Photo: Velo-city Adelaide

ECF is excited to announce the arrival of our newest staff member, Marcio Deslandes, who will take on the role of Velo-city Series Manager.

Marcio is not only an experienced professional in organizing international events. He is also a true “citizen of the world”. Half French, half Portuguese and raised in Brazil, he possesses three nationalities and speaks no less than five languages –English, Portuguese, French, Spanish and German-. In his words, “growing up with three different cultures made me not only understand but also appreciate differences”. We caught up with Marcio and asked him a few questions so that you can get to know him better. With Velo-city Global 2014 Adelaide well under way, it is going to be busy around here for everyone!

What is the most important characteristic for the manager of the largest cycling conference in the world?

In my opinion, the manager of a conference such as Velo-city should, first of all, be someone engaged in cycling as a life style for a better world. In order to spread the cause in a global level, there is nothing better than having someone with a multicultural background who can understand and appreciate the differences in the world. That is how I think my characteristics fit in the role quite well.

I left home after university to continue my studies in America. Then I wanted to go on discovering the world and decided to move to London, UK, where I had a very business oriented job. After eight years in England, I felt that I would like to do something different. Berlin was the most appealing city for me at that moment for all the creative and exciting things happening there; so I decided to go. There I studied German, got to know lots of artists and became aware of the interesting European youth movement. It was nice to see that the young people were developing a European feeling above their nationality. We were first Europeans and then German, Portuguese, Spanish, etc. Enthusiastic with the European idea, I made up my mind and moved to Brussels to pursue a master course in EU politics.

For the past two years I have managed events in the medical field in diverse parts of the world dealing with different cultures and venues - some of them for over 3000 people.

What makes a conference successful?

As per my experience, I believe that an event has to be organized based in three elements: emotional – involvement of the participants; intellectual - content of the programme and preferably with a multidisciplinary approach; and interaction – building of the programme allowing activities and time for the participants to create a network, and further exchange. Also, the three of them should complement each other, in my point of view. For me, it is very important that the programme of an event should be built with a multidisciplinary approach. After all, most of us live in a diverse way nowadays.  In my opinion, the attendees of a conference should feel comfortable and integrated from the very start in order to make the conference an experience of a lifetime for everyone involved.

What are your expectations from Velo-city Global 2014 Adelaide?

 How could we not have great expectations of a conference such as Velo-city? Firstly, I find it is a great initiative of the government of South Australia to bring to a country highly dependent on road transport a conference focused on cycling. Not to mention all the development being done in Adelaide to encourage the population to cycle. Hopefully, Velo-city 2014 will be a great opportunity to spread the news to the other big cities in Australia.

The second important point of Velo-city in Adelaide is the rich programme approaching various topics of the cycling world. However, I have to say that I am very interested and excited about all the side events that are organized. Specially, the fact that our conference will take place together with the Adelaide Fringe Festival; I am sure it will make Velo-city even livelier that it already is. Honestly, I cannot wait to live this experience to the fullest!

You and cycling: A story of…

Even though I started cycling in my home city –South Zone of Rio- It all really started when I was in studying in Colorado, US. I used to trek a lot through the Rocky Mountains and one day a mountain biker crossed my path. It was when I had a light bulb moment and decided to train and mountain bike instead of trekking. It was awesome to bike in that beautiful scenery.

Unfortunately, I gave up biking when I moved to London. The city did not have the infrastructure it has today. It was in Berlin that cycling became part of my routine again, a habit that continues even here in Brussels.

Cycling is also what brought me to ECF! I discovered the vacancy for Velo-city series Manager while looking for a route to cycle from Dubrovnik to Tirana this summer. I started checking on the page of EuroVelo and was surprised with all the great work ECF is doing. And it looks like cycling will be even more in the centre of my life from now on.