PREDSEDOVANJE EU 2008 EU Presidency 2008 PREDSTAVITEV ...
PREDSEDOVANJE EU 2008 EU Presidency 2008 PREDSTAVITEV ...
PREDSEDOVANJE EU 2008 EU Presidency 2008 PREDSTAVITEV ...
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<strong>EU</strong> <strong>Presidency</strong> - Finland<br />
Oh, what a Circus …<br />
Ever wondered what<br />
it’s like to organise<br />
the meetings when you<br />
country holds the <strong>EU</strong><br />
presidency? Leena Sipilä<br />
thought she knew all<br />
there was to know about<br />
conferences until she<br />
took on the job for<br />
Finland’s six months<br />
in the hot seat.<br />
Leena Sipilä, now back at her desk<br />
at the Helsinki City Tourist &<br />
Convention Bureau, had spent<br />
25 years in meetings management<br />
before she was invited to join the<br />
secretariat responsible for the<br />
technical meeting preparations<br />
for Finland’s <strong>EU</strong> presidency. This<br />
involved moving to the prime<br />
minister’s office in September<br />
2005 to plan the 140 official<br />
meetings Finland would host<br />
during the second half of last year.<br />
“I thought I knew everything about<br />
conference and event<br />
organisation,” says the former<br />
conference director at the Marina<br />
Congress Centre in Helsinki, head<br />
of the congress department at<br />
Tampere Hall and PCO before<br />
joining the convention bureau.<br />
“But I was very surprised<br />
to discover that governmental<br />
meetings were so different and<br />
so complex. I was excited but<br />
incredulous at the same time!”<br />
particularly so, but it was another thing getting to grips with the<br />
hierarchies, the fixed behavioural patterns, the accreditation (never<br />
registration) of delegates, the badging system, the demands made of<br />
hotels and the requisites for selecting venues, even down to ensuring<br />
the set-piece “family photo” was taken at every meeting.<br />
“I feel I know the dimensions of every flat floor space in the country,”<br />
she laughs. “Conference halls, sports halls, old factories…We used<br />
21 different cities in Finland because every minister hosting a meeting<br />
wanted to show off his home town. It was like a huge travelling circus.<br />
Some hotels had to be upgraded or bring in extra furniture or we had<br />
to train them in things like 24-hour room service. There were also<br />
delegations from countries outside the <strong>EU</strong> and some heads of<br />
government had their own chefs who brought everything in by private<br />
plane, which had to land somewhere, and then took over kitchens.<br />
Generated revenue<br />
“The security was massive. Everybody in every venue was checked by the<br />
police, we had our own security people as well as those who travelled with<br />
ministers and all material was security classified – certain documents<br />
couldn’t be sent by email so we had to use old-fashioned messengers.<br />
“Even sourcing gifts wasn’t always straightforward as public tenders<br />
had to be put out to every <strong>EU</strong> country, mainly through the European<br />
Commission official newspaper, to ensure fair competition among all<br />
suppliers. There were also clear criteria about the value of the gifts<br />
depending on the meeting. The tax payers of the host country foot the<br />
bill, of course, and it’s an expensive business. On the plus side, while<br />
making our final report, we collected statistics on the revenue<br />
generated - based on the number of overnights during the six months<br />
for 23,000 delegates and other income - which was certainly good<br />
for the country.”<br />
21 different cities<br />
As head of meeting arrangements,<br />
she was part of a team of 28<br />
people which grew to 40 during<br />
the presidency. She knew protocol<br />
would be important and security<br />
Delovna večerja v Lahtiju. • Working dinner in Lahti.<br />
34