In July, Union of International Associations (UIA) published the 61st edition of the International Meetings Statistics Report, which presents comparative tables on the international meetings of international organizations in 2019.

In the 2019 ranking of the most popular congress destinations, Finland ranks number 12 in the global comparison, and reaches the 7th spot in the European ranking. The other Nordic countries also prosper in the comparison: Norway reaching the 18th place, Sweden on the 19th position and Denmark ranking 22nd. In the category of most popular congress cities, Helsinki took the 12th spot and holds its position as the most popular congress city in the Nordics. Stockholm ranks number 16, Copenhagen is on the 19th spot, and Oslo is ranked 21st.

Since 1960, UIA has prepared statistics on the international meetings that have taken place worldwide in the preceding year. The 2019 report includes data from 161 countries and 1251 cities.

Read more here.

Due to the coronavirus epidemic, the BrainSTIM 2020 conference on neuroscience couldn’t take place in Otaniemi, Espoo as planned, so a decision was made to move it online. Researchers Aino Tervo and Jaakko Nieminen (picture) from the Aalto University Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering were the main local organisers of the two-day event, and they also arranged the conference studio in Otaniemi.

‘When the impact of the coronavirus situation became clear, we had a total of 70 approved conference presentations. We started to look into whether the researchers would be willing to attend a remote conference. Many told us that they hoped that the conference would not be cancelled since so many others were already being cancelled’, says Aino Tervo.

The conference had eventually more than 50 presenters and nearly a thousand viewers from 18 different countries. The remote conference was public and available to everyone free of charge. It was easily accessible for young students and researchers all around the globe.

Read more here.

The IAMCR2020 conference of the International Association for Media and Communication Research, organized at Tampere University in July 2020, reached more than a thousand people in almost a hundred countries and is one the largest net-based scientific conferences organized in Finland this year.

The IAMCR conference was originally scheduled to take place in Beijing, but after the outbreak of the coronavirus epidemic, Tampere offered to host it. At first, a conventional conference of more than a thousand people was to be held in the Tampere Hall, but after the corona virus expanded into a pandemic, the meeting place became virtual space and the onsite conference was transformed into an online conference.

The plenary sessions of the conference in mid-July were open to all, discussions among scholars on issues such as internet governance and the media experiences of the corona crisis. The main part of the conference, aimed exclusively at members of the Association, consisted of video presentations compiled by 26 divisions as well as 680 peer-reviewed scientific papers by the members, grouped into 153 panels. The entire program was recorded online after the premiere, where a limited discussion for members will continue until mid-September. The plenaries will remain permanently online.

The total number of participants in one and a half hundred working groups rose to more than thousand. Most participants came from China and the United States.

SCANDIC PASILA

At the end of August, Scandic Hotels opened a refurbished, modern hotel with excellent transport connections in Helsinki.

Scandic Pasila (picture) boasts 178 spacious rooms, 7 bright meeting rooms and a peaceful location by Central Park. The maximum capacity of the event facilities is 150 in the largest room. Messukeskus Helsinki, Expo & Convention Centre, is located only a short walking distance from the hotel.

VALO HOTEL &WORK

The stylishly Finnish VALO Hotel & Work opens in Helsinki in September. The hotel offers style and comfort with 422 quiet rooms, private and communal workspaces, 2 restaurants and 13 meetings & events facilities. Each hotel room can be converted into a private workspace during the day.

With its responsibility report Messukeskus Helsinki, Expo and Convention Centre points the way for the entire event business. The largest conference venue in Finland has listed, point by point, work done until now within the UN’s sustainable development goal programme.

UN’s sustainable development programme (Agenda 2030) aims for a world where environment, economy and humans are taken into equal consideration. Messukeskus has a strong commitment to UN’s goals, and concentrates on making event production and event participation sustainable. Responsibility is an essential part of the company values and covers responsibility of people, environment and economy.

The best-known Messukeskus sustainable development choices until now are related to climate actions (SDG 13). Work is spurted by a responsibility goal set a year ago: to be a 110 percent carbon neutral event arena, that makes use of 99% of waste (SDG 12), produces solar energy on the roofs of Messukeskus with one of Helsinki’s largest solar power plants (SDG 7) and that in a short time has decreased water consumption by half (SDG 6). Messukeskus also co-operates with, for instance, John Nurminen Foundation as partners in the #OURSEA campaign to protect the Baltic Sea. (SDG 14).

Big steps have also been taken in social responsibility. Messukeskus has directed ticket revenue to welfare and offers an exceptional learning environment for students that need special support in cooperation with Vocational College Live (SDG 10). The co-operation with Finnish UNICEF has made a schoolyear possible for 20 000 children or given a vital polio vaccine for over 1,8 million children (SDG 1). This year each Messukeskus staff members can use one day for voluntary work in a place of their own choice.

Read the Messukeskus SDG Report here.

Finland Convention Bureau provides complimentary information, consultation and assistance to all congress organizers and meeting planners.
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