My First International Speech: Oracle APEX Nordic Tour 2025

30 people staring at me. I plug the USB-C into my computer. Nothing happens. My first ever speech outside of Sweden and my laptop decides to give up on me. Great start.

But let's rewind.

The Journey Begins

2 days earlier I woke up really pumped about the day. I was gonna go to Denmark, not for some fun vacation, but to do my growth mindset speech at a real conference. In another country. Like I'm some kind of expert.

HUUUH?!?!

I mean let's be honest. I had never traveled outside of Sweden to speak in front of people before. The whole thing felt unreal.

The Hotel

Arriving at the hotel I could only say "THIS IS AWESOME!" Two huuuuge luxurious towers, insane view, amazing breakfast. Unfortunately kinda expensive so I was only staying for a short while. But honestly? Everything on this trip hit different. Every little thing felt special because I knew why I was there. I wasn't a tourist. I was a speaker. That still sounds crazy to say.

May 7th: The Big Day

The event was the Oracle APEX Nordic Tour 2025. The venue was a train and bus ride away and I could feel the excitement boiling within me the whole ride. The actual location? A simple little conference room. Food included. Cool!

Then 13:00 hit.

I nervously walked up to the podium. Plugged the USB-C into my computer and watched the screen for some reaction.

Nothing.

Waited a bit more.

Then after 10 seconds it hit me. OHHH NOOOO. Technical problems. My computer could not connect through USB-C. Of course. Of COURSE this happens on my first international speech. I looked at one of my co-speakers and just went "ehhhh... it doesn't work?" Real professional stuff right there.

Luckily Monica stepped in and let me send my slides over to her computer. Monica if you're reading this, you're a legend. You literally saved my talk.

The Speech

OK so after that little heart attack, the actual speech.

It was a blast. I had practiced this thing in front of my mirror like 1000 times. I knew every word, every transition, every pause. So all I had to do was not blackout. And I didn't! I actually started feeling it about halfway through. There was this moment where I looked at the audience and saw people nodding. Like actually nodding along. That's when it stopped being scary and started being fun.

The response afterwards was muuuuch better than I expected. People came up to me and actually wanted to talk about what I'd said. For a first timer? I was just happy to make it through alive. But this was more than just surviving, it actually went well.

I did it. I actually did it.

Exploring Copenhagen

Now after the speech it was time to explore Copenhagen! I walked around the city and had a blast, mostly standard tourist stuff but I'll share some cool images below.

But the biggest highlight? Nordnet has an office in Denmark. And since I was still working at Nordnet at the time, I decided to take a visit. One of the employees there, super cool person, showed me around the whole office. There's something really special about seeing your company's logo on a building in a completely different country. It made the whole thing feel bigger. Like my world just got a little bit larger.

Looking Back

I went to Denmark as a nervous guy with a PowerPoint. I came back as an international speaker.

Well... an international speaker whose laptop doesn't support USB-C. But still.