By Liisa Urasto IBL15B

Some Metropolia and Arcada students and I had a very interesting opportunity to gain some experience by volunteering at the Logy Conference in February 2016.The whole event consisted of mainly three parts:
Orientation
The conference at Finlandia Hall
The cruise

1 Orientation

In the orientation we visited Logy office in Haaga, where we met all the other students volunteering in the conference. We were introduced to all the personnel organizers that we would be working with, including Managing Director Markku Henttinen. We went through the timetable and tasks were divided equally and what each task included was explained.

2 Conference at Finlandia Hall

The day started bright and early at 7.00, before the guests arrived with setting up registration tables and hanging information signs so that guests would find the right places. Our tasks were to process registration when the guests arrive, guide them to the right places for breakfast and lunch, ensure that everyone could find the right lecture they were looking for, help with the microphone etc. Luckily we also had some time to listen to some great speakers such as Erkki Liikanen from the Bank of Finland talking about Economic perspectives, Theodore P. Stank from the University of Tennessee discussing Supply Chain Megatrends, and former ambassador of USA Bruce Oreck on “Finland’s success is in its own hands”. He made interesting points that it is sometimes not good to be too modest.

3 The Cruise
After the event in Finlandia Hall we arrived at M/S Baltic Queen for part two of the conference. Our responsibility was mainly to make sure that no outsiders entered the conference area of the ship.

The evening was a great opportunity for networking, since the atmosphere was more relaxed after the scheduled programme and many conference participants were heads of big, global logistic companies. In the morning we helped with the setting up of the contact forum, guiding the people to coaching and conversation forums.

I would definitely recommend taking this kind of chance if possible. You get to meet people whom you normally would never meet, maybe go places you’ve never been and establish new networks.

Wishing you all good luck with the finals and sunny spring!
Liisa