Volunteers' training

Today we had a training for volunteers in Lahti2017 championships. Over 800 volunteers gathered up to learn the basics about the event and customer service. It feels like half of Finland is somehow part of Lahti2017. And it is awesome.
The event has multiple partners. The biggest is Stora Enso, but there are like 30 other ones also. I didn't even know how many there could be. Full list of the partners can be found here, just scroll down. One of the funniest cooperation so far must be Atria.

Repost @tarjasnowland ・・・ Mitä tänään syötäisiin? Kisamakkaraa! Otan kaksi, tokaisi Topi. Niin sitä pitää poikaseni 💙😀 #lahti2017 #kisamakkara #atria @lahti2017 @atriasuomi #sausages

A photo posted by Lahti2017 (@lahti2017) on Feb 3, 2017 at 7:35am PST

If the picture is not showing, check it here 

So what they taught us about customer service? Well, basically it was all about working as a group, always remember to smile and be yourself. The customer service ABC according to Lahti UAS students were:

1. Listen
   Listen the customer. Do not underestimate the customers issue. 
2. Understand.
   Understand the issue. Ask as many questions as needed. If you don't have common language, find someone who can help.
3. Solve the issue.
   Try always resolve the issue right away. If it cannot be solved, make sure the customer knows how to give feedback. 

These three steps equals happy customer!

//Mira

Testing soon!

We have iWeek* going on this week which meant most of the students were taking part of lectures and workshops. It took a toll of students available for today's tasks. Luckily we still managed to do quite much!

We are almost ready with all the configurations, so today we started moving everything to competition area. All of the switches, power plugs, cables, wlan access points and basically everything else were carried in the Main Media Center and Sub Media Center. Now it is time to test them in real life! 

Our systems will be tested in Finlandia Hiihto in the beginning of February. Exciting! 

//Mira

*iWeek program is open for all IT students and the programme is included in the regular program of the specific study groups. 

Guest lectures from partner institutions give lectures and presentations on the following topics:

• GAMING
• VIRTUALIZATION & CLOUD SERVICES
• INTERACTIVE WEB
• INTERNET OF THINGS
• CURIOUS CREATIVES

Program consists of lectures, workshops, networking. You will also learn about the student exchange possibilities in our partner institutions. 

30 DAYS!

30 days to go! Enjoy the thrill of competitions and the unique atmosphere in breathtaking setting of Salpausselkä: Lahti2017.fi! #lahti2017 #roadtolahti #juhlakisat

A photo posted by Lahti2017 (@lahti2017) on Jan 22, 2017 at 11:09pm PST

 If you cannot see the picture: https://www.instagram.com/p/BPmRSbtB8tx/

If you are not yet following Lahti2017 in Instagram, do it now. They are also in Facebook.

Visit lahti2017.fi for more information about the world ski championships.
Unbelievable, only 30 days to go. 

//Mira

Life is fluid.

Everything changes extremely fast. I should have gotten use to it, but it still sometimes surprises me. We are part of such a big organization. It means that slight change somewhere might mean bigger change for us. It has been interesting to work without exact timetable. It will train all of us for real work, since what I have seen - new things can come up out of nowhere. Life and work is like liquid and you need to be flexible to keep up.

What have changed lately? Well, we got information about mandatory training for all the volunteers. It was a surprise and with such a late notice some have problems to fit it in their schedule. Luckily, we got permission to have few representatives who go for training and then next week shares the info with rest. I am gonna one of the representatives.

And once again - we changed the whole on-call shift system. This time it should be the final version. We will have two persons in Main Media Center (MMC) and two in Sub Media Center (SMC). Second year students will be taking care of that. Third and fourth year students will be available as a technical support and there will always be three of them in the area. Sounds fair, right?

33 days to go!

//Mira

Introducing: New teams

This is getting exciting! Whole autumn we were getting known to all systems and software, preparing ourselves for real work and now it is the time to actually implement all of it.

We have five main teams:

1. Wifi Access Points
2. Network Monitoring System
3. LAN services
4. Cable sets for tables
5. Switches for tables

Well, you can guess the theme of every team. It is kinda obvious. The teams are actually only for building days. It makes sure that every task will be done. Each team have at least five members, even though most have more. Since we have two media centers, Main Media Center and Sub Media Center, every group will eventually split in two. 

Teams have been chosen and everyone is working so hard!

//Mira

ps. I have been away, so it will be a bliss to see everyone next week. Can't wait!

Kick-start for spring semester!

Holidays are over and the whole team is getting ready for real work. Today's classes were mostly about getting orientated. New course information, creating new groups and making sure everyone is on same page about what needs to be done. We decided to add one more tool for keeping track of our progress. Soon we will see how well it actually works.

Most important task for today was creating a timetable for on-call shifts. Main responsibility is for second year students, but 3rd and 4th year students will be around all the time to support them. I have a feeling that most of us will be on stand-by mode somewhere in the area, always ready to step in if needed. That is the beauty of a big group - we will always have enough hands on deck.

48 days to go.

//Mira