Marietta Gädeke is Chief of Staff of the WUDC. She has recruited, organized and motivated a team of over 200 volunteers from all around the world. Martin Funck, Chief Editor of the wudcwatch, talked to her.

Marietta Gädeke, Chief of Staff, after 4 days of work for WUDC 2013

Martin Funck: Two hundred sounds like a lot. How did you organize such a large team?

Marietta: It took us two days to get things going. Our original plan how to allocate personnel resources didn’t work. So we changed our system dramatically: Now, our volunteer dispatchment uses a huge wall with post-its to keep track of every volunteer. That way, we always know the location and task of each volunteer. Also, we established numerous ways of keeping in touch with them, for example via SMS. It is very important to keep the team well informed to create a positive atmosphere.

Martin Funck: What motivates you as Chief of Staff?

Marietta: Many volunteers are very young and, quite understandably, hesitated at the outset to take on important positions. It is great to see how they developed their skills and have grown to take on responsibility and leadership. That is a great motivation for me. Plus, nobody of us is getting any money out of this and ninety percent of our volunteers are students. So it is incredible to see what we pulled together.

Martin Funck: What will remain after the Worlds?

Marietta: Organizing Worlds has really brought Germany’s debate community together. In the past, the usual rivalries made it difficult for some clubs to cooperate with one another. The situation is very much different now. We all have had to overcome differences and to support each other to make Worlds possible. Our work has been very good for Berlin and the whole German debate community and I’m very proud of that.