Ministry holding €50,000 two-day forum for public sector leaders

The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications has announced the procurement tender for a two-day high-level public sector leaders' forum, to be put on the state's tab, at a cost of around €600 per attendee.
ERR's radio news reports that the ministry heralded the event, taking place November 20-21, as being "solid and dignified, yet avoiding excessive formality."
The forum will be attended by up to 80 people from state and public sector top-level management and leadership – ministry secretaries general and their deputies, IT directors, directors of state agencies and the like.
Dubbed the "Digitippude foorum," the event comes at a time when ministries had been instructed to find ways to make savings, to be incorporated in the 2024 state budget.
That budget was approved by the government last week and is currently with the Riigikogu's finance committee.
The ministry states that: "The venue will be a manor or a hotel, a presentable, dignified venue which has an inspiring atmosphere, located in a place of natural beauty to allow favorable conditions for brainstorming and the best attainment of the event's goals."
The ministry added that the forum should not take place any nearer to the capital than 50km, apparently in order to keep participants captive.
"The distance is restricted from being close to Tallinn in order to prevent course attendees from failing to participate in some aspects of the program or leaving in the evening of the first day, which would prevent the optimum achievement of the course's goals," the ministry notes.
One venue which would tick most of the boxes would be the Vihula Manor Country Club & Spa, which recently hosted a two-day cabinet meeting where the state budget bill was under discussion.
In any event the stay will cost around €50,000 to host according to publicly available ministry information.
Day one of the itinerary involves three hours' of presentations, and the same amount of time devoted to workshops.
"Before dinner, participants must have the opportunity to recover from a busy day of training," the ministry stresses, adding that any available spa or sauna must be utilized.
Snacks and drinks will be made available for the sauna session, which will be followed by a gala dinner, the ministry states.
Music, lighting and table decorations will add to the festive ambiance, and while the dinner menu is confined to just the three courses, a selection of drinks will be included.
This is followed by the "musical entertainment," whose nature – a DJ, band or performer – has yet to be clarified.
At the same time, attendees may not want to overdo it however exciting the event turns out to be – day two's presentations start at 10 a.m. sharp.
The publicly available documentation announcing the event is here.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Mirjam Mäekivi
Source: ERR radio news, reporter Madis Hindre.