Vivian, thank you so much for taking the time. Firstly, we would like to know: What motivates you to be a part of the St. Gallen Symposium?
I had my first contact with the St. Gallen Symposium as a volunteer in the Support Crew 2019. A friend of mine encouraged me to join. What I really loved was the spirit, the community, the people, and their dedication – it was and is unique. After this, I decided to join and became part of the 50th International Students’ Committee (ISC) team. This special spirit is also the reason why I decided to continue my engagement for the ISC a second and third year. Furthermore, the ISC has a huge and very supportive alumni community, the members of which are like family to me. On top of that, you always work with an amazing team. You learn to work under pressure and grow through this experience. To this day, I find it incredible that students like you and me are capable of organising an event bigger and more professional than I could have ever imagined. We are positive that by creating this dialogue between generations, which is at the heart of our initiative, we can have an everlasting impact. We can change the way people think and approach problems of our time which will create new collaborations, ideas, and better solutions – this is what really inspires me about the St. Gallen Symposium: The dialogue and impact we create.
What does a normal day at the Symposium look like?
We usually start at eight o’clock, grab a coffee and chit-chat a bit. Later, the day is packed with meetings and general work. It takes a lot of effort to bring people to the St. Gallen Symposium, lots of phone calls and e-mails, we travel the world to meet C-level personalities in person and build up a long-term relationship with our community. From Septem- ber on, we are working towards our big event in May. We are entirely financing ourselves, everything we spend, we also bring in ourselves
Is it possible for HSG students to take part in this symposium?
Generally, there are no «tickets». As a HSG student, you can compete in the Global Essay Competition, through which you can qualify as a Leader of Tomorrow and fully participate. The only requirements are that you are below 30 and enrolled in your masters. The Leaders of Tomorrow are made up out of 200 participants who have proven themselves eager to leave an imprint on society. However, this is not the only opportunity. Every year, we have a Support Crew of 500 HSG students who support us in the execution of the event. You will get exclusive in- sight behind the scenes and meet outstanding personalities. Most importantly, you can experience the unique spirit which made me fall in love with this organisation.
How high is the workload?
Workload depends on the time of the year. September, November, March, and April are busiest. September is when the new team gets together and we organize and explain everything. In November, travelling starts. January and February are more chilled. In March, April, and May, the preparations become more intense. The workload during those times is quite high. But it is manageable with a team that supports each other.
Is it sometimes criticized that the outer world and even the students of HSG don’t get to know much about the symposium event?
Yes, I do partially agree with that, although we make great efforts to establish insights into the St. Gallen Symposium for everyone. For example, we have live streams and re- corded sessions on our website, it’s more or less one-third of the talks, hence you can follow a large part of the symposium. The most important ideas that come from the sessions can be found on our website, in our insights section. We really want to make the symposium more accessible, so the students and the public can get to know more about it. We believe that the cross-generational dialogue creates a very good conversation base for everyone. The different opinions on different topics brought together at one table evolve in a fruitful conversation, not just pointing fingers at each other, but actually discussing the issues that our modern world has and in the best case find a solution. Eventually, even if they had different opinions, we come to some certain agreements, which further can be implemented into everyday life. For in- stance, we can point out cases where the Leaders of Tomorrow got supported by the Senior Leaders in their ideas, which was amazing. The generations did not only share a conversation table but also shared their workspace after the event. As you can notice, the global conversation has an impact. Our main goal is to create a discussion panel and bring people together. If they decide to collaborate in the future, implement their ideas together – it will make the world a better place.
For more information about the St. Galler Symposium visit their website (https://symposium.org/) and follow @stgallensymposium on Instagram.