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Let’s make events the initiators of change – no more events for events’ sake

by Eetu Helminen, Jun 9th 2023

Eetu Helminen

Eetu Helminen

Trade fairs and events, I have a love-hate relationship with them. They can offer so much, but most often the positive effect of these encounters wears off in no time. So the question is: how to use events as initiators for long term change – creating lasting, positive impact. I have a few ideas how.

I’ll use the WCEF2023 as an example. WCEF is the world’s most prominent Circular Economy event. Held in Helsinki at the end of May. Solved is participating in the event with a booth and digital presence on our platform.

The Buzz

Why I’m discussing this? I’ve arranged and attended so many good and mediocre events and always encounter the same issues.

You know the feeling: The room buzzing with small talk, old and new friends meeting, hugs, handshakes and (a thing I have a distinct dislike to) fist pumps. I think you all know this feeling. It is energizing to meet like minded people en masse. Events can be a great inspiration.

While we get the buzz, agree to meet people later on and listen to inspirational presentations, what have we left after we’ve walked home? The normal answer is: It was good to meet old acquaintances.  This is important. Yet, for the organisers and most often the participants as well as the society in general – it shouldn’t be enough.

The thinking should be to use events as initiators for longer term work – to collect the right people to work together, to inspire them to make something concrete before and after the event. This is actually something we are trying to accomplish at the WCEF2023. The organisers are doing a great job and the event will be superb. At Solved, we’ll try to build something new for us, our network of +25 000 experts as well as the WCEF participants.

Events as instigators

At the forum we will have a booth. Yes, it’s the same old trade fair thing, but with a twist. We’ll invite people to join together to create and solve challenges on our digital platform before, during and after the event. So our aim is to use the WCEF as an instigator. We invite you to join as well. Instructions here.

Everyone says events are good for best practice sharing. Yes, but… do the best practices get adopted? I dare say no. So how to do it differently? It’s quite simple. Use the encounters at the event as stepping stones for long term cooperation. Link the people to concrete actions, projects discussions. Also like the event participants to larger the community. This will lead to better projects, solutions and adopting the good practices you learn of in the events. For this you need a digital deposit. A conversation feed is the easiest solution. We’ll use the challenges created on the platform and use our Dear World for this during the event.

The other thing that bothers me is that events are often limited to the participants. The wider stakeholder network is left out. This leads to the impact being limited. The answer is to expand the event beyond the participants. At WCEF we’re doing this by involving our expert pool in the challenge solution as well as sharing the challenges and discussion during the event to our network of networks. Our partners with their own white-label, Solved Together powered, platforms. The aim is to create even greater network effects than a physical event can have.

Building and ecosystem

In the long run, if we are successful, the experts solving the challenges, WCEF crowd and our network of experts engaged in digital discussion will form an ecosystem. This will continue living and having an impact long after an event.

My ask for you is to join us and use the incredible event in Helsinki to create something more lasting impact, building concrete circular economy solutions and even.