Managers, the London 2012 Olympics needs you...

Calling all managers that can spare some time during the 2012 Olympics.

I have just got back from an interesting event at the Grange Hotel in Tower Hill about how London is doing in its Olympics' preparation and what people can do to get involved.

Boris Johnson's Olympic advisor, Neale Coleman, put out a plea for managers to give up some time during the Games to help co-ordinate and direct its 8,000-strong army of volunteers who will welcome the world to London.

A total of 25 days need to be given up so Coleman suggested recently retired managers could be a particularly good bet to become one of London 2012's location or area managers.

Coleman made a few other interesting points today, including that every Borough in London has been given £50,000 by the Greater London Authority to tart themselves up in an Olympic manner during the Games.

It is all part of making the whole city feel involved.

Four festival sites have also been selected that will provide outdoor giant screens during the Olympics. Hyde Park will have capacity for 80,000 people, Victoria Park for 50,000, Trafalgar Square, 8,000 and Potters Field for 4,500.

Meanwhile, with 54 weeks to go until the Olympics, the preparations are now 84% complete.

The Olympic Delivery Authority's director of infrastructure and utilities, Simon Wright, said the last major unfinished venue - the 17,500 capacity aquatics centre - will be completed on 19 July.

He said it has been an "incredible effort" to deliver the largest construction project in Europe on time and on budget.

Incidentally, anyone with management experience interested in volunteering should contact David Huse, head of the London ambassadors programme by 15 July 2011 - david.huse@london.gov.uk