@european-athletics.org.
WebCIS
In the context of an on-going cooperation with World Athletics, the webCIS service will be available at the Torun 2021 European Athletics Indoor Championships.
The procedure to access this service is as follows:
- As an accredited press representative to Torun 2021, you will receive a notification to connect to https://cis.worldathletics.org;
- Please refer to Users Guideline attached for further information.
For more information, please consult the Guidelines below:
Official Press Conference
| Date | Thursday 4 March |
| Time | 13:30 |
| Location | CKK Jordanki |
More information about the Official Press Conference will be available soon.