The first FinnForum was organized in 1974 in Duluth Minnesota and the sixth in Jyväskylä, finland, in 2001. Numerous scholars from Finland, the United States, Canada and other countries have participated in the conferences and delivered papers on different topics related to Finnish migration movements and ethnicity.
The theme of the VI FinnForum was Finland entering multiculturalism. In the 1990´s Finland turned from a land of emigration into a country of immigration with nearly 100 000 foreign citizens. The focus of the conference was how the Finnish experience abroad could help the present-day Finland in its efforts to become a multicultural and multilingual society.
The VI FinnForum was organized by the Institute of Migration, Turku, and the University of Jyväskylä.
The next two FinnForums were set for Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 2004 and Sweden in 2007