Summit / 3-minute read
This year, the event management team has planned something bigger and better than ever before, with the summit taking place in Halle 9 at the OLMA Halls in St. Gallen, Switzerland.
Bastiaan Feurer, head of event management for START Global, is responsible for all physical aspects of the summit. He oversees everything from lighting and stage setups to booth layouts and transportation. He talked about his job, his thoughts on the new location, and the challenges he faces in planning such a massive event.
When asked what he likes best about his job, he cited two things: the fact that he has a lot of influence on the end result and on the experience of the participants, and the fact that it’s a people job. He is in close contact with the whole START team and his main job is to enable his team to make the Summit happen.
What was his first thought when he heard that the summit was moving to Halle 9? He admitted that it is a huge undertaking and that there is a lot of unknowns since they had never used that location before. However, he had a lot of support, and everyone involved was quite confident. The budget was also something that blew his mind, and he knew that his biggest challenge would be figuring out how to turn that budget into tangible results.
Despite the challenges, there are a lot of benefits at the new location. For one, it’s on a whole new professional level, with way more possibilities and the ability to expand in the vertical dimensions. However, it’s not all smooth sailing. He admits that it’s harder to plan with since they have no experience with this new venue, the layout, or the electricity lines at Halle 9. Everything is new, and that can be very hard in the planning progress.
When asked what he’s particularly excited for in Halle 9, he mentioned the main stage as it will be much bigger, as well as the scaling up in general. The lower level is also huge, offering a lot of opportunities for different booths, workshops and stages.
Of course, there are things that make him nervous too, such as the timing. How are they going to build up all the booths and stages in time, especially since they have 16 trucks of material this time compared to the 8 they had last year? They have the same amount of days for construction, so they need to be very efficient.
So, what does he still have to do till the summit? A lot. He needs to order a lot of printables for the partners and sponsors, collect all speaker information, plan the stage program in detail, and organize stage equipment like lights, sound, and videos.
In conclusion, Bastiaan has his work cut out for him, but he’s excited for the challenge. The new location in Halle 9 offers a lot of possibilities, but it also presents new obstacles that he and his team are working hard to overcome. It’s a massive undertaking, but one that’s sure to be worth it in the end.
