Roblox: Entering the Virtual Ballroom

Speakers:
Olli Raudus, Founder, All Hats
Wesa Aapro, Metaverse Lead, Yle

How can national broadcasters, music competitions, and cultural moments stay relevant in a world where young audiences spend more time in virtual spaces than anywhere else?

In this talk, Olli Raudus, founder of All Hats, and Wesa Aapro, Metaverse Lead at Yle Innovations, share how their teams are helping legacy institutions step into the metaverse — and meet audiences where they already are. With over two hours a day spent by Gen Z and Gen Alpha on Roblox, the platform has become a powerful new stage for storytelling, culture, and national identity.

Olli and Wesa will take us behind the scenes of two groundbreaking collaborations between All Hats and Finland’s national broadcaster Yle:

(1) The virtual Linnan Juhlat (Presidential Palace Gala) events in 2023 and 2024, which brought one of Finland’s most traditional and formal televised experiences into an interactive, playful Roblox world.

(2) The UMK (Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu) 2025 experience, which transformed Finland’s Eurovision qualifier into a digital event venue and fandom hub inside Roblox.

These case studies reveal how trusted institutions can creatively adapt to emerging platforms, build engagement with younger audiences, and reimagine public events in real time.

Whether you’re working in broadcasting, music, education, or games, this session is your invitation to rethink what digital cultural participation can look like — and sound like — in 2025 and beyond.