Interview with BTU Alumnus André Krämer (Stadt und Regionalplanung, Architektur)

André is a creative and organized multi-talent, as well as a successful entrepreneur. He studied urban and regional planning and architecture at the BTU in Cottbus and already gained start-up and business experience in the graphics, media and marketing sector during his studies. Among other things, he won the multimedia prize of the city of Cottbus. In the meantime, he also worked at the press office of the BTU and is well remembered at the BTU College. Gradually, event management, gastronomy and even construction were added to his entrepreneurship. As founder and managing director of the broad-based inevent group of companies, he realizes contracts and events throughout Germany. In addition, most of the BTU in Cottbus were probably already his satisfied Jimmy's Diner customers, where he is also managing director. If you haven't been there yet, you should make up for it.

Hello André, you work successfully in very many areas, how did it come about and what skills from architecture still help you today?
Already during my studies I noticed that I was particularly interested in the field of visualization. During various internships I worked specifically in these areas and also participated in various architectural competitions, where the presentation and communication was basically very much in the foreground. Soon I started to design graphics and publications, among others for the BTU, in addition to typical architectural representations, and I also wanted to design posters and flyers for parties. Unfortunately, there were not so many events on campus, so I started to organize university parties - every Wednesday. Always alternating with student councils and other organizers. In the end, I enjoyed organizing them so much that I decided to organize events at other universities as well. For example at the University of Regensburg, FH Rosenheim and even at the University of Innsbruck in Austria. This all happened parallel to my architecture studies, which did not suffer. After my studies I started to focus more on gastronomy. Out of a request for the summer party 2013 at the BTU I developed a mobile cocktail bar (CCKTLBR), which I had perfected with a colleague to the point that we were ready for big parties, for which we applied the following year. So, in the following year, we were able to treat guests to our delicious cocktails at 15 city festivals. We always realized the actions as a small group with friends and acquaintances, whom I had met during my studies, which is why the atmosphere was always excellent with us, which, as I unfortunately often noticed, is not the rule at all. We were therefore often approached and soon had the opportunity to offer food at the largest festivals in Germany with another partner and are also the market leader in this area with our brand Pommes Pervers.

However, I have not completely turned my back on architecture. Parallel to gastronomy, I have always kept in touch with fellow students from my studies, with whom I was then able to collaborate on various projects. In the meantime, I have an installation company with my inevent intercon GmbH, which not only designs building facades for the Cottbus building management company, but also mainly operates throughout Germany in the field of low-current technology in buildings. Among other things, we install fire alarm, access and security systems as well as network technology for federal banks and prisons. A current project, for which we are currently the construction management of the weak current technology, is the Tower One, a high-rise building, which is being built in the center of Frankfurt am Main.

Which events exactly do you realize with your companies?
Gastronomically, we are present throughout Germany at large festivals and festivals such as the Hurricane, Highfield or the Lollapalooza. But we also run our own events as an agency, where all aspects of the event industry play a role. Besides two cocktail bars at the Waldbühne in Berlin, there are about 100 events where we can be found.

When one sees you and your team at work at events, one immediately notices that you have a lot of fun doing it. What makes presence events so special for you?
The direct feedback of the guests is certainly one of the main aspects why I like to organize events. You can tell right away whether people are having fun and you quickly get into conversation. People often say that it's not work at all when you work at a concert or festival. But here I often have to disappoint people. We work a lot. However, the work is so varied and working in a team is so much fun that you enjoy doing the activities, whatever they are, and then the work itself actually takes a back seat.

You already gained start-up experience during your studies, what tips do you have for students who also want to work independently alongside their studies?
I have to say that there is no one way. Things often happen that result in new opportunities. At least that's how it was for me. Anyone who has an idea, even if the implementation is not yet fully thought out, should pursue the goal and look for partners. This already starts during your studies. The university not only offers excellent conditions for the implementation of projects, but is also a great breeding ground for ideas. From my own experience, I can say that the best ideas come from a casual conversation over coffee or a late-night drink. You should definitely take this time to talk to someone about your ideas. Often, the second step comes almost automatically from this because the person you are talking to knows someone who knows someone. You can think of the university as a big network of players who each have ideas and skills.

You also offer many jobs for students. What are these mainly jobs, who can get in touch with you and at what times do you mainly need support?
Indeed, we have a great need for mini-jobbers who would like to earn some extra money besides their studies or working at our events. There is the nice side effect that the studies are almost not influenced by the events, because they take place almost exclusively on weekends. If you are interested, please contact us at festivals@inevent.org. We will then send you an overview of the events. We will then send you a list of events from which you can choose the ones you want to attend. For our installation company we are also looking for working students, mainly from the fields of electrical engineering, civil engineering or similar, who are interested in getting to know the practical side of weak current and data technology installation. If you are interested, please contact us at montage(at)inevent.org.