Yes, if organised by RMK and we're invited - you might need to bring hiking boots, mosquito repellent and a satellite dish.
It all started the moment Jaanus from RMK wrote and asked if it would be theoretically possible to make a live broadcast of the conference from four different wild locations in Lahemaa - forest, bog, young forest - and a 5 km hiking trail, while walking.
Quite frankly, I didn't even understand why the question started with the word "I'm not a lawyer". “either”, not “how”. Our team's transmissions have taken them both underground - into the tunnels of the Kohtla-Nõmme mining museum - and on board a border guard ship in the middle of the Gulf of Finland. Estonia's only 100% stand-alone transmission station as an operator, we have also travelled half of Europe over the years. So the Lahemaa conference sounded more like “walk in the park“.
But it's true - what is another exciting challenge for our team may seem utopian from the sidelines. Some tasks require a lot of experience, trial and error. As the saying goes: “A master has made more mistakes than he has ever tried.”
The starting task was set. At this point, we would like to pay a big bow to RMK for having the courage to plan the conference not with the number of chairs and the proximity to the city centre in mind, but to pack a mosquito repellent, sun cream and a battery bank in the participants' gift bags. Dress code? Smart casual instead of hiking boots and towel.
Eustafor 2022 started with a gathering in the evening before the event and the next morning nearly 100 European forestry experts headed to the outskirts of Võsu. After a kilometre's walk, they arrived at the Forest Legend, where the theme was the management of peri-urban forests and community involvement. The local boys, who had just come to play football, turned around a little startled - foreigners with flaps on their pitch? - - but hopefully came back later. Participants listened to presentations about the clappers and all the information was streamed to their smart devices. For online viewers, we put together a mix of camera shots and slides.
The buses then took the crowd ten kilometres away to a youth village. Topics covered included: different growth stages, aerial photo-based moisture management and growth status monitoring. While the previous speaker stood still during the presentation, here the operator, Ailar, accompanied the group for one and a half kilometres live - camera and transmission equipment in his backpack. In real time, this image was cut together with a drone camera and slides were added.
After the young people's dinner came the lunch - and it was a memorable one. Instead of a marmite buffet, we were served soup made from camping utensils, served with black bread and all the good and better that Estonian cuisine has to offer. Maybe everything just tasted better outdoors, but RMK gets ten points for this - because they could have gone for the solid.
Full bellies, good mood! The road took us to the northern entry point of the Viru bog. Instead of the boardwalk, we turned off to see how the peat bogs manage moisture, create different vegetation habitats, and how to restore a lifeless hole left by the peat industry to its original shape. This part was also produced with a shoulder-mounted camera and drone, while being filmed in the studio. The two-hour hike on untrodden trails broadened the horizons of both us and the participants - there is a delicate balancing act going on in the bog, and in Estonia it is done with precision and care.
The day was rounded off with a coffee break, refreshing drinks and an afternoon of sunshine. Jump in the water? Sure.
Having personally hosted more than 30 conferences in 2022, I can say with a straight back: this RMK conference was the best possible business card for Estonian conference tourism. Good things happen when people come together who know no boundaries and no need to stay within a framework.
Facts too:
- Signal quality measurements were carried out on four occasions in the previous months, under different weather conditions and with different equipment.
- In one place helped Elisa the Chief Network Officer to personally work out a solution so that we can get the best connection in a difficult place.
- In total, our team contributed more than 300 man-hours to the project - most of it spent on planning and failure prevention.
- Operators walked more than 8 km live on air.
- At least 6 people were involved in each shift: two operators, a drone pilot, two technicians in the field, a director and an assistant in the final field.
- Near Altja still available in 2022 autolafkast buy ice cream, pastries and beer. Also with surcharge.
- Nearly 100 forestry specialists went home enchanted by the beauty of Estonia. I have never heard such a lively ovation at a conference before.
