The Long-distance Woman
Event manager Silvana Schneider likes a challenge when she goes on holiday
Up a hill and down across dirt tracks and gravel with sore feet and 11-kilo baggage on her back. When Silvana Schneider goes on holiday, she seeks out the extreme to find peace. She hiked the Camino de Santiago through Portugal and Spain in April; 250 kilometres between Porto and Santiago in 11 days. She came back and was, in her own words, “super-relaxed.”
“Personally, and emotionally, I am so devoted to my job that I have difficulties letting go,” she says about her holiday dilemma. “My mind is always here in Adlershof.” She has been managing events on behalf of WISTA-MANAGEMENT GMBH for many years, including conferences, business events, trade shows, seminars, and exhibitions. She is responsible for anything that comes up, including equipment, catering, security, speakers and cleaning. Whatever the issue, she is there to give advice: “We offer a full-service package. The perfect event.”
Exercising, activity and competitive sports have been the lifeblood of the 41-year-old since her childhood. When she was in school, she was a shot putter and javelin thrower in Ziltendorf an der Oder, her hometown. Today, she heads the volleyball team “The Elks” of Ziltendorf’s local fire brigade and sports club.
Despite moving to Berlin at age 16 for her business management training at WISTA, she never lost touch with her hometown in the Oder Valley. Later, she did an open university course at the University of Düsseldorf and graduated as an event manager. When she started working in Adlershof in 1993, the town’s main street Rudower Chaussee still had barbed wire on each side. Only people with an ID card had access to the compound.
Schneider’s first job was in the event service department, which has since been renamed WISTA conventions. A team of four is responsible for 320 annual events and guided tour. They apply the highest standards to their work, particularly in dealing with customers: “Much of it is just empathy. We need to act from experience and follow our gut.” She first discovered that challenging activities helped her to let go of work-related thoughts when she started going on weekend trips for training and tournaments with her volleyball team from Zittendorf. “Pure relaxation,” she says.
In 2009, she and her friends canoed across the lakes of South Sweden for two weeks. Five years later, she felt ready for the Camino de Santiago. She arrived back home with pains in her knees after having managed the 500 kilometres between Burgos and Santiago in the north of Spain in just 21 days. While on the road, she realised that a pilgrimage must not be as hard: “Some people are shipped there on the AIDA cruise ship and crammed into buses.” This is clearly not for her.
By Winfried Dolderer for Adlershof Journal