Over 400 registered!

It seems that over the last years, we have all been trying to get people to come to different events right up to the last moment. Giving last minute calls, chasing after potential persons, offering different bargains etc. Does this sound familiar?

We have got used to the situation where the last one registered has been able to attend to the entire event, maybe with a bit more expensive fee, but all the other options have been available. And now, when this is not the case in Solutions local, together - Conference, where places are truly limited and there are less and less options available - people are suprised! But isn´t this a great thing for everyone, even  for the last minute persons?  It means that the programme is attractive, plans made are in place and plenty of interested persons will attend. It seems that we have been able to reach the target of offering an event with a bit of a difference, and can now happily concentrate on the finishing touches. We hope that from now on, this will be the case for all sustainable events!

If you have not yet planned your journey - it is time to do so. The excitement is nearly touchable, as the last minute participants are registering. Are you still able to fit in?

Over 200 registered!

Some count days to the Christmas eve, some to the start of the New Year - for us - the counting goes a bit further until the start of the conference. This means, we have 51 days to go and many details to put in place. It has been great to see, how the word is spreading round and how conference participants and delegations are forming up. Already 200 participants are coming - are you still considering?

Location means everything. This is true as we face it daily. It is one thing to live close to other countries with just a short distance on train to reach other them, then in "far" North. This means that before reaching us, one needs to make a decision if it is worth while to create CO2-emissions for that. Some claim that we could create the same effect with video-connections. This is unfortunately not yet true, as how could we pass following things true it:

• person to person discussions with new people
• atmosphere and cultural insights, dancing
• smells and tastes of pure northern ingredients
• the feeling of excitement when solutions found their new homes
• market atmosphere with freedom to decide on what to see and hear
• excellent hosts with inspiration

Day to day communication can nicely be replaced with on-line connections, but this you need to experience yourself to be motivated to continue back home!

Conference sharks

You could spend all your time going through conferences and various meetings. Baltic Sea Region is rich in its diversity and activities. Therefore it is challenging to build up a conference that has a real impact. By observing the people, you can learn a lot also in this respect.
The real conference "sharks" end up meeting each other very frequently. This creates a certain culture of behavior in all of the conference events. It is fascinating to analyze this a bit on distance. You could raise several characteristics of a "conference sharks":

• Prioritizing social parts - coffee breaks, evening outings, sightseeings. The true networker knows that the best place to create links and enable true actions happens during the unformal programme.
  
• Working while listening - carrying out multiple tasks at the same time. This is done, mainly through internet, but also mobile, whispering, reading, napping or drawing.
  
• Arriving 15 minutes late - at least.
  
• Collecting loads of materials - going through them during the meeting or just piling them on the existing piles in the office.

These are just my observations - you are free to add on..