Interview: Tizian Kronsbein

“From now on we are focusing on a hybrid event strategy to foster the exchange.”​

May 29, 2023
Tizian Kronsbein

Interview with Tizian Kronsbein, Senior Data Strategist at DAIN Studios Germany

What we talked about

Tizian, what is the Helsinki Data Science Meetup?

The Helsinki Data Science Meetup is a meetup series which started in 2016. The series started as a physical event which was often hosted at our offices in Helsinki. 70-100 people would be able to join and enjoy the talks of a selected host. The entire community around the meetup is quite vibrant. Together with other organizing partners, we were able to quickly grow this community to over a thousand people. Small disclaimer at this stage: I joined the team at DAIN when the COVID-19 global pandemic hit. Hence, with the previous success of the series I am not associated.

How important are events for your community?

For the Helsinki Data Science Meetup, I would say they are very important. They function as a platform of communication where people meet, exchange ideas and also meet new people. People meet their potential new employers and have a unique opportunity to take a look behind the curtains of leading companies within the Helsinki ecosystem.

During the pandemic, we couldn’t hold the physical events anymore, the just mentioned desire to meet and exchange ideas however remained. We moved the meeting to an online format and quickly realized that we can create a new platform of exchange which can be consumed from all over Europe. When it comes to data and AI, the nordics are a bit further ahead in comparison to the rest of Europe. Why not learn from each other? Hence, from now on we are focusing on a hybrid event strategy to foster the exchange. Events play a very important role to create the exchange but also grow the community beyond the existing borders.

"From now on we are focusing on a hybrid event strategy to foster the exchange. Events play a very important role to create the exchange but also grow the community beyond the existing borders."

In your opinion, what are the benefits of hosting a hybrid meetup on your website instead of using a third-party event management platform?

There are several reasons. First and foremost, the audience is getting familiar with the website in itself. Further, we have additional benefits in augmenting the content at the event with additional content, like the slides, or a direct link to the open positions of the hosting company of the event. Simply, we can create a more immersive experience for the audience. That being said, we definitely have a lot to learn but we are getting there.

What did you find most impressive about the hybrid Helsinki Data Science Meetup? Was the format successful in your opinion?

To answer the second question first: It was an absolute success. It was the biggest Helsinki Data Science Meetup since the beginning of the series with over 1500 registrations and over 530 attendees.

Most impressive for me was the scalability of the event. Quite honestly, I thought we reached the peak already in the previous meetup where we didn’t even have half of the attendees online.