|
Tapahtuman viestintä MailChimpillä lähetät upeita uutiskirjeitä ja luot vastauspohjia helposti. Jos lähetät alle 12000 viestiä kuukaudessa ja markkinointirekisterissä on alle 2000 vastaanottajaa, sinä voit käyttää ilmaista versiota.  Kuvakaappaus mailchimp.com/pricing, 31.5.2017 Kyseinen uutiskirjetyökalu on helppokäyttöinen ja sopii myös niille, jotka eivät ole käyttäneet vastaavia apuvälineitä aiemmin. Työkalu sopii mainiosti kutsujen lähetykseen ja sillä on mm. valmiina hienoja tapahtumakutsupohjia. Voit tutustua MailChimpin ratkaisuihin tästä: www.mailchimp.com Jos haluat tietää miten me hyödynnämme Mailchimpia tapahtumiemme markkinoinnissa, voit liityä sähköpostilistaamme tästä: http://eepurl.com/cjnIhf Tehokas kommunikointi Oletko jatkuvan paineen alla ja laulaako sähköpostisi taukomatta? Slack.com tuo helpotusta projektihallintaan. Palvelun kautta tiimisi keskustelut esim. tapahtuman järjestämisestä ja suunnittelusta ovat yhdessä paikassa ja sähköpostisi hengähtää.  Kuvakaappaus slack.com/is, 31.5.2017 Slack voi toimia sisäisenä keskustelufoorumina, jossa jaatte ideoita ja taskeja omalle tiimille. Keskustelujen haku on todella nopea ja paljon helpompaa kuin sähköpostiviestien kaiveleminen. Lisäksi Slackia voidaan käyttää tietopankkina, jonne tallennat ohjeita ja tärkeitä linkkejä. Kun uusi tiimijäsen liittyy joukkoon lähetät hänelle kutsun Slackiin, jotta hän itse voi tutustua ohjeisiin ja löytää vastauksia kysymyksiinsä. Voit katsoa videota Slackista tästä: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RJZMSsH7-g Web-sivut: www.slack.com Omat taskit hallintaan Oletko kontrollifriikki? Siis hyvällä tavalla :) Jos olet, sitten Trellosta tulee lempiapulaisesi. Trellon kautta luodaan tehtävälistoja kaikkiin tarkoituksiin päivän tehtävistä ruokalistoihin.  Kuvakaappaus trello.com/home,31.5.2017 Trelloa voidaan käyttää viikkotehtävien seuraamiseen. Jokainen sarake on viikonpäivä jonka alle kirjataan tehtäviä. Jos joku tehtävistä ei valmistuu kuluvan päivän aikana, sen voi siirtää seuraavalle päivälle. Tulee voittajan tunne, kun saa merkitä tehtävät valmiiksi. Jos joku tehtävä on jo muutaman kerran siirtynyt päivästä toiseen, voit keskittää huomiosi siihen ja varmistat, että tehtävä on suoritettu määräaikaan mennessä. Trello on loistoapulainen kokouksissa. Sillä voidaan luoda muistiinpanoja ja ideoita, joita on helppo myöhemmin ryhmitellä tai asettaa tärkeysjärjestykseen. Trellon esittely: https://trello.com/tour Web-sivut: www.trello.com. Infografiikan mestari Kauniit posterit, raportit ja infografiikat onnistuvat vaikka et olisikaan graafikko. Piktochartista on mm. muutama ilmainen tapahtumapohja. Infografiikka-postauksella voit piristää omaa blogia tai Facebook-sivuasi. Kuvilla ja graafeilla on helppo kertoa tarinoita sekä esitellä tilastoa. Jos et tiedä mistä tekisit ensimmäisen posterin, katso 24 ideaa tästä: https://piktochart.com/blog/awesome-infographic-ideas/  Kuvakaappaus piktochart.com,31.5.2017 Piktochart on minulle itselleni aika uusi työkalu. Aion käyttää sitä aktiivisemmin tänä kesänä, kun teen raportin MPI Finland ry:n jäsenkyselyn tuloksista. Uskon, että infografiikan avulla raportointi voi olla hauskaa ja tehokasta. Älä epäile infografiikan voimia. Infografiikka jaetaan ja tykätään kolme kertaa enemmän kuin muista visuaalisista materiaaleista (lähde). Tästä kyllä saat boostia omaan viestintään, kunhan vain uskallat kokeilla tätä työkalua! Web-sivut: www.piktochart.com Some-ammattilaiseksi Tykkäätkö kaikista some-kanavista vai tuntuuko siltä, että sujuva käyttö onnistuu vain muutamissa ja toiset kanava tuntuvat vierailta? Some-ammattilaisena kannattaa käyttää niitä kanavia, missä asiakkaasi ovat. Eri kohderyhmät voivat käyttää eri kanavia, joten aika usein täytyy hallita 4-5 kanavaa samaan aikaan ja olla yhtä aktiivisena jokaisessa. Tämän ongelman ratkaisee Buffer. Sen ilmaisella versiolla voit hallinnoida muutama kanavaa (mm. Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Google+) ja aikatauluttaa postauksiasi. Helppo ja looginen käyttöliittymä auttaa somen suunnittelua kanavien välillä. Työkalu sisältää myös analytiikan, jotta voit analysoida mitkä postaukset ja kanavat sopivat sinulle parhaiten.  Kuvakaappaus buffer.com, 31.5.2017 Itse käytän Bufferia MPI:n Finlandin viestinnässä, eli julkaisen some-päivityksiä sen kautta. Aikatauluttaminen on todella tärkeä ominaisuus minulle, koska se säästää todella paljon aikaa ja auttaa tarinoiden luonnissa. Kun näen muutaman postauksen kerralla, hahmotan paremmin miten ne sopivat yhteen. Käytän Bufferia noin 1-2 kertaa viikossa ja asetan päivittäiset tehtävät, jotka se hoitaa mainiosti puolestani. Web-sivut: www.buffer.com Kuivasta esityksestä elävään tarinaan Jos perinteiset Powerpoint-esitykset ovat mielestäsi liian “tylsiä”, kokeile Prezia. Sen avulla on helppo kertoa tarinoita ja näyttää koko kuva esittämästäsi aiheesta sekä sen osioiden yhteyksistä. Työkalu on helppokäyttöinen ja toimii netissä.  Kuvakaappaus prezi.com/desktop,31.5.2017 Tutustuin tähän työkaluun pari vuotta sitten ja ihastuin heti. Prezi on täynnä valmiita pohjia, joista saa inspiraatiota omille esityksille. Tykkäsin myös sitä, että Prezi erottuu PowerPointista ja OneNotesta. Prezin avulla sinulla on käytettävänäsi suurempi valikoima muotoja ja tapoja rakentaa esityksesi. Voit esimerkiksi luoda visuaalisen polun, joka johdattelee yleisösi vaiheesta toiseen ja lopuksi voit esittää koko kertomuksesi lintuperspektiivistä. Web-sivut: www.prezi.com And one more thing  Kuvakaappaus paper.dropbox.com/docs, 16.2.2017 Oletko Dropboxin käyttäjä? Ehditkö jo tutustumaan Paperiin? Se on uusi Dropboxin tuote, jolla voit luoda muistiinpanoja, tehtävälistoja ja aivoriihi-dokumenttia. Uusi työkalu auttaa kirjoittajaa näyttämällä vinkkejä teksteihin ja dokumentin sisällön. usi työkalu auttaa kirjoittajaa ehdottamalla tekstiosioita tai rakennetta koko dokumentin sisällöksi. Paperin kanssa ei tule sellaista ongelma, ettei tietäsi mistä aloittaa. Oletussisältö auttaa ottamaan ensimmäisen askeleen, joka on ainoa vaikein. Sen jälkeen tehtävä sujuu helpommin ja halutessasi voit muokata sisältöä, tai tehdä siitä oman räätälöidyn pohjan.  Kuvakaappaus paper.dropbox.com/docs, 31.5.2017 ämän artikkelin suunnitelin Google Docsin avulla. Ensi kerralla kokeilen kuitenkin Paperia, jotta voin vertailla näitä kahta alustaa ja päättää kumpi sopii minulle paremmin. Mitä seuraavaksi? Valitse yksi työkalu luettelosta ja kokeile sitä. Se on helppoa ja ilmaista! Written by Valentina Voronova
Marketing and Sales Manager at Data Prisma Oy VP of Communications MPI Finland Chapter Written by Valentina Voronova Marketing and Sales Manager at Data Prisma Oy VP of Communications MPI Finland Chapter Two sunny days (May 11th and 12th) were spent in Tallinn, attending the first Baltic for Events Forum. The agenda included over 30 presentations, a cocktail party and active networking. The event was held in an amazing urban venue, Kultuurikatel (kultuurikatel.ee). It used to be a power station and now it is one of the most popular event venues in Tallinn. During one of the sessions, a survey was made to find out what the participants find most important at events. There were 6 options to select from: good food, good music, fun, new information, nice people and speakers. 91 participants took part in the survey and learning new information was the winner with 58 %. It was followed by speakers (14 %), fun (11 %) and nice people (10%). Having these four elements in place can create a solid base for a successful event. Imagine an edutainment workshop with inspiring speakers and moderated networking – sounds like a good mix.  In the next chapters I would like to share my takeaways from four speakers, who are etched in my mind: Jens Mayer from Jack Morton Worldwide, Jarkko Kivikoski from Woltti Group, Jan Gemrich from Google and Kaia Valdmaa from Swedbank. I liked these speakers because of the knowledge and advice they have shared with the audience. I believe their speeches aimed to challenge the way event organizers think and act. Jens Mayer (Jack Morton Worldwide) shared their brand experience principles. He presented customer cases and explained how their team plans marketing campaigns and events in compliance with the four following principles: 1. Be human. Remember the importance of face-to-face meetings. Be open to hearing stories and sharing experiences. 2. Invite participation. Create campaigns that motivate people to participate actively. Combine digital and real life aspects into the same campaign. 3. Be useful. Think of the "after" impact and how you can be useful and make a difference. 4. Build Community. Create campaigns with a long lasting effect that will bring people together and create a feeling of belonging. Jarkko Kivikoski (Woltti Group) shared three steps of creating an ecosystem where partners can cooperate. These steps can also be useful in creating new businesses and in achieving clients’ needs. 1. Do your homework. You should know your customer's business very well. You can familiarize yourself with your customer by reading their annual report. Remember to pay attention to the strategy section. Company’s annual report will provide you enough of insights on the organizational structure, stakeholders and future plans. Collect all the data in the same place and keep it up to date. 2. Be open. Let people know who you are and what are your interests and hobbies. Will you trust more a person with a business card or a person with an interesting Instagram account? Being open also means that you decide on dos and don’ts, for example on what is a part of your strategy and what is not. Remember to tell others what you have decided. 3. Co-operate and share.  Jan Gemrich (Google, Canada) shared with us six traits of a perfect event agency. He talked about their cooperation with event agencies and mentioned what would scare him away and what would win his trust. According to Jan, most of event agencies are good at execution and bad at creativity. He also referred to template events and repetition of what has already been done. When a good idea is created, it is easy to replicate it over and over again. The downside here is that repetition takes the focus away from development and innovation. Let’s have a closer look at the list of ideal traits of a perfect event agency: 1. Don't be an agency, be an advisor. An agency should share best practices, keep a track on what's new in the industry and think ahead. 2. Don't wait. Drive & initiate. When the task is done, what's the next step? An agency should be capable of independent thinking on the customer’s behalf. 3. Don't start with planning, set goals first. Define goals, measures and ROI. 4. Don't say yes, say no. Make sure you can keep your promises, don't promise too much. 5. Don't focus on the client, but on the audience. Participant’s satisfaction should be the goal. 6. Don't focus on the event, focus on everything. Take into account stakeholders, trends and other events. Think of what your customer did not think.  And one more rule: don't follow rules, make them. Especially when it is for the sake of the event and experience. Kaia Valdmaa (Swedbank) started her speech with a saying “They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel”. This thought should guide event organizers and planners. Kaia shared her secrets for success in event management: 1. Event industry is a people business, so find the people you match with. This will ensure great teamwork and better understanding. 2. Invest in a long term partnership. Deeper connection takes time to grow, but it is worth it. 3. Listen. Listen to the craziest ideas and feedback. As soon as you receive feedback, react! 4. Connect. Make you message clear, show that you are involved. Show your example of taking actions. 5. Don’t forget the fun. Include edutainment in your events. Remember that events have to matter. Be relevant and inspirational.  Two days went by fast, but lots of information was shared with the forum participants. At the end of the second day I was already pretty tired, but still attended the last session on networking by Austin Nicholas from Travel Out There. I believe that meeting new people is as important as gaining new knowledge during an event, so I could not miss this seminar. The program said “Five new contacts guaranteed” and the promise was kept. Five brave participants gathered together to learn more about networking. This made the session more personal and allowed us to play an introduction game. Austin showed us how to make an introduction and which information should be shared first. People are interested in other people and they can feel when someone is really excited about something. That is why it is good to tell first what you are passionate about. This will help to find out if there are any common interests or hobbies. Next you can tell whom do you help at work and with whom do you like to work the most. As well as meeting new people, it is also nice to see people you already know. I was happy to meet up with our amazing MPI Finland team!  The purpose of the Baltic for Events Forum was to showcase event agencies from the Baltic region and to share the latest trends. Many speakers were talking about the importance of using all five senses to create unforgettable event experience. Kultuurikatel was a pleasure for our eyes, music kept us focused, coffee and its aroma energized and the food was just amazing! The Baltic for Events Forum is great initiative to bring event industry professionals together and I am looking forward for the next event! Written by Paula Blomster Congress Manager at Messukeskus President of MPI Finland For decades Finland has been a land of engineers and heavy industry. The service sector and its opportunities grew some attention only recently. In 2013, the Minister for Economy, the future mayor of Helsinki, Jan Vapaavuori took up the meaning of the travel industry. Some funds were allocated in governmental tourist promotion projects, after years of substantial cuts. Today there is a number of Finnish politicians who speak for the travel industry. MPI Finland chapter had hand-picked four of leading politicians in-favor for travel business, who also represent different political parties and regions. They were invited to participate in a panel discussion on March 30th, organized within the framework of “Kongressi” fair, the largest trade fair in Finland for the meeting industry. The objective for MPI Finland was to transform these politicians to be ambassadors for our sector. The topic was “Economic growth through events”.  The Master of Ceremony was a past president of MPI Finland Chapter, Juhapekka Koppanen, a Finnish event guru. He made extensive presentations of the meaning of the meeting industry, for example by presenting the magic that can be created when promotion of high-tech is combined with a mind-blowing event. In Helsinki SLUSH (http://www.slush.org/) has raised over €500 million euros of foreign direct investment for start-ups. The examples were needed, as some of the politicians returned time to time to the theme of travel industry on their comments. This seems to be our true challenge; the inputs created for the travel industry are not to be questioned, but the spin-offs for the knowledge economy through our activities seem to be hard to understand by outsiders. The politicians who joined were Lenita Toivakka, former minister for Foreign Trade (Conservative party), Anni Sinnemäki, a strong candidate to become mayor of Helsinki (Green party), Ville Skinnari a former professional ice-hockey player from a well-established political family and member of Nordic Council (Social Democrat) and Mikko Kärnä, who represented Lapland, Nordic cooperation and the ruling Center Party. There were no political differences among the points of view of the panelists. It was wonderful to hear their support for event industry and the feedback from the audience was very positive. The politicians received various applauses; Mikko Kärnä for his comment on current government negotiations: “a minister for travel and event industry should be appointed”. Former minister Toivakka pointed out, that an international congress visitor consumes 4-5 times more than an average tourist, which makes our sector extremely important including the promotion of Finnish know-how.  Our cyber-guest Mr. Hans Ravnkjaer Larsen from MPI Denmark Chapter, brought laughs with his questions. He mumbled the first one in the extraordinary language of Danish. Fortunately, Lars changed to English and thanks to his questions, we now have good material to continue in our efforts to be the voice of industry. For example, Ms. Sinnemaki placed the event industry on the less advanced economic sector, if you look at the clip, you can see, that she states; there are two strategies to promote employment, one on /high tech sector and then the second on the service sector including events, which creates employment for people with less education.
Time flew by with our politicians and we would have loved to continue the discussion for an additional 30 minutes. However, MPI Finland Chapter is determinate to continue to work with the local politicians. End of the event panelists were asked to choose between different statements to show their support for us. They chose the following statements: “I am ambassador for the event industry”, “I want to have more international congresses in Finland”, “Economic growth through events”, and respecting the up-coming GMID “Meetings mean business”. In the group photo Mr. Koppanen has taken MPI slogan “When we meet, we change the world!” Now we even have picture evidence of the support of these leading politicians. Next time we just need to get to an action plan. Tapahtumien järjestäminen on nopeasti kasvava ala. Järjestäjiä löytyy korkeasti koulutetuista ja alalla marinoiduista ammattilaisista yksityishenkilöihin. Jokaiselle tapahtumalle on valtavasti kilpailijoita. No-showkin on aina vain yleisempää. Samalla osallistujien odotukset ja vaatimukset ovat kasvaneet. Kuinka saat ihmiset tulemaan juuri sinun tapahtumaasi? Miten erottaudut massasta? Julius Solariuksen tutkimustiimi (Event Management Blog) on listannut kymmenen tapahtuma-alan kuuminta trendiä (linkki). Niistä ensimmäinen on FOMO (”Fear of Missing Out”). FOMOlla saat tapahtumalle ”pöhinää” jo ennakkoon. Herätät myös mahdollisten osallistujien kiinnostuksen tai tunteen siitä, että osallistumattomuus jättää aukon elämään; ei saa olla osa upeaa elämystä tai tärkeä tiedonjyvät jäävät keräämättä. Toinen vuoden tärkeistä trendeistä on videoiden käyttö tapahtumamarkkinoinnissa, sekä etäosallistuminen live-streamilla. Tapahtumasuunnittelijat segmentoivat usein osallistujansa hyvin kapeasti. Tilaisuudesta kiinnostuneet saattavat jäädä segmentoinnin tähden kutsulistoilta, tai resurssivaje estää laajemman kohderyhmän saavuttamisen. Hybridi-tapahtumalla voit ylittää oman kohderyhmäsi ja saatat luoda aivan uusia suhteita niin ihmisten kuin liiketoimintojen välille. Samoin tapahtumasi elinkaari pitenee ja sen merkitys kasvaa. MPI Finland edistää tapahtuma-alan kehitystä, koulutusta ja arvostusta. Se on voittoa tavoittelematon yhdistys ja osa kansainvälistä MPI-verkostoa. Verkoston kautta MPI Finland otti yhteyttä hollantilaiseen ”Mr. Red Sneakers” Gerrit Heijkoopiin.  Gerrit on kansainvälisesti palkittu tapahtuma-alan asiantuntija, jonka erikoisalaa ovat mm. sosiaalinen media ja hybridi-tapahtumat (tapahtumat, joihin voi osallistua joko paikan päällä tai reaaliajassa netissä). Gerrit tulee puhumaan näistä kahdesta aiheesta 6. huhtikuuta MPI Finlandin järjestämässä tilaisuudessa Hilton Strandissa. Älä jätä tätä koulutustilaisuutta väliin! 6.4.2017, Helsinki, klo 9-16 Session 1: Social media & Events Session 2: Hybrid Events Lue lisää tapahtumasta ja ilmoittaudu: www.mpifinland.org/social-media-and-hybrid-events.html Lämpimasti tervetuloa!  Written by Valentina Voronova Marketing and Sales Manager at Data Prisma Oy VP of Communications MPI Finland Chapter This year the leaders of European MPI Chapters gathered together in Granada, Spain to explore motivation. We were not exploring it just by ourselves. Sean Blair (LinkedIn), a professional facilitator, was helping us to explore the subject. At 8:30 AM, on Saturday, 4th of March we gathered at the meeting room to discuss motivation, especially focusing on finding out what were our reasons to become volunteers and what drives us to be a part of MPI family. The weather outside was rainy and cloudy, so the Finnish Chapter team immediately felt like home. At first, Sean taught us a bit of theory and explained that motivation can be extrinsic and intrinsic. The extrinsic motivation is guided by fear of punishment or/and desire to achieve a reward. The intrinsic motivation is driven by the desire to participate in an activity for its own sake, just because you like to do it and feel passionate about it. As an example we used sports and hobbies that people truly enjoy doing. In order to understand what motivates us as volunteers we completed several tasks. One of them was to write on a piece of paper own reasons of being a part of an MPI Chapter Board. Here are some examples of what was written by the participants of the EBCS:  As we later discussed with Sean Blair, these reasons were a combination of both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. It was interesting to see that most of us wrote the same reasons. Networking, doing business and growing as a professional in an international community are the main factors that drive European volunteer board members. This knowledge will help us to involve new members and keep own drive up and running. Motivation is an abstract concept and in order to simplify its analysis we used the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® methodology. At first, we were divided into several groups and were asked to construct a tower. Each participant had his own idea of a tower and each construction was unique. Did you know that six standard LEGO bricks make 915,103,765 combinations? Source That is a very big number and it allows us being creative in our LEGO ideas. Next we explored our own motivation by creating a LEGO construction that represented ourselves at our best. Finally, we teamed with our own chapter members and constructed a model of an action plan for our chapter. Here is what team Finland created:  This model has a knowledgebase with best ideas, amazing events to help our members to grow and working communication to spread the word around. Joining ECBS is a wonderful opportunity that MPI Global offers for three board members in each European chapter. This is a great moment to learn what the other chapters are doing. We get inspired by each other and we also find comfort from each other. Sometimes we start common projects together. It is a great forum,that by itself creates motivation and inspiration. For me Granada was bitter-sweet experience. It was my last summit but it gave me tools to get the best out of our coming board and to “make our chapter great again”. The friendships with the European colleagues remain as we will meet face-to-face at EMEC. Paula Blomster On the next morning we met at 9 AM. Some of us were still a bit sleepy, others were well awaken. To energize each other we passed a microphone in a round and shared how we felt. By the end of the round the room was filled with energy and we were ready to start. Sunday was a day of action planning. What can make planning more effective? Thick pens, a canvas and a group of enthusiasts. Our action plan has several areas: Members, Education, PR and Finance. We set up objectives, goals and metrics. When all chapters were ready, each presented their own plan. That was a crucial part of the workshop, as we heard many great ideas and practices that can be used to make our chapter better and provide our members with useful events.  Now, when our team (Paula Blomster, Mervi Pirilä and Valentina Voronova) is back to Finland, we are looking forward to implementing the action plan into reality. I am not going to disclose all the actions here, but there will be more networking and interactivity in our events!
 Written by Arttu Kallio Producer and Meeting Planner at Tapahtumantekijät VP in Sponsorhips 2015-2016, MPI Finland Chapter Member of MPI Northern California Chapter Google, Apple, Visa and 28 other Northern California’s Fortune 500 companies - the list of companies represented in Meeting Professional International Northern California Chapter (MPINCC) is impressive. With nearly a thousand members and a whopping collective buying power of 295 million dollars MPINCC is the largest MPI Chapter in the World. MPI being an international organization, I was able to move my membership from the Finland Chapter to MPINCC as our family recently moved to San Francisco. I attended their Education Program at Waterfront Hotel in Oakland on 24 January 2017, and had a thoughtful talk with their President, Marilee Sonneman, CMP, DMCP.  Marilee is a long-term MPI member with a solid background in the meeting industry. After founding the award-winning full-service firm Spotlight Events, today she runs her own strategic consulting business, Spotlight Sojourns.
During our conversation Marilee told me that, as the President, she wants to ”find out the ’whys’ of our members, their ultimate motives to engage with MPI” in order to serve them better. I decided to ask Marilee her own ”why”, which took her by surprise: ”Nobody has ever asked me that before! Well, to be honest, my first ’why' was that my employer told me to join MPI because it’s good for business”, she confessed. Very soon after that another "why" became apparent to her: ”I realized that in MPI I can take myself professionally to another level”. Gradually, as she worked in different tasks in MPINCC, a third ”why” emerged. That ”why" is something I could actually see from Marilee’s eyes and hear from her words as she addressed us in the beginning of the event: it is about her desire to make a difference for others and to help them to grow professionally. After the meeting, driving back to our Berkeley home, I started to think about my own ”whys”. Like many other MPI members, I’m looking for professional development, networking and business possibilities. However, there is also something else, something that is not so evident, something that can be described as a "personal why”. Many of us never stop to think about our ”personal whys" and even if we do, we might not be able to grasp them. Sometimes, like in Marilee's case, the "personal why" develops over time and becomes the driving force of commitment. My "personal why" has something to do with my professional identity and sense of belonging: because the meeting industry in Finland is quite small, scattered and also underrated in many ways, I feel there aren't enough places where I could seek for collegial understanding, take pride in my work, be inspired by the work of others and feel a sense of community. For me, MPI is that kind of place, whether I’m in Finland or here in the U.S.A.  Written by Annina Taimio. Dear reader, Greetings from Macao, the world’s largest casino city! My name is Annina but please call me Anni. Since July 2016 I have had the pleasure to be an assistant board member of the MPI Finland board as the Director of Student Relations. I study Tourism in Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences and I’m specialising in Event Planning and Management. I am a third-year student and since mid-August I’ve been doing my exchange studies in Macao, China. I will return to Finland just before Christmas and hopefully graduate in December 2017. WHY DID I JOIN MPI? A year ago our event management teacher in Haaga-Helia told us about MPI and the opportunity to apply for a scholarship to attend European Meetings and Events Conference EMEC in Copenhagen, one of the two annual conferences organised by MPI. She told me how MPI is a great community and could help me on my path to become an event professional. I joined MPI in December 2015 and applied for the scholarship. To my great joy I received the scholarship to attend EMEC along with three of my classmates. The scholarship covered the conference fee and my university helped me cover some of the travelling and accommodation costs. As a student you are always on a tight budget, so it would’ve been impossible for me to attend EMEC without the scholarship and the support from my university. At EMEC I realised I was definitely on the right path with my career dreams and the world of meetings and events is the world where I belong. The MPI community took my breath away!""At EMEC I realised I was definitely on the right path with my career dreams and the world of meetings and events is the world where I belong. The MPI community took my breath away! EMEC AND FUTURE LEADERS FORUM EMEC 2016 was held in Copenhagen in the beginning of February. My expectations were high and I was extremely excited to attend my first event industry conference. At that time I had only been studying event management for one semester, since we start our specialisation studies during our second year of studies. I was very nervous because I knew that most people attending the conference were obviously industry professionals, whereas I was “just a student”, an expression I later learned not to use. I started my conference by attending the Future Leaders Forum, which was a half-day event for students attending the conference. FLF is jointly run by MPI, IMEX and MCI and it typically takes place as part of a larger meeting industry conference or trade show in at least 12 locations around the world every year. FLF is packed with educational sessions where the students are introduced to the world of meetings and events. In the forum inspiring industry professionals share their knowledge and the students get to network and make valuable connections with each other as well as the industry professionals. We got excellent advice about how to make the most out of the conference and a lot of tips on how to network. I immediately became friends with some of my fellow students and still keep in touch with them.  EMEC was a life-changing experience for me, and I’m not exaggerating. The Danes truly did a good job with organising an amazing conference! I was amazed with the warm and welcoming atmosphere, I immediately felt at home with the attendees. I had never been surrounded by people who were so easy to approach, friendly, warm and easy to talk with. We Finns tend to be shy and reserved but I have never been the typical Finn. At EMEC I realised I have finally found my people! I had dinner with the Finnish professionals attending the conference and they welcomed me into their group with open arms. I truly made valuable connections and learned so much about the industry in just a few days. My problem was, how to choose which educational sessions to attend since as a student, everything was new to me. I wanted to attend all the sessions! At EMEC I realised I was definitely on the right path with my career dreams and the world of meetings and events is the world where I belong. The MPI community took my breath away! I have been a MPI student member for almost a year and what a year it WEC At EMEC I learned about World Education Congress, which is the other annual conference organised by MPI. This year it was organised in Atlantic City in the beginning of June. I was introduced to the opportunity to apply for a MPI Foundation scholarship to attend the conference, which would cover all costs including the conference fee, transportation, accommodation and meals. Obviously I applied for the scholarship, the opportunity to attend WEC sounded amazing. And I got the scholarship! So in June I packed my bags and travelled to US for the first time in my life, accompanied by my classmate who had also received the scholarship. WEC was huge compared to EMEC and organised in one of the big casino hotels in Atlantic City. Again the atmosphere was extremely warm and I was happy to be reunited with an American friend I made at the FLF in Copenhagen. The content of the conference was more focused on the event industry in US but it was very interesting to see how things differ between US and Europe. Again, I started my conference by attending the Future Leaders Forum. I met mainly students from US and learned many useful and interesting things. One of our speakers told us a lesson I will never forget. Never introduce yourself as “just a student” but rather call yourself “a professional in training”. She made us students realise how we should never belittle ourselves. We are the future professionals and we are the future of the event industry. WEC was an incredible experience and again I learned so much!  MPI Finland Chapter
After my amazing experiences in EMEC and WEC I wanted to get involved with MPI in Finland. I’ve been active in the student union of my university and the student association of my campus. Promoting the students’ interests has been very close to my heart. MPI does important work in promoting the interests of the event industry and getting active in MPI felt like a natural step to me. The Finland Chapter was looking for new board members and I expressed my interest. To my great delight, I was chosen to be the new Director of Student relations as an assistant member of the board. I am an assistant member since I will be out of the country the whole autumn. Once I’ll be back in Finland, I’m looking forward to sharing my experiences with other students and encouraging them to join MPI. I want to help promote the event industry in Finland and as Paula mentioned in her blogpost, one of the founding pillars of MPI is to be the “voice of the industry”. Last but not least, networking in the MPI community helped me gain a work placement in an event management company and I’m very excited to start my work placement in January. I have been a MPI student member for almost a year and what a year it has been! MPI helped me realise I want to work in the event industry and got me truly excited about my future career. I have travelled to Copenhagen and US, made new friends, learned so much in the two conferences I attended, found a work placement and made connections that will help me with my future career. And first and foremost, I have found my people, my community.  Written by Paula Blomster. Dear Reader, You are on the newly established blog page of the MPI Finland Chapter. My name is Paula, and I had the pleasure to start my term as the president of our active chapter in July 2016. Our current board of directors have committed themselves to produce blog posts this term. You are also welcome to send material in Finnish or English, if you wish to share something with all of us relating to our industry or MPI at info@mpifinland.org WHY I JOINED MPI I moved from Copenhagen to Helsinki in 2011 and became a MPI member soon after. I wanted to have influence in our industry, but managing a one-woman office, even for a very large Swiss corporation, was not doing the trick. Though my employer had remained the same, my work tasks and working conditions had changed completely. In Denmark, the travel industry, including international meeting and events business, is considered an important economic sector. There are resources for promotion, the newspapers follow actively whether Denmark is losing its competitive edge on the global event markets, politicians work actively to get large international conventions to Copenhagen and different actors within the industry work closely together for a common good. In Helsinki, there were not enough big international congresses for my employer to invest in additional staff and I could have continued working as an official housing agent or a PCO for pharmaceutical conferences. I started organizing incentive tours, and in order to have enough sales I still worked with projects in Copenhagen and Stockholm. The co-operation with Finnish suppliers was somewhat different to the Danes, who are known as a very productive work force – but still I had problems to understand why a Danish company could send an offer within seven minutes when for a Finnish company to send a competing offer could take in some cases several days. While the Danish suppliers protected our interests and gave us 20% commissions, in Finland I was often competing against my suppliers as the end client was receiving the same rates as I did. So here I was back home, facing challenges of not having enough business and with quite weak supplier relationships in a country that seemed to be suffering from a post-Nokia-trauma. But I knew that there is a better future to fight for. All I needed was to coordinate efforts with others. I joined MPI Finland. My aspirations were purely to promote the industry, but becoming member has given a number of positive things which I could not have imagined. My industrial promotion aspirations have given me an opportunity to find new colleagues and friends around the globe FRIENDS & SOLID BUSINESS RELATIONSHIPS MPI is a true community. Coming to a MPI event is pleasant, people greet warmly - for Finnish standards we hug a lot- and wish to hear how everything is going. Meeting people in an informal manner creates solid business relationships. When I still was working as a planner and looked for a certain service in a company, I would naturally call the MPI member within the sales staff, even if a different person had been appointed as my Key Account Manager. You also remember more quickly those suppliers who are active in the MPI activities and you unconsciously start preferring them.  SOULMATES FOUND AROUND THE GLOBE We chapter leaders work on a voluntary basis, even when we already are employed in the most stressful jobs within the labor market. However, I felt that working for the education team I created so many new contacts, that it actually sped up doing my own tasks. What I did not know when I took my position as VP of Education was that the MPI International would invest in us. So it was an amazingly nice surprise that I was sent together with the President and VP of Membership for a two-day training/meeting for a European Chapter Business Summit (ECBS). Suddenly my MPI Community grew with new soul sisters and brothers, who are challenged with the same issues in their own chapters. You connect with the foreign MPI board colleagues immediately, they are equally a bit crazy as you, spending free time trying to reach something better. Our discussions continue even after the face-to-face meetings. For example, this past summer our whatsapp group for European leaders was very active not only on business-related issues: We were passing our condolences to our British friends after Brexit and England’s lost soccer game against tiny Iceland, we checked that our colleagues were o.k. after the attacks in Nice and Munich and we were simultaneously informed about the development of the failed coup in Istanbul, better than the media itself!  It has been a joyful ride, which I can only recommend to others! EASY PARTICIPATION TO EMEC
The European Chapter Business Summit is organized just prior to the European Meeting and Events Conference (EMEC) in the city of the conference. This is a great way to introduce to your employer an excellent educational session, as the flight tickets have already been purchased by MPI International. I recommend that every MPI member participate in EMEC. It gives the maximum benefit of your membership. The 2.5-days-conference has a moderate cost, but has an excellent industry-related program with many parallel educational sessions. You can make a program that suits your needs and during the breaks and plenary connect with your international colleagues. The first evening you dine in a spectacular local place the second night is devoted for a party. The next EMEC will be held in March in Granada, Spain- please join us, if you only can! MEET MR. MINISTER I have also managed to advance my industry promotional aspirations within MPI. It is much easier to get in touch with a political leader when you speak in the name of a group, not only for your own interest. As one of the founding pillars of the MPI is to be the “voice of the industry”, there is a lot of support to be found from MPI International in the form of studies and expertise. We took advantage of all that support when, in co-operation with other actors, we organized a meeting headed by our Minister for Foreign Trade Kai Mykkänen and the Chair of MPI Board Fiona Pelham. Here is the link for that event, that took place beginning of September: http://europe.mpiweb.org/mpi-finland-chapter-gets-the-word-out-economic-growth-through-international-events-2. So summing up; my industrial promotion aspirations have given me an opportunity to find new colleagues and friends around the globe, to upgrade my theoretical skills in our industry-related matters and to practice my jamming moves on the dance floor in the various MPI parties. Being part of the MPI board has also created solid business relations and business opportunities. It has been a joyful ride, which I can only recommend to others! |
