Joining instructions JA-YE Europe Company of the Year Competition 2014 22th - 25nd July, Tallinn (Estonia)
Contents Welcome to Tallinn!... 3 Preliminary Programme... 4 Deadlines... 4 Administrative information... 6 Technical information and guidelines... 8 Additional information... 11
Welcome to Tallinn! Honoured students, teachers, jury members, JA-YE staff and guests - Welcome to the Company of the Year Competition! We hope to convey to you our own excitement about having the 25 th edition of the competition the silver jubilee held in Tallinn. Dear participants, many of our volunteers and staff members have been where you are today competing for the European finals. We have experienced the delight and the fear of standing in front of all those people whilst introducing our companies. And we know how great of an experience it is. Therefore, we say to you: enjoy the thrills of competing, enjoy the networking and the friendships you make, enjoy the sights and the evenings. A few selected ones will be bringing home the prizes, but all of you will get an experience of a lifetime! In this document you will find important information regarding the competition as well as your stay in Estonia, so read it carefully.
Programme Tuesday, July 22 nd A Warm Welcome Arrivals and welcome at the hotel all day. 12.00 17.00 Lunch Vouchers for Hesburger 12.00 19.00 Rehearsals for the stage presentations (Students) Opera House Estonia 18.00 19.00 FedEx seminar (Students) 18.00 19.00 Communication workshop (Teachers, Staff) Hotel Viru Conference Centre 19.30 20.00 Transfer to Welcome event 20.00 23.00 Welcome event and dinner Tallinn Song Festival Grounds Wednesday, July 23 rd The First Stage 6.30 7.45 Morning jog (organized, but very optional) Kadrioru park 7.00 9.00 Rehearsals for the stage presentations (Students, late arrivals) 7.00 9.00 Breakfast Hotel Viru 9.30 10.10 Official opening Opera House Estonia 10.10 14.15 Stage presentations with coffee breaks Estonia Concert Hall 14.15 15.45 Lunch Hotel Viru 15.30 17.00 Teachers Cafe and ESP Launch (Teachers, Staff) Hotel Viru Conference Centre 15.30 18.00 CEO meeting Hotel Viru Conference Centre 15.30 18.30 Panel interviews Hotel Viru Conference Centre 19.30 20.00 Transfers to Seaplane Harbour 20.00 23.00 Dinner and tour Seaplane Harbour Thursday, July 24 th A Long-Expected Party 6.30 7.45 Morning jog (organized, very optional) Pirita 7.00 9.00 Breakfast Hotel Viru 8.00 10.00 Setting up stands Viru Shopping Centre 10.00 15.00 Student Company Exhibition open for Jury and visitors Viru Shopping Centre 12.30 14.00 Tallinn old town walking tour (CEOs, Board, Chairs) Starts at Hotel Viru 13.30 15.00 Lunch Hotel Viru 14.30 16.00 Alumni interviews (Students) Hotel Viru 15.00 15.30 Dismantling stands Viru Shopping Centre 15.00 16.30 ESP discussion Hotel Viru Conference Centre 16.00 17.30 Tallinn old town game with alumni (Students) Starts at Hotel Viru
16.00 17.30 Tallinn old town walking tour (Teachers, Staff) Starts at Hotel Viru 18.00 19.00 Reception (CEOs, Board, Chairs) Town Hall of Tallinn 18.30 19.00 Transfer to Gala dinner 19.00 19.30 Welcome drink and snacks on the pier 19.30 23.00 JA-YE Europe Company of the Year Awards Dinner Noblessner Port 23.00 01.00 Afterparty Noblessner Port Friday, July 25 th Many Partings 7.00 11.00 Breakfast Hotel Viru 9.00 15.00 Trip on City Tour bus (optional for extra fee) Check-out and departures
Deadlines Preliminary Registration (designation number of participants) February 27 th Early Bird Registration (personal) May 15 th Late Registration and Pre-payment (1/2 of fee) May 30 th Deadline for Company Details and Parental Consent - June 10 th Final Payment - June 25th Company Report submission June 22 nd Company Presentation submission July 11 th Small presentation video of the company - July 11 th Administrative information Your national JA-YE organisations will be responsible for your travel arrangements. All participants need to have a valid travel and medical insurance. Please check with your national JA-YE organisation or with Junior Achievement Estonia (madis@ja.ee) if you need to apply for a Visa. Travel All groups will be picked up from the airport by our volunteers upon arrival on July 22 nd (every group will have a specific volunteer assigned). If you choose to arrive by ferry, train, bus or car, please let us know (madis@ja.ee) so that we can make the necessary arrangements to pick you up from the port or train or bus station. If you arrive before the 21 st we will not be able to pick you up. The Lennart Meri Tallinn International airport is only a ten-minute taxi ride from the city centre. Taking a taxi should cost no more than 10 Euros. All transportation arrangements during the competition are taken care by Junior Achievement Estonia. If you leave on the 25 th the transportation to the airport will also be taken care by us. Estonian national flight company Estonian Air has offered special discount prices for participants of the competition. For more information contact madis@ja.ee.
Accommodation All participants will be staying at the Sokos Hotel Viru, a 4-star hotel located in the heart of Tallinn, right next to the Old Town. Sokos Hotel Viru Viru väljak 4 Tallinn Students: twin rooms (distributed on a gender basis, possibility to be mixed with other nationalities) Adults: single rooms All meals are included in the participation fee, from the lunch on Tuesday to the breakfast on Friday. Please note that, since the teams will be arriving at different times, the lunch on Tuesday will be provided in the form of vouchers. Check-in at the hotel: from 2 pm to 11 pm Incidental expenses (telephone calls, minibar etc.) are your responsibility and must be paid by you upon check-out. The minibars in the students rooms will be empty during the competition. The accommodation costs between July 22 nd and 25 th will be pre-paid by the national JA- YE organisations (see Deadlines). Junior Achievement Estonia has negotiated discount rates for the 21 st and 26 th of July if you wish to stay an extra night. Please contact madis@ja.ee or maria@ja.ee to ask for additional details. Be advised that there is only a limited amount of rooms available for those dates.
Technical information and guidelines Company report The competition starts with the submission of the report. Please check out the Guidelines and criteria for Participants for rules regarding the submission of the Company Report. Deadline for submission is June 22. You can upload the Company Report via the online registration site (please consult with your national JA-YE organisation). Presentation Please check the Guidelines and criteria for Participants for the rules regarding the presentation. Deadline for sending the presentation is July 11. Please make sure your presentation is compatible with a PC. You can upload the presentation via the registration site (please consult with your national JA-YE organisation). The entry music must be sent at the same time as the presentation. Note that deadline refers to the date by which the documents must have been received by JA Estonia, and not to the shipping date (if sent by regular mail). The presentation will take place on the 23 rd (Wednesday) at the Estonia Concert Hall, located 150 meters away from the hotel. The rehearsals for the stage presentation will take place both on the 22 nd and in the morning of the 23 rd (a rehearsal schedule will be distributed during the competition). All presentations will be held on the same stage and will be divided into three slots with breaks in between each slot. The concert hall has a capacity of over 500 seats on the floor and another 400 seats on the balconies. The stage is 1,2 meters high, 7 meters deep and 14 meters wide (95 m²). The screen for the projector is 3x4 meters large. (Pictures can be found on their webpage.) The presenters will use handheld microphones. Panel interview
Please check the Guidelines and criteria for Participants for the rules regarding the panel interview. The Panel interview will take place on Friday afternoon at the Viru Conference Centre. You will be given the time schedule during the event. Stand interviews (exhibition) Please check the Guidelines and criteria for Participants for rules regarding the Exhibition and interview at the stand. The stand interviews will take place at the Viru Shopping Centre adjacent to the hotel. You will set up your stand on Thursday morning from 8 to 9.30 am. If you choose to have valuable equipment (e.g. PCs) in your stand, please be aware that you will be fully responsible for its safety, as these items are not covered by the insurance provided by JA-YE and the exhibition area will only provide the usual surveillance of a shopping mall. The exhibition will be open to the public so you will have the chance to prove your selling skills to the jury in a real life environment. Please note that the Viru Shopping Centre is located right in the heart of Tallinn and attracts plenty of tourists during the summer take it into account when planning your sales strategies. Each stand will be provided with (see figure 1, Stand): 1 desk Wall size 1x2x1m Height 2,5m 1 chair 1 socket 220 V Floor space 2x2m Country name tag Counter 103x53x110cm Each stand will be provided with one 220 volt electric socket. Students must bring their own extension cords. The power sockets are regular CEE 7/Europlug sockets. The country name tag will be taken care of by JA Estonia - you will not have to design that. Please note that the separation between the back panels is a few cm higher than the rest of the back panel.
Students can either use Velcro tape or hang their materials on top of the stand. It is not allowed to draw on the walls, nor use nails, screws or blu-tack, and all stands must be cleaned up after the fair. Damaged facilities must be replaced by the responsible students/teams. Figure 1: Stand Please check back at a later date for the floor plan.
Additional information All students travelling to Estonia are supervised by a teacher/staff member/advisor from their own country. Guest students will be allowed to act only as observers during the Competition. Practical Information Responsibility/ Security If you need to travel by night, make sure you are accompanied by an adult. Teachers/ advisers are responsible for their students. JA-YE Europe enforces "Zero Tolerance" with regards to drugs and/or alcohol abuse. The official accompanying adults are responsible for ensuring that the students abide by this regulation. In the event of unacceptable behaviour, the offending students (or adults) will be disqualified and sent home immediately, at their own expense. Credit Cards There is a large network of ATMs that accept standard international credit and debit cards. All restaurants, shops, as well as many street vendors accept credit/debit card payments. Do not burden yourself with extra cash unless you want to buy something from other student companies. Emergency Numbers In the event of an emergency in Estonia, call 110 for police and 112 for all other emergency services. Additional emergency numbers for JA-YE Staff will be included in the welcome pack at the registration. A doctor will be present during the competition to take care of minor incidents or indispositions. Meals All meals are included in the participation fee, from the lunch on Tuesday 22nd to the breakfast on Friday 25th. For any special dietary requirements, let us know in the registration form.
Insurance Each country is responsible for ensuring that all Junior Achievement-Young Enterprise participants are fully insured (TRAVEL and MEDICAL INSURANCE) during their participation in the European Competition. Dress code On Wednesday you will have your presentation on stage and your panel interview. You should wear either business attire or company clothing. On Thursday you will have your interviews at the stand. You should wear either business attire or company clothing. It is important to note that the exhibition is 5 hours long. Therefore, please choose comfortable shoes, it will be of great help to your well-being! For the Gala Dinner on Thursday evening business attire is mandatory. Other useful information We want you to have a great time during your stay in Tallinn, and proper behaviour is expected at all times. Please show respect for people and property. Students outside the programme will not be allowed to join the competition and by no means will Junior Achievement Estonia be responsible for these delegates. Climate Be prepared for anything. The saying in Estonia is that we do not have summer, but bad skiing weather. Even though this saying actually gives you more information about the sense of humour of Estonians than about the climate itself, it is advisable to be well prepared. The average temperature in Tallinn in July is 17 degrees Celsius but it varies a lot from year to year. You can be greeted by a temperature of over 25 degrees and sunny weather but you may also expect constant rainy days and a temperature of maximum 15 degrees. Therefore, we suggest you take a look at the weather forecast right before your departure. Currency Estonia uses the Euro as the official currency.
Wifi Free Wifi is almost considered a human right in Estonia. You will have a free and fast connection everywhere at the hotel, at the shopping centre, at the airport, etc.