My practice at WorldEXPO-2017

In the past three month, I have gained a working experience at Astana EXPO-2017 in Kazakhstan, where I was a representative of Finland pavilion.
EXPO-2017 is a multinational exhibition which gathered over 100 countries, international organizations and companies under the theme “Future Energy”. Every country-participant represented their know-how in the promotion of sustainable energy and solutions of alternative energy production. Finland participates at the Expo with its own pavilion, carrying the theme “Sharing Pure Energy”. My duty was to introduce the products and services of Finnish companies in the field of Green Economy to the guests/companies and connect those who are interested with the management team and later directly with the companies. The main companies which participated in the project: Honka, Tikkurila, Isku interior, BusinessOulu, Wello, Tespack, Vaisala, Ferroplan, Ensto, Finnish Water forum and Finair.
Undoubtedly, I have gained some basics of working experience as well as social skills during this training period. I am very lucky with the management team and very greateful to my supervisors who made those three month so enjoyable and memorable. (see picture with the management team and 14other guides like me)

One of the best things about EXPO is international atmosphere. We communicated closely with a lot of nationalities and met a lot of different people there. That obviously gave me a great practice of my communication skills. It also created a great environment for improvement of networking abilities.

Due to the scope of the job, which mainly was service, I also obtained a conflict resolution and stress management skills. I am convienced, that this is of a vital importance for any career in the future at any job: to find solutions quickly even in a very tensed and stressful situations remaining alert and calm, to solve any problems occurred between personnel and customers, to be aware of and respectful of differences, to be able to seek compromise and avoid punishing.
I also had a wonderful chance to meet a lot of representatives of Finnish companies during Business events in the pavilion’s VIP Lounge. JAMK University was one of the partners of EXPO-2017 and actively participated in the event. Thus, I had a pleasure to work with Heikki Pusa, Manager of Global Education Services and also meet Jussi Halttunen, Rector of JAMK who visited Astana (see picture below).

Last, but not least, I have learnt a lot of new information regarding sources of alternative energy, energy efficiency and miscellaneous ways of reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities. I became more aware of the problems that our world is facing right now and where those problems will lead us, if serious actions are not undertaken.