The first ever National Meetings Industry Week was held in Finland on 27-31 March. The main event of the week was the national Kongressi 2006 fair in Helsinki, which celebrated its tenth anniversary this year. The fair displayed over 120 exhibitors and attracted around 2700 visitors. Kongressi 2006 was opened by Anja Vilo, Head of the Secretariat for the Finnish EU Presidency.

The aim of Meetings Industry Week is to increase public awareness of the importance of the meetings industry and to raise its profile through various events nationwide. This year`s programme included the launch of the optimal conference lunch, visits by schoolchildren to conference venues, and a meeting with local mayors to discuss the subject of conferences. Finland Convention Bureau (FCB) was responsible for co-ordinating the theme week.

The intention is to establish Meetings Industry Week as an annual event that will continue to grow and create new ideas for promoting the industry.

Food for Thought

Meetings Industry Week was opened in Helsinki at Finlandia Hall at a press conference where the optimal conference lunch, entitled “Food for Thought”, was introduced. The lunch was created by nutrition therapist Hanna Partanen, a television celebrity in Finland, and is designed to keep congress delegates as fresh as possible. The lunch was also introduced at similar press conferences in the cities of Vaasa and Rovaniemi, and will be on offer as a lunch option at certain conference centres.

Behind the scenes

Third grade pupils visited The Helsinki Fair Centre and the University of Vaasa, where they got to go behind the scenes and learn, among other things, about Finland `s upcoming Presidency of the European Union. The schoolchildren wrote short essays, which were entered into a competition. The organising committee of Meetings Industry Week will select the winner, who will get to bring his or her classmates to a local amusement centre or other attraction.

Mayor of Helsinki Jussi Pajunen hosted a meeting of 11 of his colleagues at Helsinki City Hall, where the importance of the meetings industry for municipalities was discussed. Introductory remarks were made by FCB Managing Director Tuula Lindberg, Congress Manager for the City of Vaasa Maria Backman, and Deputy Tourist Director Tuulikki Becker from the Helsinki City Tourist & Convention Bureau.