SWEDEN - Hanna Jonsson

Meet Hanna Jonsson, who will be joining Pontus from Sweden at the Youth Forum.

For those of you that speak French, make sure you have a chat with Hanna as she speaks French as well as English and Swedish!

Hanna competed in last year's international competition in Floristry. You can see some of the designs Hanna works with at her company website: http://www.hertigfleurs.ch/

IRAN - new delegate - Mr Ehsan Tamis

Ehsan Tamir is a 22 year old university student from Iran who works in programming and software.

Ehsan competed in the 2003 St Gallen International Competition and has since shared his experience through Competitor Training.

Send Ehsan a note to say 'hi'!

It's time to vote...

We're getting some (very, VERY stylish) jumpers made for you to wear in Melbourne... and rather than have a couple of clueless Aussies who rarely get cold enough to wear one down under - we're asking you to vote for your favourite jumper (/pullover / parker / sloppy joe / whatever it is that they call it where you live).

They come in all sorts of colours - so just add a comment that states favourite design and a couple of colours you like and the one with the most votes wins!

Hurry, first in best dressed. Voting ends in a week!

THE NETHERLANDS - Patric Van Eck

Patric Van Ek will be turning 24 just one week after the Youth Forum in Melbourne.

Back home in The Netherlands he works as an Autobody Repairer and represented his country at the St Gallen International Competition.

Send Patric a note and find out more about his love of hot rod racing!

FINLAND - Hello Petri

Meet Petri, the car loving Electrician from Finland!

When he's not busy wiring, Petri loves to listen to music - electronic, trance, house... He is also a volunteer fireman and would like to own a Mercedes Benz!

BELGIUM - Hello from Florence

Hello everyone!

I am Florence from Belgium (a little country next to France) and I am 22.
I was at the WorldSkills 05 in Helsinki.
Before that I did 3 years of studies in Advertinsing and Graphic Design.
WorldSkills was for me a great experience and I would wish everybody could live it!

On the 27th of February I go to England for 4 weeks in order to practice my english. So I hope I'll be able to speak to all of you at the Youth Forum !

Also, I thought it would be a good opportunity for me to work a few weeks in Australia before the Forum. That's why I'll arrive in Australia on the 1st of April. During that month, I'll stay with Jane Stokie, the graphic design expert. I'll work with here at the McPherson Media Group.

After the Youth Forum, I'm staying a few months in Australie. I don't know how long yet.
If somebody else is going to stay too, let me know, maybe we can try to do something together.

I'm looking foward to meeting you all at the Youth Forum 2006!

The President's Welcome

I'd like to add my welcome to you all!

As the president of WorldSkills its my job to keep my eyes and ears open to the opportunities for advancing the WorldSkills mission across the world, so I'm very interested to meet you and listen to your ideas for improving not only the Competition experience but how we get our skills message out to many more young people now and in the future. If each of you brings only two or three really good ideas or suggestions then the Youth Forum will have been not only another great experience for you, but also of immense value to the future of WorldSkills.

See you in Melbourne!

Jack Dusseldorp

CANADA - introducing Catherine, Chris & Menno

Meet our three Canadian delegates - Catherine, Chris and Menno.

Both Menno and Chris work with computers - skills ranging from IT / PC and Network Support to web design, whilst Catherine is a pastry chef and speaks French.

They will jump on the blogspot to tell you more about themselves soon. :-)

AUSTRALIA - Rebecca Lord

G'day Everyone! My name's Rebecca Lord, I'm 21 years old and an Aussie! Most people call me Bec!

I'm currently studying Digital Media but I'm hoping to switch to Web Design. I'm looking forward to meeting you all at the WorldSkills Youth Forum in May. I'd love to hear from you so feel free to post me a comment.

Also if you have any questions about Australia, I'd be more than happy to answer them. Cheers Bec

Meet the Youth Forum Facilitator!

My name is Nick Yates, I'm 24 years old and work at the Dusseldorp
Skills Forum in Sydney Australia. The Dusseldorp Skills Forum (DSF) is
an independent organisation that aims to enable all Australians to
reach their full potential through the development of productive
skills.

I'm looking forward to attending the World Skills Forum in Melbourne
and working with other young people to develop some potential
strategies for the future of the World Skills Competition.
In my spare time i love surfing, swimming and reading. if anyone has
any questions about Melbourne or Australia then let me know in the
comments section below, I'd love to help.

SWEDEN - Pontus Slattman

Hi my name is Pontus and i´m from Sweden. I´m 24 years old but will turn 25 the 6 of maj, so the first day we meet i will be turning 25. In Sweden i´m working as a thetcher in comercial wiring.

I enjoy music, sports, clubs, travel and motorbikes. Post a comment and say hello!

FINLAND - Katri Heikka

Hello!

I am 26 years old and work as a Hairdresser educator in Finland

I have been in Australia in 2002 for 6 months. I was working in PIVOT POINT (hair design college in
Melbourne) as an hairdresser educator.

So I have already exact travelling plans (Darwin, Brisbane, Sydney, Cairns..). It's very great that I can meet
my "old" workmates and friends in Anstralia.

Let me know your travel plans by clicking on the comments button below.

Katri

SINGAPORE - Kian Ann

A quick introduction of myself to all the participants! I'm still a full time student pursing my Bachelors Degree in Computing in the National University of Singapore, and as a part time business I manage my own adventure business with a few of my friends. Apart from my core focus in IT software, Internet marketing and systems, I love adventure and trekking, sports, and reading. I also dabble in photography.

I think its a great opportunity to be able to participate in the forum! Really looking forward to get to know everyone else there!

SINGAPORE - Viridis says Hi!

Singaporean representative Viridis Liew speaks both English and Mandarin.

Viridis is 22 years old and when she's not working in IT enjoys swimming and cycling.

Introduce yourself to Viridis by clicking on the comments button below!

JAPAN - Four Delegates!

Konnichi wa!

Yuichi, Yoshiyuki, Mitsuo and Hiroshi are the four Japanese delegates at the Youth Forum.

These four young men are highly skilled high-tech machinery, but have trouble communicating in English. They'll have a translator in Melbourne, but we can pass on any messages for them in the lead-up.

If you'd like to know more about living in Japan, our working for large mulit-national corporations like Hitachi, Denso and Toyota add your comment - we'd love to hear from you.

THE NETHERLANDS - Meet Renate

Renate Langenhuijsen is 22 years old, and along with fellow Patric Van Eck will be representing the Netherlands at the WorldSkills Youth Forum in Melbourne.

Renate is a Graphic Designer who also enjoys music and can play both the flute and the clarinet.

Renate would love to hear from you, so please post a comment on the blog to get in touch.