Feel the Beat
Festival summer at Karben Open Air (KOA)
August is always time to party in Karben. At KOA, satis&fy’s trainees are always right in the thick of it.
From August 16 to 18, it was time to party again at the Karben Open Air (KOA). The satis&fy trainees were right in the middle of it all. Every year, the new trainees get their first taste of project work at the KOA.
Committed locally
3 days sold-out, 2 stages, 27 bands and a full campground. In short: If there had been walls, they would have shaken. The KOA was once again a complete success this year. Not least thanks to the great efforts of the satis&fy trainees. After all, the new trainees got straight down to business at the festival. Barely two weeks after starting their training, they had the opportunity to experience the event industry at first hand. And to gain their first project experience.
The KOA is organized entirely on a voluntary basis by the Kulturscheune Karben e.V. association. As a good neighbor, satis&fy has been supporting the festival for many years with lighting, sound, stage construction, energy supply and infrastructure. “Many members work at the festival on a voluntary basis, whether setting up and dismantling, organizing or on the show days. It’s a big party every year,” says Martin Schuster, technical planner for audio at satis&fy and an active participant at the KOA for many years.
Sandra Kessler, Training Coordinator, adds: “This is a great opportunity for our new trainees to work with experienced colleagues and learn their first tricks on the trade. And, above all, to get a taste of their future industry.”
The full KOA program
But it is also clear that it takes a lot of work to organize such an event. That’s why full commitment was required for a whole week. It all started in the warehouse. Together with experienced colleagues, the trainees were responsible for putting together the right materials and then packing them.
The next step was to load the trucks and transport everything to the festival site – which is conveniently located just a few hundred meters from the headquarters at Dögelmühle. On site, the agenda included setting up the trailer stages and installing the lighting, sound and video technology. All the staff had plenty to do. And that was not all: on the show days, stage management, stage conversions, artist support and many other tasks were on the to-do list.
Learning from and with each other
The KOA Festival is a project close to the hearts of many satis&fy employees. Most of them have been supporting the event on a voluntary basis for years. The preparations and work on site therefore not only take place under the watchful eye of the training team, but are also supervised by experienced satis&fy employees and trainees in their second and third year. “Many of us are not only long-standing members, but also former trainees. So we know from our own experience what it feels like to start out in the event industry. This mix of ‘newbies and old hands’ makes the project even more special,” emphasizes Martin Schuster. It was definitely a great start for the trainees.
“It really surprised me how much has to happen in the background so that the bands can play and the audience can party. All in all, it was a great experience that only confirmed my choice of career.”
– Nathaniel Gobena, trainee event engineering.
Many thanks for your commitment and a fantastic KOA weekend!
We wish all trainees a good start. And we are already looking forward to next year.
Photos: Markus Schreiber / Anna Imm