Summit set to hit highest point yet

**If you’ve set foot on campus this year then you’ll probably have noticed that Warwick seems to host more conferences, more forums and more ‘themed weeks’ than really seems reasonable.** Rarely does a week pass in which it’s possible to slip into the library without being accosted by one enthusiastic leaflet-waving conference type or another. In a single term dozens of these types of events will come and go – Warwick International Development Summit, Warwick China Forum, One World Week, TEDx Warwick, Warwick Asia Summit and Go Green Week are just a few of the more conspicuous examples.

And so, at a university which can rightfully claim to be home to more summits than the average mountain range, it’s pretty odd that one should stand out above all the others.
Why is it that after twelve years the annual Warwick Economics Summit still draws the largest crowds? What is it that entices students from such far-flung fields as Beijing, Bombay, Harvard, Havana and Helsinki, and speakers from governments, banks, universities, newspapers and international organisations across the globe?

“I couldn’t tell you for sure,” says Harry Brooks, PAIS finalist and overall co-coordinator of this year’s event. “We’ve always found that the figures who come to speak at the Summit are extremely generous with their time – I think because they like the idea of a serious top-end Summit run entirely by undergraduate students. They also do so entirely free of charge, which says something about the nature of the weekend.”

“George Akerlof [the Nobel Prize-winning economist who headlined the 2012 Summit] said it was the most wonderful conference he’d ever been at. Our speakers just seem to enjoy talking to genuinely intelligent and inquisitive students. I suppose it’s part of the Summit’s charm.”
If it’s the charm of the Summit that reels in the big names every year, it’s the big names in turn that attract the students. Since its inception in 2002, the Summit has welcomed a brace of Nobel Laureates, a collection of the world’s finest academics, senior figures from the IMF, the World Bank, the UN and the Bank of England, financial journalists from the Economist, the Financial Times and the BBC and, in the midst of the greatest finanial crash in modern history, Chancellor of the Exchequer Alastair Darling.

This year’s bill is topped by Business Secretary Vince Cable, whose stock has risen somewhat since he last spoke at the Summit in 2006. He is joined by Andrew Bailey, the City’s most powerful regulator, and Supachai Panitchpakdi, one-time head of the World Trade Organsiation and now Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development – amongst many others.
“Our talks team did a brilliant job this year,” reflects Antonia Fischer, the third year Maths and Economics student who forms the other half of this year’s executive duo. She puts unprecedented demand for tickets down to the stellar line-up. “We knew that tickets would sell quickly, but we didn’t anticipate anything like the demand we experienced.” After a glitch in the SU’s ticketing system was sorted, tickets sold out in just 12 minutes. “It’s sad in a way,” she continues. “Based on our web stats we think about 1000 people were online trying to bag 200 tickets. We’ve worked hard to put the Summit together, and we’d love for everybody to be able to come. But it’s just not feasible.”

It’s ironic that supply and demand has proven to be an issue for an economics summit. “We tried very hard to secure a larger venue on campus, but in the end it proved impossible,” Antonia explains. Some would say that doubling the price of a ticket might have brought down demand and turned a tasty profit. “Sure,” she fires back. “But that’s not what the Summit is about. We’re not trying to make a huge profit – we’re trying to put on an event for Warwick students. We charge what we have to but no more.”

Perhaps inevitably, the Summit has its critics. Some turn their noses up at what they perceive to be the “corporate” nature of the event. It’s true that it attracts sponsorship from big banks every year, but it’s a charge which organisers feel is unfair. “We’re really just a group of Warwick students trying our best to continue a Warwick tradition”, says Antonia, as Harry nods. “Without our sponsors the event wouldn’t happen,” he adds. “It’s as simple as that.”

It’s easy to forget that everything that happens at the Summit is orchestrated by a relatively small team of volunteers. At any given point in the year a small hub of students will be working away behind the scenes, either making preparations or getting ready to hand the baton on to the next year’s organisers. For the 2013 team, the job is almost done.

“It’s down to everybody who comes along now,” Harry says, with an air of finality. “We’ve worked pretty hard, but ultimately it’s the hundreds of students who come along on the weekend who make the Summit what it is. We just hope it lives up to what they expect.”
WES takes place 15-17 February