HEL we can!

HEL we can! Boosting Skills & Continuous Learning in Europe, was an official side event of Finland’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2019. The full day event gathered over 400 participants, out of which many from abroad, to Messukeskus Conference Centre in Helsinki on Monday 23rd of September.

Objective

The objective of the conference was to lift the challenge of re-skilling, up-skilling and re-evaluating the needs and education in Europe to meet future demands. Without competence and skills Europe will not prosper in the future and was to be lifted higher on the European agenda and on the radar of the new European Commission. The main themes of the event were skills, competence, the future of work and continuous learning as well as bringing sectors together.

Insight

The strategy of the consortium of 12 organisations behind the event was to bring people from different sectors together to discuss the common challenges. There were representatives from academia, NGOs, businesses, labour organisations as well as students and decision makers, who had the opportunity to learn from each other and share their views.

Results

The objectives set out by the working group were met, with three high level keynote speakers (Jyrki Katainen, Vice-President of the European Commission, Åsa Bergman, CEO of SWECO and Graham Brown-Martin, author & broadcaster), and bringing together an international crowd of 400+ participants. The social media interaction was lively #helwecan and interviews with some of the speakers were published after the event. https://epale.ec.europa.eu/en/blog/three-voices-how-future-proof-our-skills

Our work

Miltton was the partner behind the event, coordinating the project group with representatives from the 12 organisations for a full year. Miltton developed the concept of the event from the name to the content of the day, as well as from the main messages to the communication and visual identity of HEL we can, including the social media, website and registration page as well as the messages to the participants. Miltton coordinated the invitation and briefing of over 25 speakers, production of four side events and contacts with volunteers and the subcontractors.