Sursee campus: transformation from boarding school to top seminar center

MK: What makes you proud?

Daniel Suter: The Esprix Award differs from all other Swiss business awards because it has to be earned hard and over many years. However, the commitment to consistently outstanding performance is part of the corporate culture at Campus Sursee. Exceeding the expectations of the various stakeholder groups is therefore in our DNA. We have taken a sporting approach to our transformation from a former boarding school to a high-performance seminar center.

What do you mean?

As entrepreneurs, we didn't just want to train, we wanted to compete. The management team benefited from the fact that all of them are - or at least were - ambitious athletes outside of their day-to-day work. Sport is also a school of life for us, and the insights we gained from this school of life have inspired and inspired us.

The Sursee campus has been a training center for the construction industry since 1972; what were the motivations and goals back then?

This goes back to the idea of the Swiss Association of Master Builders. It wanted to create a training center for the whole of Switzerland. This idea became reality in 1972. However, the catering and seminar infrastructure, which was already good at the time, needed to be better utilized seasonally. This led to a change in strategy in 2006: Campus Sursee was transformed and developed into a seminar and conference center and, with the opening of the sports arena in April 2019, Campus Sursee set another milestone. It is thus establishing itself as a training and competition venue for professional sports as well as a public sports facility for clubs, schools and the region.

How did the seminar and conference center come about?

Until then, the capacities of training rooms and hotel beds were used on weekdays in the winter months. In summer and at weekends, the infrastructure was empty. With the general decline in trainees in the construction industry, the infrastructure for training and further education was in danger of being lost. In addition, the deferred maintenance requirements for the buildings were obvious. So the whole thing was a time bomb.

Daniel Suter, Director of the Sursee campus. Right: the conference hall.

This year, the sports arena was added. Why?

The 45-year-old 25-metre indoor pool would have had to be renovated anyway. Market research had shown that there was a need for a 50-metre Olympic pool for international competitions with the corresponding overnight accommodation for athletes and officials. The obvious conclusion was to make our hotel capacities, which were still empty at the weekends, available to the new target groups and to realize the new sports arena in record time.

What emotions do you want to arouse?

Campus Sursee sees itself as a place for the head, heart, hands and stomach. Our size is ideal for events from 300 to 700 people: where else can you find a place that combines 550 hotel rooms, 66 seminar rooms, 5 restaurants, a gigantic sports arena and 1000 guest parking spaces under one roof in a green setting? This gives our customers plenty of opportunities for exciting events and intensive training courses or seminars.

Customer event at the Sursee campus.

How has the campus mastered the digital transformation?

We are taking on a pioneering role with our digital platform and blended learning. In future, holistic skills and a willingness to change will be in demand. Mixed forms of learning and the use of new technologies will be at the forefront. A blended learning system is therefore ideally suited to teaching these skills. And our 500 trainers have become coaches for the students.

Where do you see further challenges?

Continuous improvement as a Team Campus does not allow us to rest on our laurels. We must continue to improve, because excellent organizations achieve outstanding results over the long term. The declining number of employees in the construction industry, the utilization of the sports arena and the development of additional target groups will continue to challenge us in the future. But we are also taking a sporting approach: after the race is before the race.