The provision of education and training in the live music area is an increasingly important consideration for the future of the business. Vip News asked Nick Roos, a trainee event manager who started his apprenticeship at Musikkomm, the former organizer of Popkomm about his experience and the association for trainees for this new/old profession. It is almost 3 years since the first group of trainees for the profession of event manager started their course. The final examinations are now scheduled for November. Vip News: What are the aims of the association of V-People?

Roos: We as the organization of Apprentice Event Managers in Cologne want to practice our newly learnt skills in our area of business, because our profession was founded in 2001 and we are the first to learn it. Some companies from the event sector still don’t know that the profession exists. We are informing people about it with our website www.veranstaltungskaufleute.com, and at several Events. At this time, when in Germany education is more spoken about than ever, we want to build a network of junior staff, that can demonstrate their operational abilities by organizing events in our free time, additionally to our usual jobs in the agencies.

Vip News: Are you satisfied with what you have learned so far?

Roos: So far, I’m satisfied. Event Management is a huge sector, so not every apprentice learns exactly the same in his education. Many areas are adapted to the requirements of the several firms. Of course there are also companies that use their apprentices as cheap employees. But most of them care for their apprentices and ensure that they attain their education goals.

Vip News: What could you tell us about the support of promoters and agents for the
Association and their members?

 

Roos: We had, especially for our last event during this year’s Popkomm a lot of support, from our companies, but also from friends and sponsors from other companies or even other branches.We are very happy, that the vision of our organization is accepted by our sponsors and that they also see the potential of our network, especially for the future.

Vip News: Any plans regarding the future activities of V-People?

Roos: We want to extend our activities all over Germany. Through our Website we came into contact with other Event Managers from other parts of the country, with who we want to make alliances to strengthen our network. We are also getting in contact with the government of Cologne and the country of North Rhine-Westphalia to look for support. Achieving these goals would make an even better promotion of our job possible.

Vip News: Have you already get in contact with business organisations such as IDKV
or the Verband deutscher Konzertdirektionen?

Roos: Yes, during our attendance at this year’s Popkomm, we had contact with Mr. Michow from the IDKV, who is interested in our activities. I guess we will get in contact with him again soon. I think this is a good thing, because he was one of the founders of our profession.

Vip News: Are you already familiar with international organisations like Yourope,
The Network or conventions like the ILMC or Amsterdam Dance Live Conference?

Roos: We know about these Organizations and Events, but we didn’t yet get in contact with them. Of course it would be interesting for us to cooperate with them, but we haven’t yet had the time to contact them. Time is surely one of our biggest problems, because we are still all activities for the organization are additional to our usual work.