Many thanks to our Local Ambassador Tobias Fuchs for taking the photos and  for the nice text.:On the 3rd of March 2009 InterNations Copenhagen community member Babette Hirth managed to organise a rare treat for 25 of our community’s members: a visit to the Amalienborg Royal Palace guest- and representation-palais of her majesty the Queen Margarethe II. also known as Christian VII.- or Moltke palais. The palace has recently been restored to its original 18th century glory and original setting by her majesty the Queen. The Queen Margarethe II. herself has actively participated and seen to its restoration and there is hardly a room, where her majesty Margarete II. personal touch and beautiful art is not represented – from curtains to furniture and carpets she has designed herself. Visiting presidents and statesmen, members of the royalty and guests such as Nelson Mandela have all stayed at Moltke palais. Pictures are not allowed on the inside, but even a look through the windows of the entrance hall will give you a stunning impression of this rococo palace’ glory.

Later that evening some 30 more InterNations members from all over the world met at Toldbod Bodega – close to Amalienborg palace for after work drinks. There we enjoyed a warm welcome at this historic Bodega, which by the way is one of the oldest bars in Copenhagen with a very traditional Danish and homey touch.

The Community in Copenhagen had a wonderful evening as Tobias Fuchas the InterNations local Ambassador relates:

“On a cold, foggy winter night, Wednesday the 21.1.2009, 14 members of the InterNations community in Copenhagen found their way to “Österreich” wine shop at Esplanaden 3 for an exclusive wine tasting of Austrian wines.

As our host and owner Sebastian Rind strongly feels that all too little is known about the excellent and talented winemakers from this small country in the Alps, we got offered 3 outstanding white and red wines (!) each from his wine cellar. Sebastian had made sure there was nothing missing and offered water, bread, fine pumpkinseed oil, different cheese, pepperoni and olives along with the wines.

Eyes, nose and palate were enjoying the wines, anecdotes were circling and pleasant conversation filled the room. Everyone was enjoying themselves and new friendships were forged. Over three hours later the last wineglasses were emptied and reluctantly, but in the best of moods we left the cosy wine store carrying many positive impressions home. From China, Australia, Germany, Denmark, Bulgaria, USA, Scotland, Ghana, … the Austrian wines have made an impact and I am sure there are many new ambassadors for Austrian wines in Copenhagen now !

One of the most charming events we have held in Copenhagen and surely not the last time we organise a wine tasting! Tobias Fuchs”

On Wednesday, October 29th, the Copenhagen community of InterNations had the opportunity to deepen their understanding of cross-cultural networking, thanks to the excellent lecture made by IN member Dr Finn Majlergaard at their latest Get-Together.

Finn presented several scientific models on cross-cultural communication and funny examples from daily life, together with classic sales strategies, in an entertaining and knowledgeable manner. Finn himself is a very experienced intercultural networker with business achievements in different countries and a profound expertise pertaining to international business life.

One of Finn’s main points was reconciliation, i.e. to understand, respect and use diversity – differences between you and me. Drawing upon the scientific framework of Fons Trompenaars, Finn delivered a model for successful cross-cultural networking based on a few basic steps like: 1) learn who you are yourself and the reasons why others would like you; 2) learn to present yourself in a few sentences; 3) define your action plan; 4) assess the risk of your plan (e.g. rejection); 5) do it!

Another basic rule of networking is to ask yourself the question: How can you help others? Finn, himself a Dane, said that the Danish are often worse off as networkers than other nations because they tend to set the primary focus of their networking activity on what they can GET, instead of what they can offer. This, however, is detrimental to successful networking!

To round off the presentation, Finn started a group exercise by organising a networking “marketplace”, where everybody could present themselves, what they could give and what they were looking for. During the rest of the evening, the participants exchanged more information on themselves and made new global-minded InterNations friends.

InterNations Ambassador Tobias Fuchs and intercultural consultant Søren Stig Andersen would like to thank Finn for his wonderful presentation and for giving the whole group helpful insights into the rules for ‚networking 101‘. All in all, it was yet another fine evening together with the best people in town!

PS: If you are interested in knowing more, or would like to take networking to a new level, please feel free to contact Finn Mejlergaard on InterNations.

Despite the horrible shower of rain that hit the city of Copenhagen last Wednesday, the InterNations Get-Together on October 1st proved to be the local event with the biggest turnout yet. Members from more than a dozen different countries – from Mexico, Brazil, Honduras, France, Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Poland, Japan, China, Canada, and the USA – met up with Ambassador Tobias Fuchs at Custom House Bar. Many among the guests decided to combine the useful with the pleasant and joined forces in different networking projects to help expats accustom to their new situation or to foster integration into Danish worklife. New meetings are being planned this very minute – so keep your eyes open!