Welcome to Nordic Business Forum 2025
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 2025
24-25 September
Messukeskus, 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 Hosted Groups 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. Please note that we are not paying for parking for the media or any other event attendee. This decision was made to align with our sustainability policy, as we want to encourage the use of public transportation.
Check-In
The doors at Messukeskus will open at 8:45 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 media 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. Please note that there is no media check-in at the Northern entrance!
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 are general cloakrooms where you can leave your jacket and possible luggage. For smaller personal items, you can use the lockers available in the Media Center.
Media Center: We have a dedicated Media Center on the second floor of the event venue. You may use the Media Center for work and for storing your equipment. 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 Center will close at 19:30 on Wednesday and at 17:30 on Thursday, after which all remaining items will be taken to the Southern cloakroom at the main entrance.
Media Seating: At the Main Stage, accredited media can sit at any VIP seat. Our staff will also be there to help you find a seat.
Food
The Media Badge includes lunch and snacks for both event days. You may eat lunch at the same buffets, food trucks, and restaurants as our event guests at the Networking Area. During the other event breaks, you will also find snacks in the Media Center. Coffee and tea will be served there 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 25 September
08:45 – Doors Open
10:00 – VIP Session with Gianpiero Petriglieri
11:00 – Welcoming Lunch
12:00 – Main Stage program begins
18:55 – Main Stage program ends
19:00 – VIP Evening
19:30 – Media Center closes
Thursday 26 September
07:45 – Doors Open
08:30 – VIP Session with Jonah Berger
09:30 – Main Stage program begins
11:00 – Lunch
17:00 – Main Stage program ends
17:30 – Media Center closes
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 Center 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.
- Electricity sockets for media videographers can be found at the Main Stage on both sides of the technical operations setup in the audience.
Please note these exceptions by our speakers:
- Broadcast cameras and any filming are NOT ALLOWED at all during the sessions of Simon Sinek, Angela Ahrendts, and Rick Rubin.
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 #NBForum2025
- 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 for 90-days after the event. (Note: Simon Sinek’s session recording is available until 1st October.)
You should have received an invitation email from Brella to set up your profile (sent from noreply@brella.io). Then we suggest you:
- Download the app on Google Play or App Store or go to https://next.brella.io/events
- Log in with the email you used for the media accreditation
- Enter or create your password, or click ‘Send me a sign-in code’
- Join the event ‘Nordic Business Forum 2025’
- Update your profile or continue with your existing account
- Set up your networking preferences and book meetings
- 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!
Nordic Business Forum 2025
Nordic Business Forum 2025 is our 14th annual conference organized in Finland. The main theme of the event this year is Moving Forward. The keynotes and discussions will focus on the theme in the context of Strategic Foresight, Organizational Culture, and Growth.
Attendees
The event brings together over 7,000 attendees from over 40 different countries. While most of the audience (over 70%) comes from Finland, hundreds of people are joining from the Baltics and Nordics. Also, there are people coming from many other countries, such as the UK, Germany, and even Australia.
Nordic Business Forum 2024 attendee statistics:
- CEO 13.5%
- Other C-level 12.5%
- Director 24.7%
- Manager 23.6%
- Owner/Founder 10.9%
- Chairperson 1.2%
- Board member 4.8%
- Employee 8.6%
The event will also be followed via livestream with an estimated 25,000 viewers worldwide.
Speakers
- Rick Rubin – Legendary music producer reveals how to use creative flow and vision to innovate, solve complex problems, and transform businesses.
- Simon Sinek – Leadership visionary shares how to build trust-driven, high-performing teams that succeed in the volatile business environment.
- Angela Ahrendts – Former Apple and Burberry executive shares insights on leading change and creating seamless customer experiences.
- Jonah Berger – Wharton professor unpacks shifting consumer behaviors, lasting trends, and how to pivot strategy to drive success.
- Sukhinder Singh Cassidy – Acclaimed CEO and tech leader shares lessons on leading cultural transformation with integrity and navigating leaders’ toughest decisions in times of change.
- Milda Mitkuté – Vinted co-founder shares how she turned a simple idea into a billion-dollar fashion tech brand disrupting retail and reshaping consumer habits.
- Diana Kander – Innovation expert and serial entrepreneur reveals how simple questions can uncover hidden opportunities and help organizations adapt to shifting trends.
- April Rinne – Global futurist shares how utilizing foresight, taming uncertainty, and creating adaptive teams and cultures can help leaders thrive in a world of constant change.
- Howard Yu – IMD professor offers strategies to help companies adapt, compete, and lead, drawing from global best practices in innovation, transformation, and future readiness.
- Risto Siilasmaa – F-Secure founder and former Nokia chairman discusses foresight and resilience, offering leadership lessons from steering companies through massive transformation.
- Gianpiero Petriglieri – INSEAD professor shares how leaders can foster cultures of freedom and belonging, redefining success in an era where authenticity matters more than hierarchy.
- Peter Hinssen – Innovation strategist shows how to navigate disruption with agility, turn uncertainty into opportunity, and build a culture of experimentation.
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 200 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 2025 partners:
Main Partners: EY, Finnair, Outokumpu, Reaktor
Partners: Bauer Media Outdoor, Canva, Creative Technology, Deel, Framery, Ilmarinen, Jolos, JYU EMBA, Konecranes, Metsä/Skogen, Reaktor, Roschier, Scandic, SEB, Secto Automotive, Softiq, Sponda, Summa Defence, Suomen Messut, Taksi Helsinki, University of St. Gallen
Media Partners: HS Visio, Delfi
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, and Brené Brown.