It was the first time that Jones Lang LaSalle had taken part in the Games and we fielded a large team of over 150 employees from across our English, Scottish, German and Dutch businesses. We were the only property adviser to participate; and by doing so I feel our entire team had a unique opportunity to get to know staff from other areas of our company and also to network with many other business people.

Sport for Life, in partnership with Leeds City Council and Marketing Leeds, who brought the Games to Leeds must be congratulated for their superb organisation and the smoothness with which each of the 21 sports, held over a range of different sporting venues and times, took place.

My only reservation is that Leeds perhaps missed a wider marketing opportunity to fully embrace the Games and build the profile of Leeds among those visiting athletes; especially since it was the first time the event has been held in England since 1992. Many of my business contacts, working in local, national and global firms in Leeds and beyond, seemed to have little, if any, knowledge of the four-day event. One local radio station even went so far as to ask their listeners to call in if they were able to explain what the World Corporate Games was all about.

With a few thousand athletes descending on Millennium Square on Saturday, July 12 to be part of the opening parade and similar number attending a closing awards celebration at Leeds Town Hall on the Sunday; perhaps more investment in advertising would have helped to ensure that more people were aware of what was going on. One athlete who had competed in the World Corporate Games in Bilbao in 2007, said the Spanish city had been awash with flags and marketing banners; sadly this was not the case this year.

Everyone I met had thoroughly enjoyed participating and Jones Lang LaSalle will certainly consider being involved in future years. All in all a good result for our fair city!

Jeff Peareym, Director – Head of Leeds Office, Jones Lang LaSalle, Park Square, Leeds