Leap day conference @ Tampere

Once a year Rotaractors from all over Finland come together to do networking, have fun and to decide important things. This year, we gathered in Tampere, and what a better date than leap day February 29th.

Friday evening we gathered in Saunaravintola Kuuma, a fairly new restaurant and bar with a sauna possibility in the Laukontori square, overlooking the water. A nice, relaxing evening with casual conversation, while people were arriving to the city at different times.

The whole gang!

In search of Red Gold - Rotaract blood drive

Blood is an invaluable resource. Each year in Finland, there is around 50,00 surgical patients, accident victims, cancer patients, and prematurely born babies, among others, who are in need of blood products. Blood cannot yet be artificially produced, nor stored for very long, so all of it has to come from donors on a daily basis. The good thing is that one donation can help up to three recipients.

We at Rotaract Oulu decided to get involved on the topic and encourage repeated blood donations. Luckily for us, Red Cross had already established a program called BloodGroups. A BloodGroup makes it easier for new people to donate, and it can help existing donors give blood more often. Donating becomes more fun with work colleagues, schoolmates, or friends. Finnish Red Cross has a simple guide on how to start a BloodGroup. New groups receive a goodie bag with gifts, as well as a 'Blood Service Certificate of Honour' from Red Cross, once the group donates 10 times each calendar year.

Greetings from the national conference 2019

Suomen monipiirin kansallinen Rotaract konferenssin järjesti tänävuonna piiri 1420, johon kuuluu myös Tallinna. Tämän vuoksi, nimensä puolesta himan harhaanjohtavasti, hyppäsimme porukalla laivaan ja vietimme konferenssiviikonlopun lahden toisellapuolen. Klubistamme osallistui neljä henkeä; Mika, Oloko, Ida ja Lotta. Perjantai vierähti matkustettaessa ja saavuimmen Hestia Hotel Europaan noin puolenyön aikaan.

Oulun klubin edustus; Ida, Kay, Lotta, Mika

Lauantai aamu alkoi tuttuun tapaan Suomen Rotaractin, kattojärjestömme, vuosikokouksella. Kokouksessa muodostettiin kauden 2019-2020 hallitus, joka koostui lähes täysin uusista jäsenistä Helsingin, Vaasan, Tampereen ja Oulun klubeista. Ensikauden hallituksen presidentiksi valittiin Lotta.

Tämän vuoden teemaan "Inspire and be inspired" liittyen kuultiin videohaastatteluja Tanskalaisilta Rotaracteilta ja Suomen puheenvuoroa ja äänestysoikeiutta Euroopan konferensseissa käyttävältä edustajalta. Suomen edustaja kansainvälisissä Rotaract konferensseissa oli esittelemässä Euroopassa järjestettäviä tapahtumia sekä mahdollisuudesta osallistua niihin. Iso suosittelu! Keskustelu avasi osallistujille sitä, mikä on ERIC ja miten siitä voi hyötyä. Lisäksi käytiin hedelmällistä keskustelua klubien ja Suomen Rotaractin suhteesta, sekä tulevaisuuden toiminnan kehittämisestä klubien välisessä kommunikaatiossa.

Back: Tiina, Front: Lotta, Meri, Jasmin

Ehkäpä suurin lauantaina käsitelty teema oli Nordact 2020 tapahtuman järjestäminen. Konferenssin järjestämisestä heräsi keskustelu Suomen klubien tämänhetikestä elinvoimaisuudesta ja resursseista järjestää suurempaa tapahtumaa. Tämän seurauksena Oulun klubilaisten kesken tuli puhetta mahdollisuudesta virkistää Oulun klubin toimintaa, sekä muuttaa kokousrakennetta jäsenille mielekkäämmäksi. Ilta päättyi upeaan gaalaillalliseen.

All participants

The Rotaract Finland National Conference was organized this year by D1420, which also includes Tallin. So while the location doesn't coincide with the conference name, we all hopped on a ship and spent the conference weekend on the south side of the bay. We had four members attending from our club: Mika, Oloko, Ida and Lotta. Friday was pretty much spent traveling, and we arrived at Hestia Hotel Europa around midnight.

Saturday's program began, as usual, with the annual meeting of Rotaract Finland, our umbrella organization. The board for the year 2019-2020 was formed in the meeting, consisting almost fully of new members from the clubs of Helsinki, Vaasa, Tampere and Oulu. Lotta was appointed the president of Rotaract Finland for next year.

This year's conference theme was 'Inspire and be Inspired'. The speakers we heard were some video interviews from some Danish Rotaractors, and Finland's Rotaract country representative, who uses our voice and right to vote in the European Rotaract conferences. The country rep introduced us to the European Rotaract events and the possibilities to attend. A warm recommendation! The conversation gave us more information about what ERIC (European Rotaract Information Center) is and how we benefit from it. Also another great conversation opened about the relations between Rotaract Finland and the clubs, as well as the future development of communication between the clubs in Finland.

Perhaps the most major theme of Saturday, was organizing Nordact 2020. A common concern rose about the vitality of the Finnish clubs and the resources needed to organize such a major event. The members of the Oulu club went on to brainstorm ideas for enlivening the operation of our own club and making the environment of the club more meaningful and welcoming to our own members. The evening ended with a splendid gala dinner.

Come join us for Game Night!

Are you 18-30 years of age and interested in challenging yourself, developing your leadership skills and internationality, while helping others in your local community and around the world? We want to invite you to join Rotaract Oulu.

We are holding an open-door game night on Thursday 11th April at the premises of Fingersoft Oy, and we invite you to join us! Come meet us and enjoy some relaxed free time with snacks and beverages!

What? Open Game Night
When? 11th April 2019 6pm
Where? Aleksanterinkatu 4-6, Oulu

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/805598919808226/

Contact us at rotaract.oulu@gmail.com
http://oulurotaractclub.blogspot.com/
Facebook: facebook.com/rotaract.oulu/
Instagram: @rotaract.oulu

The Second Social Selling Event Was A Success

Our event titled "How to find opportunities where there are none" was held about two weeks ago. We had a chance of connecting about 30 people with two amazing speakers; Daniel Rantala and Riikka Annika Keskitalo. Daniel is the CEO and Founder of Music Limited, CEO of Ground Zero and also the Vice President of Publishing for Fingersoft Limited while Rikka is a Personal Branding & Linkedin Trainer attached to Tom Laine and HC services OY.

The event is our second of its kind this year with some similarities with our maiden event, we believe personal branding and the ability to sell oneself is important in today’s world. From job searching, getting promotions at work, selling your ideas as an entrepreneur and surviving in the ever growing job market all requires individual personal skills + branding. 

Daniel was the first to put us through his growing career, from when he started as an IT support in 2009 to having his own company and now at Fingersoft. He opened up about his 3 personal principles and tips for major decision making (stairway to his dreams): a) being Active b) know your ask, most especially when meeting new people and c) to take the extra step. He encouraged us all to find our uniqueness and work on them with principles that would make us stand out among our peers. 

The second half of the lecture series started after a short break of pulla and drinks. Riikka attributed the growing success in her career to the fact that she decided to focus on her personal branding. This act she says as greatly influenced her actions in positive decision making. She puts us through the positive side of being active with our social selling side as it makes human connection easier and helps build trust.

The event came to an end with a networking hour. We were also privileged to have a tour of the Fingersoft office with Daniel. The event was a success as most attendees kept on asking when would be the next event. 

There definitely would be another event in case you have missed this and the previous one, follow us on our Facebook page so you don’t get to miss any news from us. You can also become a member by sending us a private message to know our meeting days and time.

Social Selling 101- networking and personal branding

Being active in the business world or as a student, you may have heard buzz about Social Selling and how the work environment is changing. Maybe something about how people are more interested in what you as a person tell them, than you as a company representative or how as a student you should recognize your strengths and lean on them? Yeah, we heard it too.

Is it that easy then? Just know your good sides, use them and you´ll be peachy?

Well I don´t know about you, but not for me. I need something a bit more specific.

That´s why we, Rotaract Oulu, invited two people who have built their whole careers around Social Selling and used it to their advantage. They’re here to teach us the best tips and tricks on how to survive in the changing work environment and how to flourish, while doing so.

I want you to meet Tom Laine, one of the most recognized Personal branding experts in the whole of Europe and top social media recruitment trainer ranked no.4 in the Top HR Influencers' list by Rise Global. Tom has written numerous blogs and trained hundreds of people around the World. Some of my favourite work by Tom can be read here, here and here. 

But so, you and I won´t have to rely on only one source of information, we also decided to invite Daniel Rantala, the VP of Publishing at Fingersoft Ltd. He describes himself as “a gaming business crackpot born and bred in Finland” and if you´ve ever met him, you’ll know that it’s 100 % true. He has worked in numerous positions in different companies and is a networking powerhouse. If somebody can teach us how to meet and greet people so that we always come out on top, that is Daniel. I can´t wait!

Now you know what we have in mind for you on Thursday, I´m sure you´re as excited as I am to get your Social Selling on. See you Thursday!

Link to event.

Best regards,
Ida
Vice President of Rotaract Oulu

Social Selling and Networking

Keväällä 2017 klubimme järjesti Suomen Rotaractin kansallisen konferenssin Oulussa. Konferenssin teemana tuolloin oli Local Improvement eli paikallinen vaikuttaminen. Konferenssin jälkeen lähdimme ideoimaan eri tapoja miten itse voisimme lähteä vaikuttamaan Oulun alueella vielä enemmän. Pohdimme paikallisia ongelmia, ja näistä esiin nousi Oulun nuorisotyöttömyys. Tästä keskustelu siirtyi nykyajan työllistymisen vaatimuksiin ja haasteisiin, ja kuinka suomalaiset luonteensa puolesta helposti kokevat itsensä kehumisen ja markkinoinnin tungettelevaksi ja epämukavaksi.

Syntyi idea. Kaivattiin työkaluja nimenomaan henkilöbrändäykseen työnhaussa. Tästä syntyi teema, jonka ympärille kehittyi luentotapahtuma. Lähdimme mainostamaan tapahtumaa, levittelimme mainoksia ja ensimmäisellä Social Selling luennolla tammikuussa paikalla oli päälle kolmekymmentä kuulijaa. Puhujina meillä tuolloin oli Aino Toppi ja Riikka Pohjanen.

Ensimmäisen luentotapahtuman jälkeen, tiesimme haluavamme jatkaa sarjaa. Haimme myös sponssausta projektiin laajemman yleisön tavoittamiseksi, mutta tuloksetta. Tästä huolimatta tavoitteena oli toteuttaa ainakin toinen luento. Toinen Social Selling -luento on tulossa, ja aivan pian!

Luentosarjan toinen tapahtuma pidetään siis torstaina 11. lokakuuta klo 19 Oulun pelikampuksella. Puhujiksi olemme saaneet Tom Laineen ja Daniel Rantalan. Teemoina tapahtumassa henkilöbrändäys ja networking. Tapahtumasta lisää Facebookissa.

Olemme tästä projektista olleet erittäin innoissamme, jopa niin paljon että ideoita riittää useampaan luentoon. Miten projekti etenee tulevaisuudessa, no sen näkee sitten. ;)

Näiden tapahtumien myötä olemme myös itse innostuneet verkostoitumaan. Meidät löytää tätä nykyä myös LinkedInistä.

Tervetuloa kuuntelemaan Social Selling -luentoamme!

------
In the beginning of 2017 we organized the National Rotaract Conference in Oulu. The theme then was Local Improvement. After the event we started brainstorming ideas on how we could improve our local community. We concentrated on local problems, from which youth unemployment stood out for us. The dialogue then moved on to the challenges of job hunting, and we realized that us Finns, we're not that good at selling ourselves to the employer - or anyone else that matter.

So the idea was to provide tools for personal branding. This became the theme around which we built a lecture. We started advertising the event and the first Social Selling lecture had over thirty people attending. Our lecturers then were Aino Toppi and Riikka Pohjanen.

After the first lecture series we were certain we'd like to continue with atleast anohter event. We even applied for funding to be able to reach a wider audience, but with not much luck. We ended up organizing the event anyway, and the second Social Selling lecture is happening next week!

Our second lecture will be on Thursday 11th October , 7pm at Oulun pelikampus. Our lecturers this time are LindkedIn-guru Tom Laine and game-entrepreneur Daniel Rantala. The themes for this lecture are personal branding and networking. More on the event on Facebook. The lecture will be in Finnish.

This is a project we are extremely excited about! So much so that we are bursting with ideas for more lectures. How we will move forward, however, remains to be seen,
But, since we are all about networking, you can now also find us also on LinkedIn!