The aim of the Campus Symposium is to generate knowledge and create a networking platform. The topics selected always capture the spirit of the times. Since 2005, well-known celebrities have come to the marquee town on the banks of the Seilersee in Iserlohn to speak on interesting subjects, heightening the awareness of the guests for the issue.

This year, the Campus Symposium will be focusing on “Communication”. On September 13th and 14th, many interesting and famous people from industry and commerce, society and culture will be addressing the five main topics “Brands”, “Political Communication”, “Entertainment”, “Enterprise- and Market-Related Communication”, and “New Media”.

A “brand” is seldom a brand straight away. Implementing the right strategy and establishing the brand are extremely important and have lasting effects. Strengths and weaknesses need to be assessed; and not all approaches will accomplish the intended objective. The dynamics of a brand can bring it to a variety of key areas in different sectors, from a specific niche market to a broad bandwidth. One possibility of communicating a brand could be reflected, for instance, in the key area “Entertainment”. Even though entertainment may, at first sight, appear to have more in common with the entertainment industry itself and not necessarily with classical communication, it does in fact occupy a special position in this regard – entertainment addresses the listener in a completely different way. At the same time, it is worth exploring how high the potential in this field actually is.

Beauty comes from within. This saying also applies to “Enterprise- and Market-Related Communication” because only a successfully lived internal corporate philosophy will enable a company to have a positive impact on others. But what challenges and obstacles have to be surmounted along this path to success; and can one expect a competitive advantage as a result?

“Political Communication” is gaining more and more significance due to the ever-increasing influence of the media. Accordingly, the interest shown by politicians in the new methods of information transfer is growing rapidly too. Even the German Chancellor uses Twitter to bring more transparency to her job, thus jumping on the “social media” bandwagon. But “social media” is only one wagon of the “New Media” train, and it is developing at breakneck speed. This new virtual interaction has already become firmly anchored in everyday private life – and a rising number of company leaders are now attaching more importance to this type of corporate presentation as well. The diversity of this segment appears to be inexhaustible and new innovations are being launched all the time. This is a challenge to companies not only to keep track of developments, but also to identify opportunities and risks to ensure their success in this sector.

The Campus Symposium is an international business conference organised by students at the BiTS Business and Information Technology School, a private university.
Famous international celebrities who have already spoken in the unique atmosphere of the huge marquee location covering more than 4000 m² include Bill Clinton, General James L. Jones, Lord Chris Patten, Kofi Annan, Gerhard Schröder, Lech Walesa, Edmund Stoiber, Tony Blair, Erich Sixt and Al Gore.