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The Danish Political Festival: Folkemødet 2023
What is Folkemødet?
Folkemødet is an annual event in Denmark, where we cultivate the democratic conversation through over 2,800 debates over three days in the small town called Allinge on Bornholm. These days, the city is being transformed into a town with over 200 debate tents, and where over 40,000 Danes visit the democratic festival every day. Folkemødet reduces the distance between the citizen and the decision-maker. Here you meet the prime minister on the street and are allowed to ask questions of the country's top business leaders.
What were some of the key highlights from this years festival?
This year we experienced for the first time that there was a good balance between guests who were "at work" (e.g. lobbyists) and Danes and between older and younger people. This also means that companies become interested in doing something for the Danes – not only building network and influencing politics, but creating events that have a broad impact. We helped Novo Nordisk with this, this year, when we created an "experimentarium", where Danes could discover all the research that Novo Nordisk conducts every day.
What was your favourite event that you attended / speech that you listened to and why?
I would like to highlight one of the debates that we created for Novo Nordisk, named " Worldcup in talent attraction ". Here the American, German, and French ambassadors competed with the Danish minister for higher education to be the best country for international talent attraction. It was super fun and extremely relevant at the same time.
Did you learn anything new that you will take back to the office?
As an event manager, I take home new ideas every year. I have also done that this year. Next year, customers will get even more creative formats, I promise!
If you had to sum up the festival in 3 words, what would they be?
Democratic, festive and intense
Written by Anne Ginderskov Hansen, Communications and Events Director at Rud Pedersen in Denmark