World Village is a festival focusing on sustainable development and global issues, and one of the most visible and popular features of the festival are the exhibitors: organisations, food and bazaar vendors, companies, authorities and educational institutions. Different stakeholders will showcase their work at the festival on topics such as sustainable development, global justice, human rights, environmental issues, culture and social responsibility.
– Exhibitors can meet people who are interested in these themes face to face at the festival. They want to learn about your organisation’s thinking, work and values – and often even challenge you in a dialogue. Tens of thousands of visitors attend the festival annually, so there are people interested in any topic you can think of, says the festival’s Communications and Fundraising Manager Nelli Korpi.
Organisations can showcase their work, identify new potential members and volunteers and increase their funding at the festival. Authorities and organisations get close to citizens and can reach new audiences that might otherwise be hard to reach. For companies, the festival offers an opportunity to share information about the company’s corporate responsibility plans, and to strengthen their image as a socially responsible actor.
Different stakeholders can profile themselves as influential and visible social actors and bring important themes and success stories to the public, Korpi notes.
Meet and network
In addition to increasing their visibility, exhibitors appreciate the opportunity to network and meet with different audiences and stakeholders at the festival. The 2021 festival will launch a new networking venue, Lämpiö, which will be accessible to all main partners and those who have signed up for a partner package, representatives of Fingo’s member organisations, programme partners, artists, influencers and other actors performing at the festival.
– Lämpiö is an excellent venue for meeting people, grabbing a coffee and relaxing in the midst of the busy festival atmosphere. Being involved with the festival on a broader scale is worth it just for the sake of access to Lämpiö, says Rafael Campos, festival Production Manager.
Opportunities as an exhibitor
The festival offers many different opportunities for exhibitors. Exhibitors have the opportunity to truly showcase their work in a proactive manner through a large tent stand or a branding area. A large stand allows you to reach a wider audience and organise various kinds of programme numbers, and exhibitors with a large stand are more prominently featured in the festival communications. Large stands are marked in the festival map, and the programme implemented at large stands will be featured on the festival website.
– A branding area refers to branding of a seating area, stage, or some other area with your own organisation or company brand, in a way that enhances the audience experience. The area can also include programme numbers, advertising, or some other manner of collaboration that can be agreed upon case by case, Campos explains.
You can also sign up for a smaller exhibitor stand in a theme tent. Theme tents include Open Finland, Climate Tent and Clean World. Open Finland is for organisations that want to reach people who are new to Finland to share information about Finland and services and opportunities related to the Finnish society.
– The festival has traditionally been one of Finland’s largest multicultural events, and a meeting place for new Finns, Campos notes.
In the Climate Tent, exhibitors can showcase their concrete work related to mitigating climate change and share information about climate justice. Clean World –theme tent is meant for companies that offer everyday solutions and innovations for a cleaner world. Both topics are strongly linked to the overall festival theme, Future.
Additionally, the festival offers many small exhibitor stands for smaller organisations. These include the Market of Opportunities table stands in the Kallilahalli venue, and small stands for your own tent, located in the area between Kattilahalli and Kaasukello.
The festival also has tens of stands available for food and bazaar vendors.
Advertising space in the festival magazine and festival site screens
You can also take part in the festival by taking advantage of the advertising space available in the festival magazine or the festival site led screens. The magazine will come out on 19 May 2021 in between Helsingin Sanomat newspaper as well as in digital format. The distribution of the print magazine is over 100 000. The festival site screens are located in visible areas next to the main stage and main information desk, guarantying great visibility and reach of the festival audience.
– Advertising spaces can of course also be added to other types of participation, and they offer an excellent way to communicate to your audiences that you are a part of a network of responsible actors, Korpi states.
Exhibitor sign-up is open
Exhibitor sign-up form is now open. Branding areas will be agreed upon case by case. If you are interested in an even broader collaboration with the festival, please reach out to learn more about becoming a main partner.
Sign-up for all stands will close on 22 February 2021.
More information about the different options can be found on the exhibitor and partnership page on the festival website. Link to the sign-up form can be found at the top of the exhibitor page.
Remember also the Early Bird discount offered to all exhibitors who sign up by 21 December 2020.
For more information, please contact the festival team.