Note ·
On the first Wednesday of October I sat on a jury in Arabia, under a neon sign that says in art we trust. Fitting. The Monttu stage at Metka Cafe was full of people who make things, pitching them to people who buy things for events.
That was the whole idea of Creativity x Events Pitching Day: eleven creatives, three minutes each to pitch an event-ready concept, then feedback. I was on the jury with Emilia Mäki from Musiikkitalo, Arttu Kallio from LIWLIG Finland and Fredrik Sirén from Turbiini, Metropolia’s pre-incubator.
Nothing fitted the boxes
AI avatars that greet guests in several languages. Drones that map an event site for large-scale AR. A non-alcoholic bar for live music. Live events on 3D displays, for people who can’t be there. And Eero Saunamäki, who turns the recorder into a show. He played it, of course.
Events buy the same things every year: a stage, a screen, a speaker, coffee. Almost nothing pitched that afternoon fits those boxes. That isn’t a weakness. It’s the reason to listen.
No budget line for it yet
When an idea has no category, nobody has a budget line for it. So it never gets bought, and the next event looks like the last one. A day like this is where the category starts.
I’ve pitched ideas that didn’t exist yet. Three minutes is short. The strongest pitches used them for two things: what the guest will feel, and what the organiser pays for. The rest is detail.
What I took home
- Pitch the feeling and the invoice. Without a category, those two are what a buyer can say yes to.
- Last year’s shopping list makes last year’s event. Leave one line open for something nobody has asked for yet.
- Put the makers and the buyers in one room. That’s where a category starts.
What I’m still thinking about
This was a pilot. Two EU co-funded projects coordinated by Metropolia, Digital Creative Industries and Beyond and Collab, wanted to find out whether creatives and the event industry need a room like this. They do. Run it again. What I’d like to know is which organiser will be the first to leave a budget line open for the thing nobody has asked for yet.
Thank you to Meeri Lehto and the team for the invitation and the photos, to my fellow jurors, and to every pitcher, including the three who couldn’t make it on the day. If you organise events, these people are worth a call.
