Behind the scenes: EuroGames and World Championships Sport Climbing 2023

344 steps lead up to the beautiful Tower Room of Bern Minster, which can be booked for meetings and events. We met with Paddy Käser and Martin Rhyner in this unique meeting location in December 2022. Both are in the middle of preparations for two major events that are taking place almost simultaneously this year - Paddy is on the organising committee of the EuroGames (26 to 29 July 2023). to 29 July 2023), Martin is Managing Director of the World Championships in Sport Climbing (1 to 12 August 2023). What's on your desk at the moment? What will be your biggest "shaking moment"? And what can the people of Bern look forward to most at your event? We asked the two event organisers this and more in a joint interview.

Paddy Käser: Yes, exactly. In six months, this will be the heart of the EuroGames – a village with entertainment and food stalls. In our bid dossier, it was important to us that the event not only take place at various sports locations spread throughout the city but also be accessible to the general public in the city center. The village on the Münsterplatz is meant to be a meeting point for athletes, international guests from the LGBTIQ community, and the people of Bern. We are looking forward to the exchange.

Paddy Käser: The Bern Pride and the Pride Festival on Saturday, July 29, 2023. The Pride parade, under the motto "a Pride for everyone," will go through the old town to the Bundeshaus. Everyone can join in without needing to register, preferably in colorful attire, as we want to bring a bit of rainbow color into the city. On the Bundesplatz, there will be a Pride Festival with various stands, political speeches, and musical acts, where we expect up to 10,000 people. The Pride Festival is also public and accessible without tickets. We hope for a good atmosphere and a cheerful, colorful togetherness, with which we can set a beautiful example in front of the Bundeshaus.

Martin Rhyner: We also have an outdoor village, the so-called "Village of Experience," which is open to the public without tickets and where you can get a taste of the "world of sport climbing" during the six final days. However, our highlight is certainly the finals of the sports competitions. It’s great that Switzerland has very good athletes participating, and we can compete for the world championship medals. Hopefully, this will create a real "party" in the hall with a fantastic atmosphere.

Paddy Käser: We are also happy if the people of Bern cheer on our athletes on-site. In our amateur sports competitions, of course, there are not the same top performances as in the Sport Climbing World Championship. However, with us, there is the chance to watch very special sports like Roller Derby or Quidditch – that is also an experience!

Martin Rhyner: We are currently finalising the sponsorship for the World Championships in Sport Climbing and are therefore moving from rough to detailed planning. We now know the framework conditions and can move on to the details and implementation.

Paddy Käser: We're also at the start of detailed planning, we're planning detailed processes, clarifying interfaces and defining responsibilities. My area is the side events. The party area is already planned and there will be a party every evening in the Bierhübeli as the main location. Now it's time for me to do the detailed planning for the Village and the Pride Festival. We're under time pressure with the booking because the musical acts are now planning their summer. What makes things more difficult is that, unlike with the World Climbing Championships, our financial framework is not yet clear and we are still looking for sponsors. Will there be a musical act in the Village every evening or not? And who will be performing at the Pride Festival? It depends on the financial possibilities. That's why I'm having to juggle a lot of planning at the moment.

Paddy Käser: Yes, exactly! Many things only become clear at a late stage and we have to remain flexible until the event. Not only because of the financial situation, but also because of the registration deadline, for example. The number of participants will only become clear in the spring and, depending on the number of registrations, some sports may be cancelled, which would have an impact on the logistics. And there are also factors such as the weather that we can't influence at all. For example, I have to plan various scenarios for the Pride Festival on Bundesplatz and then take the right "paper" out of the drawer on day X depending on the weather.

Martin Rhyner: For us, the biggest overarching challenge is communication. We want everyone to know about the event and for no one to say afterwards: "Oh, if I had known about it, I would have come". Communication is such a complex construct these days with all these channels. Which ones do we want to use? Which ones make sense? Which ones are affordable? It is challenging to create a "big picture" that is also affordable. If we have a full hall with a good atmosphere, then we have also mastered this challenge well.

Paddy Käser: The moment when around 10,000 people arrive on the Bundesplatz at the end of Bern Pride on 29 July. It has to rock and roll so that people stay there for the Pride Festival, so that the bars and food stalls are lively, so that the atmosphere we want to offer comes across, so that it becomes a festival for everyone. We want everyone to feel comfortable there, and it's that first moment that counts. That will be my personal "Zitter moment". If it goes well, then I'm happy.

Martin Rhyner: For us, it's hugely important for the atmosphere in the hall that the Swiss athletes qualify for the finals and semi-finals. We'll be very excited to see whether they make it or not. They will certainly be nail-biting moments, but that's exactly the "thrill" that's needed.

Paddy Käser: I used to play curling internationally and was also involved in event management as part of my training, for example I worked for the International Curling Federation at the 2018 Paralympics in Pyeongchang. And I'm part of the LGBTIQ community myself. Even as a curling player, it was always important to me to exemplify diversity in sport, and the fact that there is an event that combines this with my professional and sporting expertise is a very nice "match"!

Martin Rhyner: On the one hand, I've known the SAC for a long time through other functions and jobs. On the other hand, I also have the right national network for events in Bern - for example, I used to work for organisations such as the Bern Sports Office or Swiss Olympic and was involved in various functions at the Olympic Games or helped organise the Tour de France arrival in Bern. Thanks to this network, I was brought on board as Managing Director of the World Championships in Sport Climbing.

Paddy Käser: We are organised as an association, with an honorary board consisting of 11 people, a total OC of around 40 people and a small office with one person who takes care of the participants' concerns and registrations. We are a small OC and everyone has a job on the side - I, for example, have been Head of Content and Social Media at Ochsner Sport for the last few years and have recently started my own agency specialising in GenZ content. All of us in the EuroGames OC try to get as much as possible out of the few time resources we have. And at the event itself, we will receive support from around 300 volunteers - interested Bernese people are welcome to get in touch with us.

Martin Rhyner: The unforeseen. In the morning you have a plan, and in the evening you haven't done half of it, but you've done a lot of other things. It's precisely this dynamic that fascinates me personally. And that it's a project that starts at some point and is finished at some point - it breaks the routine and nothing is repeated.

Paddy Käser: I can agree with that. New challenges, new situations, new input and ideas from outside, new people that you get to know in the course of planning an event - it's an ongoing learning process and that's what I enjoy the most.

Paddy Käser: ... yes, exactly. At the EuroGames, we have 25 sports and therefore many different competition locations, from the indoor tennis centre to Bern's Allmend and a large number of sports halls in the city of Bern. All in all, there are a lot of venues and a lot of participants. Logistically, this is the biggest challenge and we were very pleased with the great support we received from the Bern Sports Office.

Martin Rhyner: In contrast, we are in a central location - that was important for us because we have to build a large climbing infrastructure. We are very lucky that the venue is in the PostFinance Arena: we have a perfect infrastructure here, which already has a lot to offer. The arena is normally used for SCB ice hockey matches and is like a "cauldron" that is perfect for creating a good atmosphere. Most of the competitions take place there, and the bouldering qualifications are held in the curling hall right next door.

Martin Rhyner: The SAC was in contact with Bern Welcome very early on and received support for the bid. When it was clear that the event was coming to Bern, the Bern Convention Bureau helped us to find all the interfaces and put us in touch with contacts. And we are currently receiving support for the hotel contingents, for example. This was and is a very important collaboration for us. I can also highly recommend other events to benefit from this "single point of contact".

Paddy Käser: We were supported when we applied to the international association to organise the event. The Bern Convention Bureau helped us with the application dossier, put us in touch with contacts, provided the network and helped us to find accommodation for all 3,500 participants. We in the organising committee are all from the city of Bern, but it was still helpful to have an uncomplicated point of contact for queries and contacts.

Martin Rhyner: The central location in the heart of Switzerland and the proximity to the airports are perfect. I also think that the city of Bern is the ideal size for events. Bern is also very much committed to being a city of sport, which you can feel as an organiser and receive a lot of support. And last but not least, there is a very strong climbing community around Bern and the SAC, the national climbing organisation, is based in Bern. All of this made Bern the perfect venue for us.

Paddy Käser: The central location within Europe and Switzerland was also a clear advantage for us - Bern is ideal for participants to travel to. On the other hand, Bern is a sports city. And Bern is very diverse, is very committed to diversity as a city and also has an LGBT label - accordingly, the guests we receive at the EuroGames are very welcome and that makes Bern the perfect venue for such an event.

Martin Rhyner: We are in negotiations with Swiss television and it looks good at the moment that the finals will be broadcast live. Coverage by the major national media is very important, but for us it goes beyond the borders. We want to position Switzerland as the country that has organised the best world championships in sport climbing, and it is important for us that international media report on it. The event will be broadcast all over the world and there will be special TV stations from Asia reporting on it, for example.

Paddy Käser: Within the community, the EuroGames are also reported on throughout Europe. Outside the community, we will probably be present mainly in Bern and hopefully also nationally. We want to capitalise on this presence. We want to send the message that Bern is a sports city that is very diverse. We want to promote dialogue and reach out to the people of Bern with Bern Pride as a highlight on the last day. And we want to draw attention to the fact that many trans people are excluded from sport. So we don't just have a male and female category, but also a third category. We want to organise an event that is open to everyone, with no barriers to participation, and thus set an example.

Martin Rhyner: It was very important to us to also integrate paraclimbing, that it is simply sport climbing, no matter on which wall and in which form. And for us, the World Championships are very important as a showcase for popular sport. We want to make sport climbing accessible to the general public and children and send the message: Climbing is for everyone. And we also want to show how professionally the sport can be practised.

Martin Rhyner: Just waiting for things to finally get going. At the moment we're still in the long planning phase, everything is just on paper, in theory. I'm really looking forward to when the laptop is closed and we can actually work outside. And, of course, when the finals finally take place and there's a huge, atmospheric party.

Paddy Käser: When the Pride Festival on the Bundesplatz is finished, when the timing is right, when the acts have gone down well, when the last act is through, the music and the lights are off and we can look back on a great event that worked - that's the moment I'm looking forward to.