Tomorrow morning I leave for St. Petersburg and our Emax Winner trip. Bodil, Michael and Tuukka will fly in today and I will join them tomorrow.

During the next four days, we will meet companies and entrepreneurs in the beautiful Russian city. We go to learn about business and entrepreneurship in a foreign country and the schedule is packed with interesting meetings.

Hopefully the hotel offers an internet connection that I can use to keep you posted about what we learn on the trip. Otherwise I will back-post it when I get back.

Is it anything special you want to find out? Ask a question and I will try to find the answer.

Here comes the long version of my experience from Emax Nordic 2009. I will publish a summary later this week for those of you who don’t have the time and energy to read all of this!

The first day = Teambuilding and networking in Focus!

Emax kicked off with the same inspiration-boost as I had expected, and the two young and successful entrepreneurs on stage made anything seem possible. But already the day before the opening Emax seemed promising. Some of us, who arrived on Saturday evening, had already connected trough volleyball, card playing and conversation during a mosquito fest. Showing that the networking had already begun and the amount of networking during the first day continued to be mind-blowing.

During the first day I got to know my fantastic teammates during some teambuilding games, a few Swedes  trough interesting conversations and I also realized that my Norwegian wasn’t all that bad! Listening to the people and their ideas is truly inspiring I just wish that more people would have the opportunity to do so, because many more would understand what amazing opportunities that we have in life and therefore dare to try something new.

Already when the day came to an ending I felt that the people I had meet had manage to wake my inspiration and I wanted to continue with my entrepreneurial ideas as soon as the camp was over. It is wonderful how much energy people can give you!

The second day = The competitions begin!

The day was packed with information about everything, we had to learn about the simulation both in theory and then try it practically. Remembering all the info we had got and brining that in to the game was difficult, and the game itself was like learning Greek. I don’t know how many times I heard “No matter who win, that team will have my respect because it is so difficult.” We tried endlessly to get some tips and pointers from out coach Martin (aka the nice guy) to get some pointer but all we got was “What do you think?.” But not all information we got was difficult, we also got some very interesting and useful information and knowledge. Especially from the two lecturers, who came and spoke to us.

The first speaker Elaine Bergqvist was a stand-in for the Norwegian speaker, Shahzad Rana who couldn’t come. Even if I had never of heard him, I have a hard time believing that he could have done a better job than Ms.Bergqvist whose speaking techniques was absolutely terrific. As the rhetoric consultant she is, we could not expect anything else, but she was really good at what she does.  She taught us about what to think about when we speak in front of people and how to remove the prejudices that they will have of the speaker and make them listen instead. I don’t think I have ever listened to a speaker who came with as many good practical advices ever.

The other lecturer of the day was also very interesting, Soulaima Gourani, a well-known Danish business woman who holds titles such as “Talent 2004” and the BNY-award “Rising Star 2004.” She talked about how to choose the perfect career for you. A very interesting subject with a lot of good tips there as well. However, I felt she almost had too many tips and many of them similar so that she was repeating herself. Perhaps she could have slowed down the tempo and talked a little bit more about each thing instead. Either or, I learned a lot from her as well.

The evening festivities took place a Örebro Castle where we meet the “governor of Örebro,” (Not sure if that is the correct English title for “Landshövding”) who welcomed us to the castle with a toast. We later enjoyed a delicious dinner in the castle followed by some dancing.

The third day = Creativity workshop, inspiring stores and the game continues…

Tuesday morning it was really difficult getting out of bed, when you squeeze so many impressions in to only two days it is not at all shocking that your body want more than 7 hours of sleep to catch up. But no sleep here, instead another day full of new experiences. Fortunately we had the Josefine Arenius on stage to announce all the speakers and this morning she also managed to make sure that all of us woke up by making us dance, Good job!

Today we didn’t have any lectures in the auditorium; instead we had a mini seminar in the morning and a workshop in the afternoon, and also the daily business simulation with Mikael Melitshenko: The business simulation Guru! He started the day with a few lessons about the game, some “news” and the most exiting the stock index. Reveling the top ten teams after year one. (The highest stock index after year four win the competition and each day represents a year, except for day 3 when we do two years) We were not on the list.

We got to choose between four different mini seminaries to go to in the morning; I chose the one where we got to listen to former Emax participants who now run their own companies. The seminar turned out to be a good choice and I got a few great tips. All of the participants had made a service into a business except for one guy who ran a worm farm, and yes I’m serious! This meant that neither of them had to have a large capital when they started their business, something I would have liked to learn about. But even though I did not learn about that I still feel that I learned a lot.

In the afternoon, after the business simulation sessions were done for the day, it was time for a workshop. This time we had also a few different one’s to choose between. I wanted to go to one about leadership and coaching, but that one was full before I even realized that they had limited spots. So I got my second choice “Creativity.” It turned out to be a great choice were we learned about the different stages that you go through when you go from idea to plan. I have not studied this before, so I got a lot out of the class, but many who were more experienced in the area felt that it was too basic.

The fourth day – Year 3-4 for in the simulation, two lectures and the winners!

Sure the week had been filled with new impressions, but today the schedule was even more hectic. Today we were going to attend two lectures, listen to the business simulation Guru twice and complete two years in the business simulation. And first after all of that it was time for the gala…

We began the morning with some news from the Guru, and it also turned out that we were leading the stock index after year 2.  I was somewhat worried after these news since no one who have won the competition have ever been on the 10-top list during the three first years, and we were not only on the list, we where nr 1. But my very intelligent teammate Bodil ensured the rest of us that it was better to have been on the top list once than never: showing that we at least made something right sometime. So we agreed to see it from that perspective and went on to play year 3 with that attitude.

After the first simulation hours it was time for the week’s third lecturer. This time it was the Finnish entrepreneur Olli Rikala who is most famous for winning the Finnish version of the apprentice.  He is the CEO for many companies, one of them Deferon. Though he was not the most charismatic lecturer I have heard he had some very good insights and surely he made the audience laugh more than once. One of the things he said that I will remember is: Entrepreneurship requires: 15% skills 35% attitude and 50% courage and it is decisions that makes you go from attitude to courage (Not a direct quote though)

After lunch it was time to meet the guru again, and the butterflies were going crazy inside me: did we manage to stay on the top 10 list? By a coincidence the top three teams from year two were seated in the front row, making the hopes rise even higher. The results came and we had dropped to second place, only less than a point from the team who were second the last year and now had taken the lead. A bit relived that we stayed on the list, but also frustrated that they manage to get a head of us we went in to the room to continue the simulation. I think that losing the lead made us even bolder without decision and we went all-in trying to boost our strategy to regain the lead and end as winner. The pressure on us grew as people could not be quick enough to mention that no one who had been top ten lists had ever won. When we finally turned in the decisions we could only wait and see..

The forth and last lecturer was Camilla Ljunggren who invented one of my favorite small kitchen things: “pluringen” a small round hanger that you but on in the kitchen by the sink and put the dish cloth in to dry. She is also very into social entrepreneurship as she is the CEO for SIFE. She talked about social entrepreneurship and how it is becoming more popular even though it is hard to define what it is. Since I had heard about social entrepreneurship before I knew more than most, but really enjoyed her examples. She talked about Patagonia and Ben & Jerry‘s and why they are social businesses.

The evening of day four: The gala

Since we did not have too much time to get dressed and ready for the gala, and I had to spend some time checking out before the gala since I was leaving before lunch the morning after. Therefore I did not have too much time to think about if we could win or not, so I don’t really know what I expected. We went with the first but to the gala which we first know found out to be at a hotel. I don’t remember the name of it, but it was really close to the castle and had really nice interiors.

When we came we made sure to take some pictures of the team all dressed up and then we headed in for the dinner. At this point everyone was mingling and talking about the week, most people talked to the people that they had got to know during the week and not many new connections were made. A while after the second bus arrived Janis Eriksson the CEO and founder of the event made a toast and then we headed up to the banquet room for the dinner.

The evening was filled with delicious food, weird (according to me) entertainment and a lot of mingle. I managed to meet some people I had not met earlier during the week and got cards from them so that we could stay connected. It was not until the entertainers said that it was time to announce who won third place that I realized how nervous I had been and my team mates with me. Another group who have had Martin as a coach and was seated right next to us won the third price, and now the expectations rose even higher, perhaps we could win, because we had compared numbers and ours where better than theirs. But those expectations were soon shattered as Martin arrived with his poker face/smile and said “Hey guys, don’t be too disappointed if you don’t win.” We got a few other comments about things that were talking for the fact that we might not win. A few hours later when they announced the second prize winners, I had managed to convince myself that we could not win and the butterflies where gone.

Time flew by and before we knew it we had finished the dessert and it was time to find out who the winners where and where they were going to go. The first prize is always a journey to somewhere in the world where the winners get to study foreign entrepreneurship and business for a few days. This year the trip destination was St. Petersburg in Russia! The butterflies began again and when I looked over to Michaela (a good friend who was the distributor of the prizes) and saw her pressing the diplomas trough her chest not looking in my direction, a piece of me started to think that perhaps we were the winners. A few seconds later the announcer shaped his lips giving stalling the moment before he announced “team 43: Fists.” We jumped out of our chairs and through ourselves into the biggest hug ever and the audience stood up and applaud; we had won the business simulation and the trip to St. Petersburg. And not only that, we had done the “impossible” been on the top-list during two of the three years before, and still managed to win!

Team 43: Tuukka Pakarinen, Bodil Kanstad, Annelie Näs, Michael Rendebæk Sørensen

Photo credit: Emax Nordic

I cannot describe in words how much I learned from Emax Nordic 2009 and the memories that I will take with me, but hopefully these long words have shined some light on how I feel about this amazing event. Thanks to all of you who make it possible!

I had a lot of expectations before the event, but not the time to write them down. Therefore I spent some time in the early part of the week to get them on paper, because it is easy to forget as the week goes on.

Last time I attended Emax (The Swedish One: Ung entreprenörskaps vecka), I did not apply, I was awarded a spot at event because I won another entrepreneurial contest. Therefore I did not think too much about the event before and I did not know why I wanted to go there. But with the facts in hand it was one of the best experiences I had in my life and today I’m forever grateful for the opportunity and the benefits that came with it. I made some great friends that I’m still in contact with and I have many nice memories from the event. One of the best things was also how inspired I was after I left.

It is completely fascinating what young people can accomplish and I was not afraid to try things anymore; If they could do it, I can do it too!

This time when I came to the event I knew what the event was all about it and my expectation grew with that. I felt that the inspiration that I have had for the last couple of years had began to wear of and I wanted to regain it. I also knew that I personally had become a lot better at networking and I wanted to use that a lot this time.

Earlier in life I might not have had the courage to sit down at a table of strangers and introduce myself (I at least wanted to know someone), but this time I do, and I will use that to make sure that I meet a lot of interesting people. I’m also better at knowing, whom I want to stay connected with and why, this might sound harsh, but what I mean is that you cannot stay connected to everyone you meet. And if you cannot find a “private friend relation” to someone that you see your professional goals isn’t matching, that might a reason to not make an effort to stay connected with, however that does not mean that I won’t be nice to them or anything. (I hope this came out in the right way). All of this has made me better prepared for Emax Nordic 2009.