Participants are expected to gather on the TU/e campus, at the pond next to main building Atlas, on February 27 at 3:45 pm. The record attempt will start at 4 pm. Carnival attire isn’t mandatory, but will add to the atmosphere of course.

The initiative was launched by TU/e employees. ‘We really want to do this together with the region, increasing the solidarity in the Brainport region through carnival. So in a manner of speaking, we’re all joining this conga line,’ says co-organizer and TU/e-community manager Esther Lutterman in a press release from the university.

Internationals

Lutterman and other colleagues see how sentiment toward international knowledge workers and students is changing in the Netherlands. That is why the organizers wants to ‘show solidarity with Brainport residents from other backgrounds’.

Lutterman: ‘Everyone can be part of this. And it’s also a wonderful way of introducing newcomers to our carnival traditions and Brabant hospitality, which benefits the integration process. It will be a celebration of togetherness. After all, we can only break this record if we do it together.’

‘Of course the Executive Board wholeheartedly endorses and supports this great initiative,’ says TU/e President Robert-Jan Smits in the press release. ‘As TU/e, we’re proud of our community and our internationals are obviously part of that. Our Brainport region will not survive without international top talent. That is why it’s extremely important that foreign knowledge workers feel welcome and at home with us, and sharing a bit of Brabant culture with them can certainly help in this regard.’

World record

Officials from the Geneva-based International World Records Organisation will be present to oversee the conga line record attempt. If successful, the record will be sent to the Guiness Book of World Records.

The current record dates back to 2023 and was also set in the Netherlands. At the time, the municipality of Ridderkerk managed to get more than 1,200 people to participate in a conga line during the Radio NL Zomertoer event. Before that, the record was held by 588 people from Slupca, Poland.