27 Dec 2017

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2018

Dear CEMSies,
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2018 :-)

Hope you will enjoy this short video update.

Have a great time with your loved ones!
Your CEMS Alumni Board Team: Pavlína, Kasia, Vojtěch, Honza
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Wishes from the CEMS VŠE team

It is our pleasure to share with you Christmas and New Year wishes from the VSE CEMS team who is not only taking care of the whole CEMS program but also intensively cooperating with the CEMS Alumni Board.

CEMS Office Prague would like to wish a Merry Christmas and Happy Year 2018 to all students, alumni, academics and corporate partners.

Vojtěch
on behalf of your CEMS Alumni Board Team
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14 Dec 2017

CEMS Alumni Association Prague - new board elected

Dear alumni
45 of us send our votes which is probably the highest number of election participants for years if not ever. Thank you all!

The results are as follows


What is even more interesting is the number of generations (or graduation years) which took part in the elections. I really like it's diversity which is important for the overall success of our activities.

Number of  election participants per graduation year

On behalf of the board I would like to thank you all for your votes! We really appreciate your support and we are looking forward to meeting you at one of our planned events (or even better - at all of them).

We will get in touch with you soon to inform us about our plans for 2018.


Vojtěch
on behalf of your CEMS Alumni Board Team
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10 Dec 2017

CEMS Talk on the topic Digital First: Business and Philanthropy in the Digital era

Digital career as the main topic, three amazing speakers, no slides, informal atmosphere, a beautiful venue, engaged audience: great CEMS Talk with vivid discussions.


Our November CEMS Talk took place in a co-working centre Opero, a perfect location for the topic Digital First. A key question of the evening was rather simple: What is career in a digital environment like? 

This CEMS Talk offered not only a unique chance to uncover a bit of the magic behind companies such as Google, Uber or Airbnb but also brought a real variety of choices and approaches how one can direct his / her career in a digital environment. 


What are the key take aways from this CEMS Talk?

  • Use digital tools to get rid of repetitive tasks and focus instead on project bringing innovation and people development. 
  • Be bold, trust in what you do and and use the opportunities arising around.
  • Build your own network and use it - incl. the 2nd connections (i.e. friends of friends).
  • Don't give up and follow what you believe it even when obstacles show up. 
  • When going for a new job, choose a company culture fitting your personality. 
  • Do not evil in anything you do. 
  • Choose a career fitting your lifestyle and life values.
  • Find something you want to fight for. And do it.


Who were our three speakers?


Vaclav Graf: Turning from GO to become a shared economy expert

Trips Marketing Manager Central & Eastern Europe at Airbnb

Vaclav's career is the most colourful mix one can imagine. After submitting a thesis about selling visas on eBay, he got offered a job in a governmental office in the Czech Republic. Soon after that, he joined OECD. When working on a project solving a housing situation in New York, he got fasinated by the concept of shared economy and looked for opportunities in this area. Later he became a key expert on the shared economy in the Czech Republic - bringing both Uber and Airbnb to the region of central and eastern Europe. 

His main advice for others: Use social media to your favour. Get in touch with those your are interested in. 

Petr Smid: Inspiring CEMS & Google Enthusiast

Head of Consumer Marketing, Central & Eastern Europe at Google

To describe Petr, I would say a great wave of inspiring energy. Petr is well known for his passion for both CEMS and Google and his desire to help others to succeed. After finishing his studies, he became a consultant at McKinsey. Just before the financial crisis came, he joined the MBA programme at INSEAD. Almost two years after finishing his MBA studies, he joined Google and until today is a greatly passionate Googler. During the Talk he mentioned three reasons he likes about the Google company culture, i.e. appraising performance, driving informality and creating positive impact. This year, Petr has been nominated for the CEMS Alumni of the year as the first Czech candidate in the category of senior leaders. 

His main advice for others: Choose a company culture fitting your personality.

Michal Zwinger: Socially conscious digital entrepreneur

Managing Director at Levebee.com (Vcelka.cz)

Yet studying CEMS and starting his career at Henkel, Michal is everything but a typical CEMS Alumnus. His desire to help others to live a happier life brought him soon from the corporate into the entrepreneurial world. Starting with the opportunity that seemed as the easiest back then - a tool helping people to read more efficiently, he created his first business. The company took off very well. Though the shining results were hitted by an unexpected law suit that his company eventually won. Yet it slowed down the company development considerably. The new restart came with a project vcelka.cz, an app helping kids and people with dislexia to learn to read. Michal mentioned a great thought: Find something you want to fight for and simply do it. 

His main advice for others: Be open, opportunities will show up. Do what you believe in.


We thank to our exceptional speakers for their time and effort as well as to all attendees for joining this great evening.
We are looking forward to seeing you at one of our next events.
Pavlina
on behalf of your CEMS Alumni Board Team
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CEMS Talk concept:

  • Every CEMS Talk is dedicated to a unique topic related to life and career in today’s world. 
  • Speakers are chosen based on their level of experience and relevancy for a chosen area. 
  • The audience is built from CEMS students and alumni, both Czech and international. 
  • The main purpose of CEMS Talk is to share real, authentic and honest stories and thereby inspire members of the CEMS Community in their future life and business choices

7 Dec 2017

CEMS Alumni Association Prague - candidates for the new board

Dear all
on 26 November we published the call for candidates for our board. Unfortunately no further candidates expressed their interest except for the current Board + Katarzyna who is already "on board". Maybe next time there will be more candidates :-).

The candidates for the new board are


Our program
We would like to continue our work from 2017 that is (from event perspective)
  • organize other CEMS Talks as our flagship events
  • organize also other events on our own (such as family events) or together with CEMS Club (such as CEMS breakfast)
  • add one big international event
  • and last but not least take active part in the celebration of 20 years of CEMS

Through all events and other activities we would like to focus on the following goals:
  • Get new Board members or one-off helpers for 2018 and following years
  • Mix different generation of CEMS Alumni as well as CEMS Students 
  • Bring up the topic of CAA membership
  • Keep the great and informal yet informative spirit of CEMS Talks


Please vote here via google form by 12 December. We will announce the results of the vote on 13 December.

Vojtěch
on behalf of your CEMS Alumni Board Team
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3 Dec 2017

Pics from the family event

Once again we organized an informal gathering of alumni and their families. In the colder months it is better to play indoors so after being in the Cafe Koala last time we moved to Brumbambale.
This time we didn't have any specific topic to discuss so it was just a friendly chat interrupted quite often by our children requiring attention and support during their games and investigation of many of the amusement. But what would it be a CEMS event without discussing different business topics: working in Russia, business travels, running own photo atelier, or changing career to another direction.

Eleven families / parents and their children

Eva and Vašek :-). 

One of the children participants

I am pretty sure this was not the last time we went to Brumbale. Next family event to take place in the first quarter of 2018.

Vojtěch
on behalf of your CEMS Alumni Board Team
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