The preparations for The Conference on International Affairs in Lund this weekend have been hectic.
“This year will be the first for Lund, and there are standards to be met,” says organiser Joakim Bong Henriksson.
This weekend political celebrities from all over the world are flooding Lund for The Conference on International Affairs, having the theme of “Security and Resources” this year.
As the event draws closer to the first event tomorrow at 11:30am, stress bubbles to a maximum for the organisation team. ”It is too much to juggle school work and preparations at the same time, so we alternate between them” say organisers Lahib Higel and Joakim Bong Henriksson.
But with all events, last-minute stress culmunates from a long period of hard work.
”The whole preparation process began last fall. We have sent over hundreds of invitations to reknown speakers and representatives over the year, and received many refusals. However we now have over 30 significant speakers attending,” says Joakim Bong Henriksson, one of the main organisers for the event.
There will be over 400 expected guests and almost three events will be running parallel to each other every hour for both days, raising the stake for trouble and intensity of organisation.
”One of the speakers booked for a debate had been elected Defence Minister, which made her unavailable. That just shows that some things happen that you can’t plan for,” says Joakim.
Amidst the chaos of planning, organisers Lahib Higel and Joakim Bong Henriksson express that the highlight of the event for them would be the panel discussion on the Middle East.
”We have an interesting set of panelists and there will be special correspondence from Svenska Dagbladet and Dagens Nyheter,” says Lahib Higel.
The final days of preparation consist of errands and minor tweaking. ”It’s just a matter of making sure everything and everyone is in the right place at the right time,” says Lahib Higel.
