Meet our Project Team: Partnership Program

TEXT SOHVI KALAJA

Project team intros continue! This time it's Partnership Program team that works closely with the official partners of Dare to Learn in creating the most interesting and inspiring program as there can be. Partnership program curator Sohvi Kalaja tells us from her perspective what it's like to be in the team.

Growing up in a family full of teachers made learning play a major role in my life from early on. Coming from a background of language learning and education, and now studying language technology, the future of learning is something I’m aiming to be creating. Learning should be something for everyone, no matter the age, place or prior experience, and that is something that Dare to Learn represents. When I heard about Dare to Learn from people who had attended before, I instantly wanted to be a part of it, and now here I am volunteering as a member of the partnership program team. 

The Partnership Program Team works closely with the official partners of Dare to Learn in creating the most interesting and inspiring program as there can be! Our team consists of different roles: Partnership program curators, such as myself, have designated partners with whom they create and develop program content best suited for the event and its participants. A networking coordinator comes up with innovative and engaging ways for people to connect even better at Dare to Learn and beyond. A side-events coordinator organizes exciting events that take place outside of Dare to Learn in cooperation with different companies, organizations and venues. We are guided by our amazing team leader, who helps us with even the smallest questions if we have them, and advises us with the different tasks whenever needed. 

A typical week as a project team member at Dare to Learn starts with a team meeting on Monday, where either the whole project team or smaller parts of it come together (virtually) and go over the progress that has been done over the previous week, and join forces to tackle new projects and tasks. Throughout the week everyone works independently on their own sectors, but often we also work in groups brainstorming and developing ideas for the event. Communications is key in event organizing, and Dare to Learn is no different. 

The whole project team at Dare to Learn has switched to remote working for now with the social distancing and restrictions happening in Finland and all over the world. Luckily in this age of technology we are able to communicate very efficiently via different means, like Slack and multiple video conferencing tools. Even though some of the work for us is very independent, knowing that help and peer support is only one message away is reassuring and keeps the creativity flowing. Our team is working closely with everyone at Dare to Learn, especially the Program & Production team, and a lot of group efforts are put in to guarantee an awesome experience in September! 

​I wanted to be a part of Dare to Learn because I saw it as a super interesting opportunity to delve deeper into the future of education and learning and create an event that represents that in the most fun way! I had heard a lot of good feedback from people who had attended dare to Learn previously, and wanted to experience it myself.​

Sohvi Kalaja, Partnership Program Curator
Partnership Program 2020