ÅF shaking the royal hands….

Thank you Annika for covering the panel discussions when we miss out on the action at Bella Centre, but as you know we opened up the activity here at Forum and Bright Green today. Had an early start today with a walk around the grounds at the hotel, not much to se except open land, some building sites, a windmill and Bella Centre from far away, but the weather is great, cold and you might say crisp. There was also a minor energy savings campaign at the hotel, executed by just turning the electricity off for an hour or so. Sure made it a bit harder to put in the contact lenses and picking the right shirt, tie and suit, but when I got out in the air, I noticed that I did OK. And I’m happy that the hotel took such active part in the COP15 activities.

At 8 am I found myself outside the Forum after just a short trip with the Metro. Outside the centre was also about 100 police men and women, so something was in action. I checked the phone and there was still no call from Björn or Alice, but they where probably still on the train and maybe tiered from the activity at the Stockholm office the night before. About 15 business cards later after a walk around the exhibition I met up with Fredrik Lindén from the Swedish Trade Council and we decided to take a short break and sit down and wait for the opening ceremony. We carefully picked the seats right in front of the stage and right behind the chairs marked with Viktoria, Frederik and Haakon. Seemed like the best spot, and why not, looked like comfortable chairs and we needed a rest. Well we did not have to wait long, just a few minutes later the room was filled with people and suddenly everybody stood up (That something you do when royal people enter the room.) We suddenly realized, our decision to pick the right chairs was not only smart, it was brilliant, sometimes being just a little bit ahead, with just a tiny bit more aggressive plan really pays off. Well as you can se on the picture we were not the ones being asked up on the stage, but never the less our neighbours were.





And one thing is sure, what we met was 3 very smart kids, they know what the game is about, and the are going to help and take action, well they said that the only thing they had planed together right now was Viktorias wedding, but they were open for suggestions. And I think that the meeting ended up with at least one concrete Lead, there is a strong demand for a energy efficient and sustainable wedding and marriage, so If you have any good ides about that now is the time to act. One more thing came up though, I think they all need good examples on what they have done , themselves in their on home (“think castle”), they kind of avoided the subject. I see that as a clear signal to "go for the kill", here is business to be made. I know we already have some contacts and things going on, but it's time to make some calls. My personal reflection is also that Viktoria grasps the questions very fast, makes fast and bright reflections and communicates in a manner that a lot of us can admire and envy. And now as a part of our marketing and bussiness network, something to be proud of. (But what is there to learned? Clean your own back yard, it makes a better impression! :-) )


So what happened then…? Well some more prominent gests also entered the stage (I listed them earlier) but we were all anxious to get down to the stand and show the royals some real sustainable solutions by ÅF and Björn Qvist had already arrived during this circus and were waiting down at the stand. Well it all went well an Björn did his job, Viktoria actually came back later with Ewa Björling to spend some more time and listen to Björn explain everything about ÅF, Sustainable solutions, Green Building Design and after a while she also got to meet Roland Mårtensson . Well as you can understand a visit like this doesn’t happen every day, and I’m sure that this was just the thought that Viktoria had when she was preparing to leave ÅF and the world of sustainable cities together with an enormous crowd of press and security guards.




Well just before she left, Viktoria stopped and turned to look at Alice and me, as we were trying to get out of the way of the media crowd, she reached out her hand and said; Tack så mycket, tack!

So Alice, we really shook some smart royal hands today!

Anders @ COP15

PS. If you have the chance, check out the new SymbioCity page and try the new game SymbioCity Scenarios, maybe you can beat Viktorias or Ewa Björlings score.