The best ideas don’t always come from the office – Hämeenlinna offers room for new ideas
What happens when a meeting is moved away from a familiar work environment? A change of scenery helps people focus on the agenda, sparks more open discussion, and creates room for better decisions and new ideas. Hämeenlinna offers corporate events the welcome change of scenery they need – made easy and quick thanks to excellent transport connections.
Main image: At Inkala Manor, a historical setting meets modern meeting technology. On the shore of Lake Alajärvi, just 12 kilometres from the city centre, small groups can meet in peace.
You don’t necessarily need to pack a laptop and hop on a train for a weekly team meeting. But when the agenda includes a company’s new strategy, a major change, a kick-off, or another occasion where people genuinely need to meet face to face, the familiar meeting room isn’t always the best environment.
Karita Toivanen, Lead Specialist at Hämeenlinna meetings & congresses, sees in her work that companies look outside the office above all for a chance to pause and focus on a shared matter.
– When you want fresh thinking and a more relaxed conversation, a change of scenery makes sense. The best ideas often emerge from informal conversations that might not happen during a normal office day, Toivanen says.
At the office, it’s easy to slip away “just quickly” to check your computer between meeting sessions, and focus tends to wander. But when a meeting day takes place in a different environment, the setup changes: now there’s permission to concentrate solely on the reason everyone has gathered.
Karita Toivanen believes a change of scenery is best seen as an investment.
– People’s working time is valuable. If a change of environment leads to better decisions, ideas, and thinking, the investment is justified, Toivanen points out.
The event’s goal influences the choice of venue
An inspiring setting alone doesn’t make an event successful. Organisers need to be confident that everything works: the venue suits the number of participants and the nature of the occasion, the technology and internet connections function properly, the catering is in order, and the practical arrangements run smoothly.
Once the basics are in place, you can start thinking about what kind of environment best supports the event’s goal. That’s why Toivanen likes to begin planning with one essential question: what is the event meant to achieve?
A management team doing intensive strategy work may benefit from a calm, inspiring countryside venue where the group can focus on working together undisturbed. A kick-off or staff celebration, on the other hand, calls for very different spaces, reliable technology, and options for evening entertainment as well. The choice of venue is also influenced by whether participants will arrive by public transport or by car.
Hämeenlinna offers a range of options for different needs: historical settings, city-centre event venues, lakeside spots close to nature, and peaceful rural environments.
In addition to a suitable setting, Toivanen highlights one rather ordinary but essential factor among the basics of a successful event: the food.
– When the food is good, everything is good.
An hour’s journey is enough for a change of scenery
One of Hämeenlinna’s strengths is that the scenery can change without having to spend hours on travel during the day. For example, from Helsinki, Tampere, and Lahti, you can reach Hämeenlinna by train in about an hour, and the city is also easy to reach from the direction of Turku. Hämeenlinna can also be reached by public transport from Helsinki-Vantaa Airport.
Toivanen sees the roughly one-hour journey as an important part of the meeting day.
– An hour’s journey lets you disconnect from work and home matters. On the way there, you can prepare for the day, and on the way back, you have time to calmly process what was discussed and experienced during the day.
Getting around within Hämeenlinna is also easy, since distances are short. Event organisers also praise Hämeenlinna’s safety and convenience thanks to its compact size.
– Meeting guests don’t waste energy figuring out where they are or how to get to the next place, Toivanen says.
Accessibility is Hämeenlinna’s trump card
Metsähallitus’ Nature Services, the EUROPARC Federation, and the City of Hämeenlinna will organise the EUROPARC conference in Hämeenlinna in autumn 2027. This conference, one of Europe’s leading expert events on protected areas, nature conservation, and sustainable nature tourism, is expected to bring around 350 participants to Hämeenlinna from across Europe and beyond.
Finland competed with other countries to host the event, and within Finland, Kuusamo, Tampere, and Turku were also considered as possible venues alongside Hämeenlinna.
According to Tiina Hakkarainen, Communications Manager at Metsähallitus’ Nature Services, Hämeenlinna’s excellent accessibility was the deciding factor.
– EUROPARC wanted a destination that’s easy to reach by public transport, since the event aims to be as environmentally friendly as possible. Hämeenlinna can be reached smoothly by train from Helsinki-Vantaa Airport and from the ports, Hakkarainen explains.
At EUROPARC, the environment isn’t just a backdrop
EUROPARC is a great example of an event where the significance of the surroundings extends far beyond the walls of the meeting room.
The main venue for the four-day conference is Scandic Aulanko. Nearby lies the Aulanko Nature Reserve, managed by Metsähallitus, where activities such as forest walks and forest yoga are being planned for participants.
During one full excursion day, guests will have the opportunity to explore the area’s national parks, recreational areas, and nature conservation sites. The excursions will showcase, among other things, nature conservation, sustainable tourism, and local cooperation in practice.
– At EUROPARC, the environment isn’t just a backdrop for the event – it’s part of the event. We want to take people out into nature and show them concretely how things are done in Finland, Hakkarainen says.
Finnish culture, local food, and of course sauna are also part of the plans. According to Hakkarainen, the aim isn’t to offer international guests spectacle, but experiences that are simply everyday things for us Finns.
– It’s often the beautiful setting and interesting nature sites that participants remember most from EUROPARC conferences, Hakkarainen reflects.
Hämeenlinna meetings & congresses helps organise your event
In the end, many factors contribute to an event’s success: the goal, the setting, accessibility, venues, technology, catering, and how smoothly the whole package can be put together.
Photo: Miika Kangasniemi
The mission of Hämeenlinna meetings & congresses is to make organising an event as easy as possible. This free and impartial expert service maps out the needs of your event, identifies suitable venues, and helps bring together spaces and other services. Clients don’t need to know the city or already know what kind of venue would best suit their event.
Metsähallitus has also made use of this service from the very beginning in planning EUROPARC.
– I don’t live in Hämeenlinna myself, so it’s been incredibly important to have someone involved who knows the area, the service providers, and the distances. We’ve received help with things like accommodation, transport, and side programmes, Hakkarainen says gratefully.
Planning a meeting or corporate event?
Hämeenlinna meetings & congresses’ free expert service helps you find the right venues and services for your event with just one phone call. Explore Hämeenlinna’s meeting and event venues and get in touch – it’s easy to take the first step!
