”What about the Baltics?”

For an American, there’s no difference. For a Nordic person, the difference can be massive. Let’s say the truth lies somewhere in between, but the differences that do exist between the Nordic countries means that there are plenty of things to consider before a joint event.

Synchronise the calendar.

Our country’s public holidays can be specific to us. And vice versa.

Which currency are we talking about?

Find out which country is the client and which country is paying, so that everyone knows the situation.

Choose the language with care.

Is there an official Group language that you should use? How good is the level of linguistic awareness among the participants? How good is your own Norwegian and Danish? Finns and Swedish-speaking Finns often have completely different linguistic skills. And … what about the Baltics? There’s no such thing as “almost understand”. For Very Important Messages: hire a simultaneous interpreter and let everyone speak the language with which they feel most comfortable.

Avoid the head office complex.

As host, you can’t assume that you are representative of how everyone in the organisation thinks. Saying hello to the MD, chatting to the management group and finding out first hand about plans and thoughts are always important for employees who are based a long way away from where decisions are made. A rule of thumb: the higher up in the organisation you are, the higher the level the presence and visibility you must maintain during all parts of the company event.

Warm up.

Ending a conference involving participants who haven’t met for a long time with a social event is nice, but is actually rather stupid. Do the opposite instead. Arrange for the participants to arrive the evening before the conference. Let them all get to know one another and do their chatting then, and everyone involved will get so much more out of the conference.