29 Aug 2012

CEMS Alumni Caoneing Summer 2012

For those of you who were not there here comes at least one pic from the Vltava trip.

28 Aug 2012

Feedback from the CEMS Alumni Networking Dinner

Dear fellow Alumni, few days back on Thu Aug 23, we organized another social networking event for CEMS Alumni based in Prague. Nice atmosphere and service in La Boca restaurant (http://laboca.cz), decent three-course dinner, interesting mix of junior and senior Alumni and facilitated rotation around tables made this networking dinner a very pleasant evening for most attendees (1.25 rating on a scale from 1-best to 5-worst).
After free welcome drink, guests were seated to four tables based on industry/field or type of work they do. We had following groups who enjoyed delicious tapas starters together:
Table 1- IT/telco/engineering/construction (5 Alumni)
Table 2 - Advisory/Finance (8 Alumni)
Table 3 - Enterpreneurial minds (5 Alumni)
Table 4 - Consumer goods/advertising (5 Alumni)

Main course was dedicated to seating based on current professional priorities:
Table 1- Thinking about new job opportunities (7 Alumni)
Table 2 - No changes planned/fresh work-life balance duties (6 Alumni)
Table 3 - Change of employer in last 12 months (4 Alumni)
Table 4 - Recent or planned relocations/expansion of business opportunities (6 Alumni)
For desserts, everyone could choose their own seat and talk to other Alumni or continue discussing interesting open topics.
I also wanted to share with you few suggestions and comments, which I received from 8 out of 22 participants through a feedback form sent to all attendees one day after the event:
  • Mixed tables were very nice concept, overall: nice people and nice evening
  • I want more of these - this concept is great, when is the next one? Definitely engage more senior alumni and focus on attracting the
  • Great food, good choice of place in the city center
  • There was a good mix of people I had already known and people I had not met before; it was also good that people from various generations were present
  • Probably some more moderation could be good? - but not 100% sure about this as people really had fun and enjoyed it. I am quite interested on what the other will say on this topic.
  • Price of food vs. quality might have been more balanced.
  • Not everybody talked just business, which was positive. Maybe table according to age of participants might be good idea.
  • Next time, we could also mix "recently changed job" with "looking for jobs"
  • Great to meet fellow CEMSies and compare lifestories and hear about the current development in CEMS/VSE.
  • More space in the venue please (was a bit crowded, hard to mingle), more air conditioning :-).
  • Maximum six people per one table would be better.


For more pictures, click here
We thank you for this feedback and will continue preparing some interesting events for you going forward, taking above suggestions into consideration.

To conclude, you may enjoy  this short video, which I took precisely at a moment when there was a serious talk about fresh blueberry juice at the most senior Alumni table :-).
Olga Nydlova (olga.nydlova@gmail.com)
On behalf of CEMS Alumni Association Prague Board team

9 Aug 2012

Wales Adventure Weekend

It is our pleasure to present an offer from the UK LC.

Dear CEMS Alumni,

After a great feedback we received after the Royal Ascot CEMS Pan-European Event there is now time to subscribe for another great time with CEMS Alumni Local Committee UK.

Please join us in this year’s adventure weekend in Wales to create and maintain friendly lasting contacts among CEMS Alumni across the whole of Europe. We have booked a luxury cottage in Neuadd Cwmyoy - Abergavenny and we would like to invite you to join us and spend an exciting weekend 7-9 September away together. The location of the cottage is superb for walking in the Llanthony Valley and The Black Mountains and the serenity of the surroundings is sure to leave you feeling relaxed!


However, relaxation … of course there will be thrill moments on the adventure part of the trip. Be prepared for some proper excitement, whether it is rock climbing, abseiling, river crossing, caving or quad biking, we guarantee the adrenaline…

Friends are also welcome!


Official deadline for subscribing is on the 20th of August but don't wait- previous editions of the Welsch trip got booked out in the first days they were announced.

Many thanks

Gosia Niewiarowska

On behalf of the LC UK

5 Aug 2012

Would you like to share your experience with CEMS students?

Dear alumni
For me being an alumnus and working on behalf of the whole CEMS community means focusing on three areas: alumni (professional and other events), students (e.g. Meet the...) and the university.
 
This time I would like to focus on the third one.
 
Recently I met Jiri Hnilica, the CEMS Academic Director and vice-dean of the Faculty of Business Administration and we talked about the ways alumni could support CEMS at the university. We came up with two options:
  • Lecturing at some of the basic courses at the Faculty of Business Administration for bachelor degree students in order to attract more of them to apply for CEMS (subjects like management, business economics, or logistics)
  • Lecturing at some of the CEMS courses - subjects like international strategy, corporate finance, international marketing or managerial psychology
While the first one is supposed to be held in Czech and on rather basic level, the latter one should be in English and focused already on some rather specific, more advanced topics.
 
So - would you be interested in sharing your experience with the students? For you that would mean not only preparing 45-90 minutes lecture based on discussion with the tutor, but also an opportunity to promote shortly your company, present yourself and enjoy presenting to CEMS students or to an audience of up to 300 fresh minds. It does not mean only some time spent on preparation and presentation, but also development of your skills and your promotion in your company.
 
If you are interested please drop me a message and I will send you more details - list of subjects (incl. syllabus) and contact information.
 
I will be really glad to hearing from you - and helping the university together.
 
Best regards
 
Vojtech Oplestil