The Digital Professional

Peter (37)

The career oriented family manPeter lives in a suburb to Aarhus with his wife, Helle, and their two children, Mathias (5) and Miriam (2). He has lived in Aarhus since he began studying and could not imagine his family living anywhere else. At the same time, he enjoys the suburbien lifestyle whe-re he can both take the kids for a walk in the forest and be in the centre of Aarhus within 15 minutes.

Peter works at a digital agency in Aarhus where he is responsible for online marketing and digital strategies for an array of clients. He enjoys his job and takes pride in being on top of new technology and know-ledge in his field.

This pride is founded in a deep interest in the internet and social media. Peter knows about memes, uses Twitter on a daily basis and cannot remember the last time he opened a physical paper - all he needs is the internet and then he is more than capable of finding what he needs.

A celebration of Aarhus is in order Peter feels that he is a central part of the digital community in Aarhus, which he sees as thriving and something to be proud of. Consequently, it excites him that an initiative like Internet Week Denmark is placed in Aarhus and he has been following the festi-val ever since he first heard of its existence.

It is 100% certain that Peter will attend the festival - as long as there are events he finds interesting. He may even contribute to the creation of events.

Events must be applicable to his life With a job and a family, Peter will not be able to at-tend all events and thus he will prioritise events that either relate to his business area or offer him the op-portunity to network with likeminded. He prefers best practice cases or high profile keynote speakers.

However, with his passion for the internet, Peter is also easily persuaded into attending more humorous events, such as an event focusing on his personal hobby of internet memes. Spending a few hours with other meme enthusiasts seems fantastic to him.

In addition to attending events, Peter is also intere-sted in hosting one or more events during the festival. Peter understands how the role as host will promote his employer in a positive way and as an expert in his field he will have no problems identifying potential speakers or even speaking himself.

Most important take aways1. Attend and create interesting events.2. Broaden personal and professional network.3. Enjoy the excitement and focus on the internet community in Aarhus.

“ Finally, we have the opportunity to show how digitally creative Aarhus is - which it is!

The Student

Sarah (25)

The curious and focused studentSarah is on the first year of her masters degree in IT at Aarhus University. She took her bachelors degree in Aarhus as well and where some of her fellow students chose to move to Copenhagen to take their masters, Sarah wanted to stay in Aarhus where she has most of her network.

For the last year, Sarah has lived with her boyfriend, Thomas, in a flat in the city centre. Thomas is cur-rently writing his thesis in media studies and the two of them have slowly begun planning what they will do after they are done being students.

Sarah works as a student assistant at the University and feels she has quite a good network here. Howe-ver, when it comes to the business community of Aarhus, she mainly knows of the companies that have attended events at the University.

Investigating options at the festival When Sarah heard of Internet Week Denmark her first thought was that it sounded very interesting, but she was unsure whether there would be any events that were relevant for her.

She knows that she only has 1-2 years left to build a professional network that can help her get a job when she finishes her studies - and her boyfriend has even less. Both of them would love to find jobs within dri-ving distance from Aarhus when they graduate - but they are unsure of the best way to ensure that they will not have to move further away.

Events with well-known namesSarah will make sure to take a close look at the festi-val events to see if there is anything that can help her in her future.

She will be particularly interested in events that can help her grow her network - and she will definitely attend events that are aimed directly at students. She once attended a career fair in Aarhus where she found the idea attractive but felt that there were not enough companies interested in hiring it-professio-nals. With this experience in mind, Sarah will be very careful to only attend events where she will not just be one in a line of people trying to attract the attention of potential future employers, who may not even be interested in hiring her.

Besides being concerned of her own future, Sa-rah has a natural interest in the internet and digital solutions. This means that she will also be likely to participate in events with either well-known keynote speakers or high profile companies. However, she does live on a student budget and any events that are too pricey she will not be able to purchase tickets to.

Most important take aways1. Attend student oriented events2. Broaden personal and professional network.3. Investigate the possibilities of future employment in driving distance from Aarhus.

“ I would like to stay in Aarhus when I finish my studies but I am unsure of my options here.

The Digital Entrepreneur

Henrik (33)

The innovative business manHenrik lives and breathes for his business and his career. Maybe that is why he is still living alone and spends his time with his large personal network instead of being a family man. However, he is very close with his friends and if they were to describe him, it would be as a talkative, humorous and inspirational individual. He always sees the best in every situation and is not afraid of stepping away from the paths well traveled.

Henrik is an innovative spirit and is always looking for new inspiration that he can apply to his own business. He loves creative processes and has a personal drive that he brings to every situation, he takes part in.

With his business partner, Carsten, Henrik founded a software company two years ago. He knows Carsten from when they were both students and it did not take them long to decide that they should definitely go on this entrepreneurial adventure together. So far their company is doing really well but as all startups, they grap every opportunity of spreading the word of their brand.

Internet Week is another opportunity There is no doubt in Henrik’s mind that he will attend as much as he can in Internet Week Denmark. As a new startup he, and his business partner, need every opportunity to tell the surrounding world of their company - and thereby hopefully create new business in the near future.

At the same time, Henrik is always looking for new inspiration that he can implement in his business.

A networking view of eventsAttending events in Internet Week Denmark is so-mething, Henrik will prioritise throughout the week. Not having his own family allows him to be very flexi-ble concerning his timetable and being an entrepre-neur, he is also able to work at night if he wishes to attend an event during the day.

When Henrik decides which events to attend, he will firstly look at who else might choose to participate in these events. If potential investors, customers or part-ners are there, Henrik will be there as well. For him, the participants are just as important as the topic.

However, being an innovative soul, Henrik is also always looking for ways to develop and expand his own business and product portfolio. Consequently, events that are directly related to his line of business as a software company also have his interest. The only thing he does not have the patience for is long, theoretical talks that he cannot build on afterwards.

Most important take aways1. Promote and brand his company.2. Drive up new business and potential future custom-ers.3. Inspiration for future development of his own com-pany.

“ As a startup, I cannot get enough exposure of my company and our products.

The Investor

Jørgen (49)

The business intelligent investorJørgen is one of Denmark’s successful investors. He has been in the investment industry for more than 15 years and he has backed several succesful compa-nies.

He lives in Copenhagen and most of the companies he has previously backed also reside in the capital. However, that does not mean Jørgen is not interested in investments in the rest of Denmark. But he does not have the same insights in the business environ-ment in for instance Aarhus and as a consequence, he often needs someone else to draw his attention to particularly attractive startups.

Jørgen understands that the internet economy is an attractive one but he is not the most digital person himself. He owns a smartphone but hardly has any apps on it. And he still subscribes to two large, Danish newspapers since this is his preferred channel to stay updated on news.

Internet Week gathers opportunities Jørgen finds Internet Week Denmark interesting because the festival is suited to gather a long line of potential investments for him. For that reason, he is able to learn a lot about the business environment in Eastern Jutland without any hazzle. All he has to do is turn up and meet with potential investments.

At the same time, a festival that focuses on the inter-net seems particularly interesting to him. He knows that the field holds a lot of potential in the near future

and that there are a lot of innovative and creative people within this line of business. It is not necessarily a field he knows too much about personally, but as a professional investor he knows this is where the money is.

A wish for exclusivity in events Jørgen is not at Internet Week Aarhus to attend events with a focus on digital strategies or technology. He is there to meet with startups and entrepreneurial spirits. He is also not there to mingle with each and every participant. Instead he wants exclusive events that are directed to him and other potential investors.

This means that Jørgen will not be looking through the event programme to find interesting events by himself. He comes from the other end of the country and he expects an invitation to specifically interesting events - he knows that he is an attractive guest and he is used to being treated as such.

Nevertheless, this does not mean that Jørgen would never attend a keynote speaker or a trend seminar. But he has to see the immediate gain for him and his investment business - otherwish his time is spent bet-ter elsewhere.

Most important take aways1. Identify and contact potential investments2. Gain knowledge on the internet community and economy in Denmark3. Network with likeminded

“ I am not that experienced in this industry, but I know about investments and creating business.

The Executive

Susan (41)

The digitally interested executiveSusan is exactly where she wants to be in life. She lives in a house in Ry with her husband, Thor, and her daughter Emma (15). She has a dream position as Marketing Executive in a large company in Aarhus. And this spring she finally accomplished her lifelong dream of running a marathon.

Emma is at the age where she does not need her mother’s attention and company every waking hour of the day and this has cleared some times in Susan’s schedule to focus on her own personal interests. This newfound time, Susan spends on exercising and at-tending various cultural events with her husband.

With a managerial position within marketing, Susan works at least 50 hours a week which means she does not have much time to stay updated on trends and developments in her field - however, she knows that this is an important part of her job and for this reason, she makes sure to attend conferences and meetings whenever they can bring her the much needed updates.

An excuse to clear the scheduleAs soon as Susan heard of Internet Week Aarhus, she promised herself that she would try to set aside some time to attend a few events. However, with her busy schedule, Susan also knows that she must either plot in specific events months in advance or be prepared to give a miss on some things during the week due to scheduling conflicts.

Nevertheless, for Susan a festival in Aarhus is the best way for her to stay informed within digital marke-ting and she would also enjoy meeting fellow executi-ves during the week.

Events must paint the bigger pictureIf Susan is to attend one or more events, it is impor-tant that the event takes a look at trends, technolo-gies and best practice cases from a more strategic viewpoint. Susan is not the person that creates the specific content for social media or search optimises website content and for her such practical content is simply too irrelevant.

Susan will not be able to attend that many events du-ring the festival. Due to this, she will instead prioritise the 1-3 events that seems most relevant to her. Rele-vant events means events that give her inspiration to her own work or events where she can network and share experiences with other executives.

However, if she stumbles upon events that may be more suited for her employees than herself, she is not afraid to encourage them to participate in the festival as well.

Most important take aways1. Stay updated on trends, strategies and best prac-tice cases. 2. Meet and share experiences with other executives.3. Inspiration for new iniativies in her own division.

“ I need to always stay updated on trends and business strategies that we can implement.

The Citizen

The Andersen Family

A close-knit familyThe Andersen family lives in Skanderborg where the parents, Tom and Helle, also work. Tom is a teacher and Helle an accountant. Together they have two children, Mathias (12) and Sofie (7), both attend the local public school.

The family lives a busy life with jobs, school and pasttime activities. But during the weekends, they enjoy spending time together and often take daytrips in Jutland. These trips are where they build the close relationship that they have always had as a family. Sometimes they even bring Tom’s mother, the chil-dren’s grandmother.

It is often difficult for the family to find activities that suit all members of the family - especially with both a boy and a girl, it is often a fight between fairytales and cars. Following this, the family appreciates it even more when they do actually find events or activities that they can all do toghether.

A lively area is always attractiveEveryone in the Andersen family notice and enjoy when something special is happening in their home-town - or even the surrounding area. An internet festi-val is one of those things that interests all generations and consequently, they will make sure to take a closer look at which events, the festival offers.

All family members often visit both the centre of Skan-derborg and the centre of Aarhus, and they cannot help but notice street events, posters and banners.

And a mention of Skanderborg in newspapers always attracts the parents’ attention as well. They are proud of being from Eastern Jutland and it is always nice to have this pride confirmed.

Events for all family membersWhen choosing events, the family will look into both events that everyone would like to attend and potentially events that only one or few members find interesting.

Mathias takes a natural interest in digital technologies and events where he can learn computer program-ming will catch his eye immediately. However, Sofie is more of a curious end-user and so her and her mo-ther are more likely to attend a play or a storytelling event instead. Tom is also aware of how his mother needs to learn how to use the internet to get by - and consequently, he will keep an open eye for events that may trigger her interest in the subject.

However, with a busy schedule it is not every week-end they have the opportunity of setting several hours aside for an event. Hence, the family may also choose to simply take a walk through the city centre of Aarhus - simply to see if anything is happening in the open space of the city.

Most important take aways1. Family bonding through events.2. Pride of living in an attractive area.3. Building skills through the children’s natural curios-ity.

“ Not many subjects interest everyone in our family - but the internet affects all generations.