Ah, event coordination—the noble art of turning chaos into a well-catered PowerPoint marathon. You’ve seen the glossy photos: eco-chic lanyards, ethically sourced coffee, a smiling intern standing next to a malfunctioning projector. What you haven’t seen are the panic attacks behind the buffet table or the frantic Slack messages that begin with “Can someone PLEASE tell me where the keynote speaker went?”
Welcome to the Stockholm Environment Institute’s Communications, Learning, and Impact Division, where you, bright-eyed intern, will help make “sustainable engagement” look effortless—on an unpaid basis, of course.
Let’s unpack this circus.
1. The Dream: Saving the World, One Name Tag at a Time
At SEI, event coordination isn’t just logistics—it’s diplomacy, sociology, and caffeine dependency combined. You’re not just booking a room; you’re building bridges between climate scientists and policymakers… while ensuring the Wi-Fi doesn’t collapse under the weight of PowerPoint animations.
You’ll plan workshops that “drive impact” and “translate research into action,” which is code for “finding a way to make a two-hour Zoom call feel less like a hostage situation.” You’ll orchestrate conferences where everyone agrees the buffet was “excellent,” but no one can remember a single panel topic.
But hey, impact is impact.
2. The Internship: Six Months in the Trenches of Sustainability Chic
Contract: Six months.
Location: Stockholm, Sweden.
Compensation: Not a euro.
Perks: You get to tell people you “work in climate.”
Reality: You “volunteer in spreadsheets.”
You’ll join a team dedicated to engaging stakeholders, enhancing knowledge exchange, and making PowerPoint slides behave. You’ll assist with everything from “internal learning events” (read: polite chaos) to “international conferences” (read: polite chaos, but with translation headsets).
And while the listing promises “meaningful experiences that lead to real changes in policy and practice,” what it really means is you’ll learn that the printer only jams during emergencies and that sustainable catering is somehow both expensive and unpopular.
3. Your Job Description (a.k.a. “All of It”)
Event Planning
You’ll “learn to plan, organize, and deliver” events ranging from cozy in-office learning sessions to 300-person hybrid conferences where half the participants forget to unmute. You’ll gain skills in booking rooms, coordinating coffee breaks, and pretending to know what an HDMI splitter is.
Your event checklist will look something like this:
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Room booked ✅
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Zoom link sent ✅
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Speaker confirmed ✅
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Speaker cancels ✅
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New speaker found ✅
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New speaker has no slides ✅
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“We’ll fix it in post” ✅
Scheduling
You’ll “develop scheduling skills,” which means you’ll live in Google Calendar. You’ll learn the delicate ballet of finding one 60-minute slot that works for 14 time zones, 3 departments, and that one professor who “doesn’t do mornings.” You’ll also discover that “adherence to timelines” is a fantasy concept, like unicorns or a paid environmental internship.
Stakeholder Engagement
You’ll “collaborate with vendors, partners, and participants,” which is HR-speak for “you’ll send 37 reminder emails to the same person who will reply two weeks later with, ‘Sorry, I missed this—are we still on?’”
You’ll learn the difference between stakeholders and stake-holders: the former are VIPs; the latter are interns clinging to their sense of purpose.
Promotion
You’ll “contribute to promotional activities,” meaning you’ll beg your friends to retweet a webinar poster featuring a scientist who looks slightly terrified. You’ll also “extend event reach” through “social media campaigns,” which sounds exciting until you realize the only engagement your post gets is a bot named EcoLad_420 commenting “Nice.”
Documentation
You’ll “support record-keeping and post-event evaluations.” Translation: you’ll transcribe feedback that says, “Great event! Too long.” You’ll distribute surveys that no one completes and then spend two hours turning three responses into a 12-page “Insights Report.”
The highlight? Labeling folders like:
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“Final Agenda FINAL v3 FINAL”
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“Event Photos (Unflattering)”
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“Feedback_Results_Do_Not_Show_Management.xlsx”
Webpage Management
You’ll “build and update event webpages in WordPress.” You’ll fight with formatting like it’s a boss battle. You’ll think you’ve aligned the images—until you check on mobile and it looks like modern art.
Knowledge Sharing
You’ll help improve the Knowledge Management Hub, which is basically a SharePoint folder with hopes and dreams. You’ll upload “resources” that no one will read and rename files so they “follow the naming convention” that no one follows.
4. The Requirements: Because Hope Springs Eternal
SEI wants a “motivated individual with an interest in event planning, climate change, and sustainable development.” That’s HR shorthand for “someone willing to work for free and not complain when the coffee runs out.”
Here’s what you need:
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Strong attention to detail: You’ll notice everything—the misspelled name tags, the crooked banners, the way the keynote’s mic keeps echoing “like a climate emergency metaphor.”
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Excellent written and spoken English: Because you’ll need to write polite reminders like, “Just checking if you’ve had a chance to review the document I sent last month?” without sounding desperate.
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Previous event planning experience: Not required, but you’ll wish you had it by day three.
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Ability to thrive in a collaborative environment: Meaning: you’ll do the work of four people while three of them are in “strategy alignment calls.”
5. The Fine Print: “Unpaid but Worth It”
Let’s address the glacier in the room: the internship is unpaid. Completely unpaid. But you must be “fully funded and insured by external sources.” Translation: Bring your own money, bring your own health plan, and maybe bring a sleeping bag in case you can’t afford rent.
This is, of course, for your development. You’ll “gain valuable professional experience,” “build connections,” and “learn to navigate complex systems.” You’ll also learn that passion doesn’t pay Stockholm rent and that free coffee is a currency of hope.
They call it “empowering future leaders.” You call it “working for exposure.” But exposure builds character, right? Right?
6. The Application: The Ritual of Bureaucratic Self-Praise
Applications must include:
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A cover letter explaining what you’d “like to do” and how it “relates to your studies.” Translation: Convince us you’re excited about unpaid labor.
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A CV with one reference (preferably someone who hasn’t ghosted you).
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All written in English, because your passion for sustainability must be grammatically correct.
You’ll write lines like:
“I am passionate about sustainable development and eager to contribute to meaningful impact through event coordination.”
But deep down, you’ll know your real motivation is:
“I need this internship to graduate and maybe justify my environmental studies degree to my parents.”
7. The Setting: Stockholm—Where Sustainability Meets Seasonal Depression
Stockholm, the land of fjords, fika, and fluorescent vests. You’ll commute through snow to organize a “Spring Sustainability Symposium” in January. You’ll discuss the carbon footprint of air travel while eating imported avocados. You’ll marvel at how everyone’s desk plant is thriving despite the lack of sunlight and how every office conversation begins with “So how’s your thesis going?”
Still, it’s a stunning city—and the perfect backdrop for pretending your unpaid internship is glamorous. You’ll post photos of conference rooms with captions like:
“So grateful to be part of impactful climate action at #SEI 🌍✨”
Meanwhile, you’ll be wondering how to afford your next cup of oat milk latte.
8. The Team: Scientists, Strategists, and the Spreadsheet Squad
You’ll work with the Communications, Learning and Impact Division, which sounds like an Avengers team for PowerPoint users. Everyone has a title like “Senior Knowledge Mobilization Specialist” or “Impact Integration Coordinator,” and you’ll spend three weeks trying to figure out what that means.
Your direct contact is the Event Coordinator, who’s probably juggling six conferences, 200 emails, and one crisis involving missing name badges. You’ll admire her ability to stay calm under pressure—until you realize she’s just disassociating.
You’ll also meet Filippa, the HR Specialist, who reminds you gently that the internship is “unpaid” every time you mention housing costs. HR’s motto: empathy in theory, Excel in practice.
9. The Mission: Saving the World Through Strategic Seating Arrangements
SEI describes itself as an “international non-profit research institute tackling climate, environment and sustainable development challenges.” Which means you’ll spend your days deciding whether it’s more sustainable to print 300 programs on recycled paper or email them as PDFs that no one opens.
You’ll coordinate events that “connect science to policy,” meaning you’ll watch as brilliant researchers explain climate models to policymakers who respond with, “Interesting, but how does this affect next quarter’s budget?”
But don’t lose hope. Change happens in small ways—like replacing bottled water with tap, or convincing one scientist to shorten their PowerPoint title from “An Interdisciplinary Framework for Integrated Resilience in Ecosystem-Based Adaptation in Coastal Communities” to “Resilient Coasts.”
Progress.
10. The Reality: Chaos, Coffee, and Crisis Management
Here’s what event coordination actually looks like:
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09:00 – The caterer calls: “We thought it was next Thursday.”
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09:15 – The keynote’s flight is delayed.
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09:30 – The livestream link isn’t working.
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10:00 – You’re Googling “how to fix echo on Zoom” while smiling professionally.
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11:00 – Someone asks if there’s vegan gluten-free coffee.
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12:00 – You realize the event hashtag is already used by a K-pop fandom.
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14:00 – The projector bulb burns out.
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14:05 – Someone says, “Let’s make this interactive.”
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16:00 – Feedback forms are “optional,” which means no one fills them out.
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17:00 – You collapse, muttering “impact” like it’s a mantra.
You’ll start seeing your reflection in the catering trays. You’ll have dreams about PowerPoint slides and nightmares about broken name tags. You’ll develop the ability to smile through disaster—a skill useful in both event management and politics.
11. The Irony: Sustainable Events, Unsustainable Internships
There’s something poetic about unpaid sustainability internships. The organization fights for environmental justice while quietly fueling the carbon footprint of interns commuting three buses across Stockholm because they can’t afford central rent.
You’ll hear phrases like “empowering youth engagement” while eating yesterday’s leftover muffins. You’ll create events about “climate equity” while wondering if heating your apartment counts as a luxury.
But hey, at least you’re learning resilience—which is also a key metric in climate adaptation frameworks. Coincidence? Hardly.
12. The Outcome: The Glow-Up of Experience
By the end of your six months, you’ll have:
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A portfolio of event pages no one visits
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A LinkedIn headline that says “Event Coordination Intern at SEI”
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A newfound appreciation for paid labor
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A sense of pride that you survived Stockholm winter
You’ll understand project management, stakeholder diplomacy, and crisis triage. You’ll know the exact number of pastries needed to prevent a mutiny during a workshop (hint: more than you ordered). You’ll gain the confidence to say “Let’s take that offline” in any context.
And when someone at a networking event asks what you do, you’ll smile and say, “I create impact.” Because “I schedule scientists” just doesn’t have the same ring.
13. The Moral of the Story: You Are the Glue
Event coordination is the invisible backbone of progress. Without you, the PowerPoints wouldn’t load, the chairs wouldn’t align, and the impact reports wouldn’t have photos. You are the unsung hero of every “successful” event—the one who ensures the microphone works just long enough for the Director to say, “Let’s thank our intern.”
Your contribution might not end up in a peer-reviewed journal, but it lives forever in Google Drive folders and blurry event photos. And when the next climate treaty gets signed, just remember: it all started with someone like you ordering the right kind of cookies.
14. Epilogue: Apply Now (Before Sanity Returns)
Applications close 26 October 2025, and spots fill faster than a compost bin at a vegan conference. So polish your CV, write that earnest cover letter, and prepare for the adventure of being underpaid, overworked, and somehow overqualified.
Because at the end of the day, event coordination isn’t just about planning.
It’s about passion, resilience, and the ability to find the HDMI cable no one labeled.
So apply now, future impact architect. The planet may be burning, but at least your name tags will be aligned.