Welcome to Nordic Business Forum 2026

Here you will find guidelines and information for the accredited media attending the event.

We look forward to seeing you soon!

Olivia Ojala
Content Marketing & Media Specialist
olivia.ojala@nbforum.com
+358 40 358 2353

Practical Information

Nordic Business Forum 2026
16-17 September
Messukeskus (Helsinki Expo), Helsinki, Finland

Arrival

Nordic Business Forum will be held at Messukeskus Helsinki (Expo & Convention Center), located close to Helsinki’s center with excellent transportation connections.

Media representatives need to check in at the main entrance of the venue, the Southern Entrance. The Media check-in is through the main doors, on the right, at the same desk as Group check-in.

We highly recommend using public transportation to come to the venue in order to minimize carbon emissions, avoid paying and worrying about parking, and to reduce and avoid traffic.

Check-In

The doors at Messukeskus (Helsinki Expo) will open at 8:30 on the first day and at 7:45 on the second day. Please reserve time for check-in, security check, and dropping off your coat when you plan your arrival time. We also recommend checking the detailed schedule.

Please collect your Media Badge upon arrival from the Group check-in at the Southern entrance of the event venue. Bring a valid ID with you and your press card, if you have one. The Media Badge should be worn at the event venue at all times.

If there are any changes to the names or number of representatives attending the event, please inform Olivia Ojala as soon as possible via email at olivia.ojala@nbforum.com.

Media Facilities

Cloakroom: Upon your arrival at the Southern Entrance, there is guidance to a general cloakroom where you can leave your jacket and possible luggage before the security check.

Media Room: We have a dedicated Media Room within the networking area after the security check. You may use the Media Room for work and for storing your equipment, and the livestream of the event will also be available there. Additionally, our staff will always be close by to help or guide you.

Please note that the Media Room will close at 19:30 on Wednesday and at 17:30 on Thursday, after which all remaining items will be taken to the cloakroom by the security check.

Media Seating: At the Main Stage, we recommend that accredited media sit at any of our standard seating sections, as the VIP seating is sold out. Our staff will also be there to help you find a seat.

NBF 2026 Venue Map

Food

The Media Badge includes lunch and snacks for both event days. You may eat at the same buffets, food trucks, and restaurants as our event guests at the Networking Area. You may also bring food to the Media Room, where coffee and tea will be served throughout the event.

Event Agenda

You can find the complete up-to-date event agenda on the event website and on our Brella event app. Media representatives can participate in all of the Main Stage sessions, including VIP sessions, and the VIP Evening on Wednesday.

Here is an overview of the most important times you should know:

Wednesday 16 September

08:30 – Doors Open
10:00 – VIP Breakfast Event with Rahaf Harfoush
11:00 – Welcoming Lunch
12:15 – Main Stage program begins
19:15 – Main Stage program ends
19:15 – VIP Evening
19:30 – Media Room closes

Thursday 17 September

07:45 – Doors Open
08:30 – VIP Session with Michael Beckley
09:30 – Main Stage program begins
11:15 – Lunch
17:00 – Main Stage program ends
17:30 – Media Room closes

View the Event Agenda

Interviews

The accredited media also have an opportunity to interview some of our speakers. Most interview slots with speakers have already been booked, but for any interview requests with attendees or HS Visio Live Studio guests, contact Olivia Ojala at olivia.ojala@nbforum.com or use the Brella app to contact attendees directly.

If you have interviews with our speakers, we have agreed on the time and location separately. Please come to the Media Room at least 5 minutes before the interview (unless otherwise agreed), so that our staff can guide you to the correct location.

Photographing and Filming

The accredited media can take photos and record videos during the conference with some limitations. 

  • Media representatives are not allowed to record, stream, or broadcast full presentations. Broadcast cameras can be present at the Main Stage and you can publish up to 5 minutes of a session unless otherwise specified in the speaker exceptions below. 
  • Please be considerate of the seminar audience and their view of the stage while taking photos and filming.
  • The seminar is also photographed by the event organizer. Feel free to use our pictures provided in this photo gallery.

Please note these exceptions by our speakers:

  • Broadcast cameras and any filming are NOT ALLOWED at all during the sessions of Oprah Winfrey, Steven Bartlett, and Nando Parrado.

Social Media

Nordic Business Forum is active on LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. If you share articles or other posts about the event on social media, please tag us and use the event hashtag so that we can see your post and give it a boost!

  • Our official event hashtag is #NBForum2026
  • Our social media handles are @nbforumhq or @Nordic Business Forum

Brella Event App

Just like our attendees, you may also download our Brella event app. The app provides relevant information regarding the event, such as the agenda. It also allows you to connect with the event attendees and book 15-minute meetings with them. You can also view the session recordings on Brella until December 31st, 2026. (Note: Oprah Winfrey’s session recording is available until 17th October.)

You should have received an invitation email from Brella to set up your profile (sent from noreply@brella.io). Then we suggest you:

  1. Download the app on Google Play or App Store or go to https://next.brella.io/events
  2. Log in with the email you used for the media accreditation
  3. Enter or create your password, or click ‘Send me a sign-in code’
  4. Join the event ‘Nordic Business Forum 2026’
  5. Update your profile or continue with your existing account
  6. Set up your networking preferences and book meetings
  7. Note: You can also skip networking and just enjoy the app

If you don’t see the event after signing in, click ‘join event’ and input your unique join code. You can find your code from the invitation email in your inbox using the sender name (Brella | Nordic Business Forum) and email address (noreply@brella.io). 

Remember to check your spam and promotions folders!

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Nordic Business Forum 2026

Nordic Business Forum 2026 is our 15th annual conference organized in Finland. The main theme of the event this year is The Human Edge. The keynotes and discussions will focus on the theme in the context of Decision-Making, Performance and Collaboration. 

Attendees

The event brings together over 8,500 attendees from over 40 different countries. While most of the audience (over 60%) comes from Finland, hundreds of people are joining from the Baltics and Nordics. For example, over 16% of the attendees come from Estonia, over 10% from Lithuania, and almost 5% from Latvia. Beyond the Baltic and Nordic region, there are people coming from many other countries, such as the UK, Poland, Switzerland, Germany, and even Australia and the United States.

Nordic Business Forum 2026 attendee statistics:

  • CEO 15.1%
  • Other C-level 10.6%
  • Director 28.5%
  • Manager 18.3%
  • Owner/Founder 9.6%
  • Chairperson 1.0%
  • Board member 2.4%
  • Employee 14.5%

The event will also be followed via livestream with an estimated 25,000 viewers worldwide.

Speakers

  • Oprah Winfrey – Heart of Connection: Global media leader shares insights on collaboration and the profound art of human connection.
  • Steven Bartlett – Failure is Feedback: Entrepreneur and host of The Diary of a CEO podcast discusses peak performance and driving innovation through a culture of trial and error.  
  • Angela Duckworth – How to Build Grit to Win the Long Game: University of Pennsylvania professor and author of Grit unpacks how to cultivate the passion and perseverance needed for long-term organizational success.  
  • Paul Polman – The Courage to Collaborate: Former CEO of Unilever shares how to turn humanity’s greatest challenges into profitable, sustainable ventures through purposeful collaboration.
  • Patty McCord – A Team, Not a Family: Former Chief Talent Officer at Netflix provides a blueprint for building high-performing corporate cultures rooted in truth, trust, and radical transparency.
  • Nando Parrado – How Trust Forges Unbeatable Teams: Survivor and hero of the Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 disaster shares how absolute trust, shared purpose, and resilience build unbeatable teams under extreme pressure.
  • Rahaf Harfoush – Rise of the Thinking Class: Digital anthropologist reveals how to safeguard focus, manage information overload, and deepen human intelligence in an accelerated age.
  • Kjell A. Nordström – Thriving on Wild Knowledge: Acclaimed economist explains why commodity AI makes unique, “wild” human insight from the edges of the market the ultimate differentiator.
  • Alison Wood Brooks – Conversation as the Operating System of Collaboration: Harvard Business School professor shares practical communication habits to help teams handle friction and stay aligned under pressure.
  • Shawn Kanungo – The Most Dangerous Person in the Room: Innovation strategist maps out how to apply distinct human discernment to strategic decision-making in the age of AI.
  • Michael Beckley – The Decisive Edge in a Divided World: Political science professor and senior fellow shares strategies to navigate geopolitical shifts and make bold, decisive calls amid market fragmentation.

Sustainability

We have taken sustainability into consideration in the production of our event. For example, our menu choices emphasize local and sustainable ingredients, 95% of our attendee lanyards are reused, and we always try to choose the most sustainable option in production-related materials. In addition, Nordic Business Forum donates tree plants to compensate for the computational carbon footprint of the main event and has started an initiative to protect the biodiversity of forests. You can read more about our sustainability efforts.

Students Working at the Event

Nordic Business Forum has been collaborating with Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences since 2014. Every autumn, we provide around 300 Haaga-Helia students with an opportunity to gain valuable work experience at our main event in Helsinki. This year we are also working with Laurea and Metropolia. The students gain 3 ETCS for their degree for working as temporary customer service staff and in other support roles at Nordic Business Forum, and they also receive payment for working the event days. Read more about our cooperation with Haaga-Helia.

The Event Partners

We truly appreciate the support and dedication of our partners, who play a crucial role in making our events better for our audience. Here is a list of the Nordic Business Forum 2026 partners:

Main Partners: Tieto, PwC, BMW

Partners: Antilooppi, ASUS, Bauer Media Outdoor, Berggren, Creative Technology, Fondia, Framery, Honkatalot, Ilmarinen, Infor, OstraconAI, Roschier, Remote, Scandic, SEB, Sponda, Vaisala, University of St.Gallen, University of Jyväskylä 

Media Partner: HS Visio

Mobility Partner: Taksi Helsinki

About Nordic Business Forum

Purpose

Nordic Business Forum organizes annual business conferences that inspire leaders towards better leadership. We believe that inspiring and equipping business leaders who want to make the world a better place is a powerful way in which we can affect the whole society at large. We do what we do to empower leaders to change the world.

What makes Nordic Business Forum conferences so exceptional is the unique combination of people, knowledge, and experience. At the conference, the world’s best business experts help the attendees take their leadership skills and business to the next level. Through the community of diverse C-level leaders, attendees can make new connections and widen their networks. Finally, we take pride in offering an event experience like not other – an experience our participants will remember.

The Company and Its History

Nordic Business Forum was founded in December 2008 by Hans-Peter Siefen and Jyri Lindén. The first events were organized in Jyväskylä, Central Finland. The company headquarters is still located in Jyväskylä, but the main annual conference has been held in Helsinki since 2014.

Over the past few years, Nordic Business Forum has grown into Business Forum Group by acquiring a part of Oslo Business Forum in Norway, DenkProducties in the Netherlands, and most recently also Thinkers50. Therefore, besides the flagship event in Finland, the company organizes events in the Nordics, the Netherlands, and the UK. Nordic Business Forum conferences attract altogether over 10,000 attendees annually and tens of thousands of live stream viewers from all over the world, making Nordic Business Forum one of the most significant business conferences in the world. In recent years, the company has also arranged multiple online events and intensive courses.

The company has offices in Jyväskylä and Helsinki in Finland, in Tallinn, Estonia, in Oslo, Norway, and in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The co-founder of the company, Hans-Peter Siefen, operates as the CEO of the group (Business Forum Group). Since March 2022, Priit Liiv has been the CEO of Nordic Business Forum company. You can find the contact info of all the Nordic Business Forum team members on our ‘contact us’ website.

Past Speakers

Nordic Business Forum is known for its extraordinary speakers. The list of past speakers includes prestigious names such as Barack Obama, Al Gore, Malala Yousafzai, Jack Welch, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Arianna Huffington, Sir Richard Branson, Steve Wozniak, Ben Bernanke, George Clooney, Brené Brown, and Simon Sinek.