Anke Verstraten has now been working for six years at Jaarbeurs. During that time, she saw the event world change up close: from the quiet months during corona to the full conference agendas of today. But one thing remained the same: her desire to keep developing herself. "A master's was actually always on my list. Together with my then manager, I started looking for the most suitable option."
Anke started at MeetUp. After that, she soon realised she wanted more. More challenge and to take different steps. "I wanted to develop myself and start running bigger events," she says. So after about two years, she switched to conferences: a role that suited her ambition and learning curve better.
A master's alongside your job
The same ambition also played out outside her job. Anke wanted to broaden her knowledge and decided to chase her dream: to study alongside her job. She compared various courses side by side, looked at their practical feasibility and even took a personality test to sharpen her talents, motivations and opportunities for development. This is how she ended up with a part-time premaster and Master of Science in Business Administration at Erasmus University in Rotterdam. "Business administration is a broad field of study and fits well with the hotel school I completed in 2019, as you also get a lot of business subjects there." In practical terms, this course also suited her: "Together with my then manager Niek, we looked at all the options. Apart from the connection to the hotel school, this programme offered me the opportunity to attend lectures on Fridays. I could do that alongside my work. Because that was a requirement for me. I absolutely did not want to stop working at Jaarbeurs."
Spicy, but it can be
It wasn't easy. "It was really quite spicy," says Anke. "But I also found it a nice combination: working and continuing to learn." She once read a story from Jaarbeurs in which a colleague also did a master's degree alongside her work. "Then I thought: okay, so this is possible within this company. Maybe I want that too." And that is immediately the core of what she wants to show with her story: if you want to take that step yourself, there are opportunities. "People want to think with you. But you have to take the reins yourself."
More grip on the organisation
After obtaining her master's in 2024, she did not suddenly organise events in a different way, but she did look at them through different glasses. This is how Anke says: "You understand much better how an organisation is put together. What a board deals with, how decisions are made. And also: a university degree is more analytical. It is much more based on data and facts. Not just doing things by feel, but being able to substantiate." Some subjects also helped her very practically. "Communication and psychology, for example. I do think that helps me in conversations with clients. Sometimes even a small nuance can give a completely different result."
Ambition, but now a bit more focused
Anke is still looking ahead, only differently than before. No longer with one set plan, but with focused exploration. "I still have ambitions," she says. "I think it's important to think about next steps. Precisely because this education is so broad, I now want to really figure out: what do I like, what gives me energy, and what do I want to focus on?"
She does this by having conversations within Jaarbeurs, with colleagues and different departments, and by delving further into directions. She is not standing still, but she wants to choose with feeling and reason. And how far that can go? CEO perhaps? "Who knows," she says with a smile. In any case, she wants to grow.
