Your ticket to the future might be your name badge

This is a short recap of Nordic Summit 2025 from my perspective, and it starts with reminding you all that your name badge matters. Sometimes they need a little glue (we’ll make sure they hold better next year), and sometimes they just glow, giving you the chance to grab a ticket to the future.

Last weekend, the Clarion Hotel Post in Gothenburg opened its doors to 500 tech enthusiasts from 26 different countries. Among them were chess players, a stand-up comedy dreamer as a kid, a puzzle enthusiast able to organize any chaos, and a certified bee (not Power ‘Bi’) keeper, also known for hacking the office coffee makers. How cool is that, so many nationalities and personalities under one and the same roof!

There is a lot to gain from attending a conference. You get to learn new things, tips and tricks you did not expect, and sometimes did not know you needed. You will meet people, the kind of people that might become collaborators, mentors, or friends. You will get inspired by stories, demos, and spontaneous hallway conversations.

And maybe, just maybe, you will get a ticket to the future version of yourself you never imagined possible. Your ticket to the future might be your name badge.

The conversation that might change everything

Why on earth do I mention a stand-up comedy dreamer as a kid, a puzzle enthusiast, and a certified bee (not Power ‘Bi’) keeper at the beginning of this post? Well, those were some of the wonderful fun facts sent in when our speed mentors applied to be a speed mentor.

Speed mentoring was a new concept we tried this year. We wanted to provide 1:1 conversations spread over different topics. Sure, you can talk to anyone at the conference, but not everyone knows who to ask, or even has the courage to walk straight up to someone and start a conversation. Hopefully, this format made it a little easier.

One of the tracks for speed mentoring was business and career development. That meant everyone with a name badge around their neck had the opportunity to seek advice from Nick or Olha (with that perfect Swedish ‘lagom’ t-shirt) about their future self. The lucky ones might even have gotten a duck!

Nick had also been invited to deliver the closing keynote. This was not just another tech talk, it was personal, soul-touching, and just wonderful to experience all over again. From Nick to the audience, and from me to you: never stop checking in on your friends and asking, “How are you, really?” Ulrikke, you’re the best for coming up with that concept in the first place!

Combining teaching with entertainment

As mentioned at the beginning of this post, it’s so cool to have so many nationalities and personalities under one roof. With the organizer hat on, I’m super proud we had speakers from far, far away, like George, who traveled all the way from Australia, and Sean from Baltimore. They took community sessions to the next level with a mystery murder show, letting attendees collaborate and guess who stole the secret recipe. Was it Power Automate Paul, Plugin Paulina, Webhook Wendy, or Intern Ivan?

Every speaker dinner should have a chessboard?!

You do not need to talk about tech all day long at these events, it is also about connections and meeting real people. People just like you, even the speakers. One fun part at this year’s event was that we had the honor to have a chess pro as a speaker. Is a chessboard the perfect fit for every dinner? Maybe not, but at this speaker dinner it was.

I’m really grateful to be part of this organizing group that spans the Nordic countries. Thank you all for the collaboration and the energy you put into making this possible. We also had amazing volunteers helping out and sponsors ensuring we could be there. Now it’s time to start making plans for next year’s event, I hope to see you there!

Did you notice that the art on the wall at the Clarion Hotel Post is from Norway? Just like most of the attendees this year. That vintage postal car comes from the Norwegian post and apparently it used to deliver mail in Oslo in the past.

Perhaps your ticket to the future start with a session submission, volunteering, or just by showing up. There are so many possibilities, make sure to grab one of them!

Original Post https://carinaclaesson.com/2025/09/29/your-ticket-to-the-future-might-be-your-name-badge/