Every year the Winterball is the highlight event for HSRW. On Thursday 17th, “The Show Night” took place as always at the Wunderland Kalkar. There was a race for tickets and all was sold-out in short time. Buffet, drinks, good music, professional entertainers, and even a tombola for charity were offered. Campus 107 interviewed the chief in command, Tina Hafner.
Campus107: How long has the Winterball been on? And who organises it?
Miss Hafner: This was the 7th Winterball at our Hochschule. Each event is organised by few AStA members. The body plays the juridical person role while the actual organisation is done by volunteers. I`ve been in the process for 3 editions now and this year I organised it by myself in cooperation with AStA, FSR, and Eventbüro Bettray. To set it all up, I had lots of students (freshers & seniors) who volunteered their free time to help me.
Sincere thanks go to Steffen Bettray, Sarah Walter, Iman Hammon, Jasmin Borgert, Laura Schirmer, Lea Schiffers, Lukas Hendricks, Marie Kempkens, Richard Menning, Theresa Faßbänder, Tobias Wahlers, Sani Wahjudi, Tobi Hauck, Selina Maas, Nina Tiedemann, Sebastian Schneller, Nora Ruscher, Madeleine Bentgens, Marina Stienecker, Mareike Müller, Kira Petig, Lara Khedher, Felipe Moroder-Bendyk, Jessica Jung, Cora Klockenbusch, King Wong, Felix Heinz (19, Ersti), Marius Köhler, Ann-Kathrin Effertz, Raoul Brüntgens, Freddy Friedsam, Chris Gassel, Caro Rösner, Thomas Lasinski, Matt Anton, Selin and Merve Keles – you guys made this event such a success!
Campus107: How long did it take this year to put together? And how did you choose the theme?
Miss Hafner: It started in May 2015 and went on till the very last day. We wanted to make something special and improve the show part of the Winterball. We have so many parties at our Hochschule so I thought that we needed something different: a bigger show with a lot of entertainment that you don’t see every day.
Campus107: Was it harder to manage than previous years? And how was participation compared to previous years (since tickets were more expensive)?
Miss Hafner: I can’t really tell if it was harder or easier. Being in charge makes things easier to manage since you don`t lose time in discussions, but at the same you’re responsible for everything so if something goes wrong it`s up to you to fix it.
The Winterball has been improving year after year, since it first started: we went from 500 participants in 2012 to 1800 this year!
Campus107: Why were tickets more expensive?
Miss Hafner: The event has changed and grown bigger. For the previous years the equipment at the Wunderland location was enough, but this time we needed to rent a lot of extra stuff, for example one chair costs 3.50€ and one small tablecloth is 8€. All the small things like the golden wire wrapped around the bottles, the candles, and the roses. Also insurance was more expensive, and money was needed for security, ambulance, buses. Technical equipment, sound system, the photobox installed at the entrance, all this needed to be paid for. And the list goes on, but that was still cheap- imagine if I had to pay all of the volunteers for their work! It took 15-20 people, one week, 9-12 hours a day to just decorate and set tables and cutlery.
Campus107: Who were the performers and did you get a feedback from them?
Miss Hafner: At the beginning, Bakerstreet, one of the Hochschule bands, and Lena,the brilliant floor acrobat, gave the guests a warm welcome. Naomi, Tina, and Viren were our lovely singers. Floor and air acrobatic, juggling, and the fireshow were all acted by Circus Jonny Casselly. The fascinating Latin dancers were Tanja Mielke & Kai Mrowinski. Last but not least, the hip-hop act was given by the award-winning OneCrew. And not to be forgotten, this year, for the second time, Susan Albers chanted us with her voice while playing the piano.
All of them enjoyed the evening very much and loved the audience and the atmosphere. Some performers already asked to be part of the event again next year.
Campus107: Can you comment on the ticket resale that took place on Facebook? And on the wardrobe service as well?
Miss Hafner: I’ve been really sad about the resale. The volunteers and I worked for free to keep the prices as low as possible AND some people try to sell the tickets for a higher fee and think that is fair just because they walked all the way to the Mensa or Audimax to buy them… We are all students, from the same university. Nobody should be ripping off their fellows for profit! Aren’t we supposed to be a helpful, understanding, and supporting community?
Regarding the wardrobe service, it was hired. The company has its own system and it failed. I apologize for that- I thought they could handle it.
All things considered, the event was a hit. Everybody had a good time so hat’s off to Tina and her volunteers for making us spend a wonderful show night.
For photos and videos check Facebook https://www.facebook.com/events/312072428963016/ and Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeLmq2z7aqk&feature=youtu.be
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