The meeting, which has as its main focus the Applicant City bid process, and also touches on the Candidate City phase that follows, is giving the potential Olympic hosts the opportunity to learn what is expected from them during this first part of the 2016 bid process. The cities have also been getting the opportunity to learn from the experience of people who have been through the process previously, with expert speakers with knowledge of the front line of Games bidding and organisation providing first-hand experience of what the potential hosts can expect.
The next deadline for the seven Applicant Cities for the 2016 Olympic Games is the returning of the Applicant City Questionnaire to the IOC on 14 January 2008. The questionnaires will then be analysed, and the IOC Executive Board accepts Candidate Cities at the beginning of June 2008. There then follows a candidature procedure, which includes participation in the Beijing 2008 observers programme, and which will culminate in the election of the 2016 Host City at the IOC Session in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 2 October 2009.
