It was Tuesday morning, barely 24 hours before the first guests were to arrive, and the main campus looked more like a greenhouse than a conference venue. Potted plants covered the plaza and the foyer, green leaves peeking out behind huge crates of glasses and dishware and stacks of furniture.

In the midst of it all was Olivier Benoit, part of the 51st International Students’ Committee (ISC), the student volunteers whose job it is to organize and run the St. Gallen Symposium. A successful symposium is the physical result of months of intense planning, organisation, and collaboration between the 33 members of the ISC, particularly in the weeks and days before the event itself. The three- person core technical operations crew, for instance, work 100- hour weeks leading up to the Symposium.

It takes the crew, assisted by a team of 30 student volunteers, around six days to construct the Symposium infrastructure, in the week of the event. The ISC team operates according to a meticulously detailed daily “master plan”, which includes a breakdown of the tasks in five to ten minute intervals. These are often delegated to groups of volunteers, who can be seen in small groups at the beginning of Symposium week wearing work gloves, pushing laden trolleys, and unloading trucks. 

Working on less than four hours of sleep, Benoitt was a blur of motion nonetheless, darting between the foliage as he searched for tablecloths, cleaning supplies, and truck keys, all spread out across campus. Looking around the organised chaos of the foyer as the Symposium took shape, all he can say is that there are “so many plants”. Details matter: The ISC wants each plant to blend seamlessly into the symposium atmosphere, so Benoit directs student volunteers to work all morning in groups to cover each plastic plant pot with black felt before each is placed carefully around the building. 

When the Symposium began two days later, it represented the culmination of an arduous but rewarding 10-month long journey. On the morning of the Symposium, Bernet sets the masterplan as her phone background to keep her on track throughout the day. Her main job is welcoming the President of the Swiss Confederation, Ignazio Cassis, but she has many hands to shake and tasks to complete in order to ensure the first day runs smoothly. “We will drink a lot of coffee today”, she says, as she greets participants leaving the Aula after the Opening Ceremony.

Yet it is clear that the experience is worth all the sleep deprivation, stress, and long planning meetings that go until 2 am. Committee members get to travel all over the world, meeting with international partners and organising their own events. Through pursuing partners abroad, the team meets many high level personalities they would ordinarily not have access to until well after they have graduated.

For example, Benoit, who is responsible for Switzerland and France alongside technical operations, says one of the highlights of being on the ISC for him was coordinating a reception in March at the Swiss embassy in Paris. Guests included the Swiss ambassador, the CEO and founder of BlueOrange capital, and a consultant to the French president. 

Surprisingly, considering the high standard the team set for themselves, they largely learn on the job, with help from a strong community of alumni. The ISC has an 84-person WhatsApp group, comprised of foundation members, current members, and alumni, which continues to grow almost on a daily basis, to share knowledge from past years.

Help from the alumni community has taken on even greater significance after a prolonged hiatus from a physical Symposium: The event was canceled in 2020 and held mostly online in 2021. Minuscule items, such as screws for the sun umbrellas, haven’t been put to use in three years and the tech crew have had to canvas the WhatsApp chat to locate them. Only four members of the current ISC witnessed an in-person Symposium. Samuel Furrer, who is part of the tech crew, has been studying for three years at St. Gallen and says he is at an advantage compared to his less experienced counterparts as he “knows what a Symposium looks like”. 

The community doesn’t only provide practical help. Bernet has been part of the Symposium for three years and fondly recounts how she has formed strong friendships each year. “It is because we work so closely together”, she says. The stress of the last few weeks pushed the committee even closer together.

The ISC divides their work into two phases, the first is more centred on individual networking and concentrating on your own “market”, which is what the ISC calls the region you are assigned to source partners and organise events. However, in the second phase, namely the weeks leading to the Symposium, the team focuses more on the logistics of the event. This second phase is “more collaborative” and “requires more communication”, according to Benoit. “Team spirits are high”, he says, as the committee works together to complete their collective tasks. 

Undoubtedly, being part of the ISC provides an unique networking opportunity, which motivates many members to apply. And there are glamorous moments, such as the Dinner for Partners on Wednesday night, where Bernet had the “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to sit beside and converse with figures such as Indian Parliamentarian Sashi Tharoor, Singaporean Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu, and Jose Manuel Barroso, former President of the European Commission.

However, Bernet says this was not the driving force behind her interest in the ISC, although it certainly played a role. After starting university, she was searching for a “competence to find confidence” and found the chance when she formed part of the Symposium’s support crew in 2019, working in catering. “It’s just a huge opportunity to grow”, she says on her decision to join the ISC.

When combined with the hard work, frustration, and painstaking attention to detail that go into the ISC’s daily work, the ultimate result is a collective journey of personal and professional growth, which lasts long after  the symposium’s closing ceremony.

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