WorldSkills Europe is part of the WorldSkills movement – a group of people and organisations, including WorldSkills International, that together advance the shared social objective of increasing the provision and development of skills.
WorldSkills Europe organises EuroSkills – a biennial event which brings together hundreds of young professionals from 32 member countries to compete in 45 different skill competitions, all for the chance to be named ‘Best in Europe’ in their individual skills.
Campaign Collective partnered with WorldSkills Europe to provide interim communications support as the organisation restructured its team.
Campaign Collective Member Tom York joined the WorldSkills Europe team in 2019 to create, build, and deliver a communications strategy for the organisation ahead of the eighth edition of the EuroSkills Competition, which was scheduled to take place in autumn 2020 in Graz, Austria.
Media interest from around the globe
Following the outbreak of Covid-19, EuroSkills Graz was postponed twice before being rescheduled to 22-26 September 2021. Subsequent increased media interest in the event (the first international event permitted in Austria since the beginning of the pandemic) saw Tom’s remit extended to cover leadership of all international marketing, media, and communications activity for the Competition.
Tom’s responsibilities at EuroSkills Graz 2021 included: media relations, hosting international media briefings with journalists from 19 different countries, media centre management and oversight of 20 members of staff, developing a crisis communications strategy, creating content for ceremonies and conferences, speech writing, and oversight of all photography, video and digital content.
More than 300 journalists at 100 different newspapers, websites, TV and radio stations from visited EuroSkills Graz 2021 – including France, Germany, Portugal, Switzerland, Belgium, Italy, Liechtenstein, and Portugal to name just a handful.
Tom said: “EuroSkills provides an incredible international platform for exceptional young professionals to compete and perform at the highest level,
“I am proud to have played a part in helping competitors at EuroSkills get the media exposure they so rightly deserve, and which will inspire other young people about the success that can be achieved by following a technical and vocational education pathway,” Tom added.
EuroSkills Graz 2021 in numbers
- 400 young skilled professionals and 400 industry experts from 19 countries.
- 38 different skill competitions.
- 30,000 visitors, including 10,000 students.
- 300 journalists from 100 newspapers, websites, TV and radio stations across Europe.
- 6,600+ media mentions between September to October 2021.
- 62,000 views of Opening and Closing Ceremony livestreams.
- 5,900 professional photos uploaded to media centre resources site.
- 7 short promotional films produced to share excitement, drive, and emotion of event.
Find out more about WorldSkills Europe and future EuroSkills Competitions at worldskillseurope.org.