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GREENSBORO -- Officials from U.S. Figure Skating were in Greensboro sizing up the venue for the 2011 National Championships.

The nine-day event at the Coliseum in January will mark the first time the championships have been held in the Carolinas. Local officials said bringing the championships to the Gate City was quite an achievement.

The officials looked, they measured, took plenty of notes and they talked. Their mission is to pull off one of the premier athletic and artistic competitions of the year.

"Basically what we do is walk around and figure out where we're gonna put cameras, where we're gonna put photographers, where we're gonna put media, if we need to move seats around at all and assigning all of the rooms that we're gonna use here,” said Scottie Bibb, director of media and public relations for U.S. Figure Skating. “Judges' rooms, technical panel, locker rooms--it's a very long process."

They were joined by Coliseum staff who will, among other things, lay down sheets of ice on the floors of the Coliseum and the Special Events Center where skaters will put in their practice time.

"We've never actually done portable ice or another type of ice sheet over in the Special Events Center and certainly there are a lot of requirements that the figure skating people will require of us to actually pull this event off,” said Daniel Baker, operations manager. “So, it's a challenge but it's very exciting for us to be able to do it."

Bibb said the Coliseum's experience would pay off. "These people have had the experience dealing with a lot of fans and very large events," said Bibb.

It took a lot of work on the local end to bring the national championships to Greensboro, including months of research and a two-year competitive bidding process.

"Our event process in terms of preparation, which includes fundraising, sponsorships, you know, ticket sales, operational aspects have all been really focused ever since we got awarded the bid in February of last year," said Hill Carrow, chairman of the local host committee.

Carrow said, make no mistake, Greensboro had hosted many large events over the years, but to land the U.S. Figure Skating National Championships was quite a coup.

"To have that level of competition that's so entertaining right here in our backyard is something that I think people will truly enjoy," Carrow said.

The championships will take place Jan. 22 to Jan. 30.