Hannele Kallio brought her event industry expertise to WaveCrest

The entrepreneurial Hannele Kallio is a seasoned event organiser. She has extensive experience in both entrepreneurship and event organisation, which allows her to handle both the big picture and the small details of a project and ensure excellent events. Hannele's favourite part of the job is working with nice clients, inspiring projects and big brands. At WaveCrest, Hannele works as a production manager, which means that she manages various projects, client engagements and her project team.

Hannele lives in Espoo and her family includes her partner and her 11-month-old big poodle dog Isla. In her free time, Hannele spends a lot of time with her dog, swimming and at her summer cottage in Lempäälä. In her free time, she likes to relax by listening to audio books and exercising.

Hannele was interviewed in summer 2022.

What is your educational and professional background?

I have a degree in Business Administration, and I have also developed my skills through various trainings. Most recently, I studied in Careeria's Buyer Training Programme, where I studied not only procurement but also a wide range of business areas. My work background is strongly entrepreneurial, as I was born into an entrepreneurial family; both my parents were K-retailers and I have been a K-retailer myself for 12 years. After that, I moved into various business events and have spent the last 15 years as both a project manager and executive producer. Tokyo and Singapore are the furthest countries where I have done corporate events.

Why did you originally apply to work in these places?

I got into K-retail through my family, of course, and I got into the events industry because I was really interested in it. I've always liked organising and coming up with ideas for events and I'm an outgoing person, which is why I felt that the events industry would be the right choice for me. My career in events started when I got a job in a marketing agency, from where I have progressed to my current job. I came to WaveCrest on the recommendation of a former colleague who now works here at WaveCrest.

What is your job role and responsibilities at WaveCrest?

At WaveCrest, I'm the Production Manager, which means I'm responsible for making sure that the right people in my team are doing the right things and providing quality service to clients; my responsibility starts when our sales people have sold a project to a client and it's time to start putting it into practice, i.e. producing. So my job is to make sure that the promise made to the client at the point of sale is delivered and that they get a quality and productive delivery.

What are your professional ambitions?

My primary career objective is to work in demanding positions where I am given responsibility. I like variety, therefore the possibility to change jobs within the company is essential for me. At WaveCrest we have 4 different business areas, which allow for a wide variety of tasks within the company.

What do you value most about your job?

At work I value like-minded and nice colleagues and treating people as individuals. I think it's important that all people are taken into account exactly as they are and that individuality is valued. Flexibility is also important to me at work. I like the fact that you can work very flexibly nowadays, both in terms of time and location. I think this is important because of the hectic nature of work: sometimes you can work longer days or weekends and sometimes shorter days. I think that flexibility has to come from both the employer and the employee for it to work. Flexibility is also about having mutual trust in the workplace that employees are self-directed and do their jobs properly.

How do you see the future of our sector?

I see that we are currently living in a period of intense change in the post-corporate era. Our sector in particular has been very strongly affected by the Covid and now, after a long time, we are able to organise events again. Of course, digitalisation has also had a big impact on the development of our sector, but I think that digitalisation has not taken away people's basic need for interaction and encounters. But there are some things that we have noticed that digital has made things a lot easier and faster. For example, I personally believe that business travel will not go back to pre-covid levels, as meetings can now be easily attended remotely.

So there is a lot of change in our industry and there will certainly be more in the future. However, I believe that, because everything has its limits, there will also be a limit to the development of technology, after which we will perhaps start to reintroduce the operating models and things we have used in the past. However, it is really interesting to follow this development and see what everyday life will be like in ten years' time.

If you could organise a party your way, what would it be like?

A small group (15 - 40 people) could work with the following concept: the party programme is kept secret, and as the evening progresses, each section is revealed piece by piece.  The "journey" starts at the tram stop, where an empty Koff tram (a legendary tram in Helsinki that has a built-in bar) will take you around the city for 2 hours, with various surprise guests, such as a client or contractor, Santa Claus and a musician, being picked up at stops along the way. The tour ends at the casino, where for the next two hours you can learn how to play poker, play derby and other casino games at a stake provided by your employer. After the casino, you'll head to a restaurant for a couple of hours of food and drink, before the evening culminates in a concert evening in your own VIP box. What's great about this concept, apart from the socialising and experiences, is that you don't stay static in one place but move from one place to another at a fast pace. The evening is 100% sure to be full of great emotions, joy and the pleasure of being together. A stylish way for employers to reward employees for a job well done!