Virtual CEMS Club Conference: Fall semester 2020

The CEMS Club Conference (CCC) took place virtually via Zoom on the 16th – 18th of October 2020. The CCC is an event organized each semester by the CEMS Club Support (CCS) Function of the Student Board with the aim to gather CEMS Club Presidents (CCPs) to share knowledge and best practices, network, and to learn about global issues in the CEMS Alliance.
Virtual CEMS Club Conference -  Group Picture

25 CEMS Club Presidents and 2 organizing members from the Student Board gathered online on Zoom for the Fall 2020 CCC this year. The conference was held online for ths first time, allowing Presidents from all over the world to join. To account for the varying time zones the usual two-day conference was spread over three days. Presidents or Vice-Presidents and Student Board Representatives shared best practices on event management, sustainability efforts, and club management while also discussing local and global issues, including the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The Student Board Representatives (SBRs) Celina Scherbeck and Nehal Taparia welcomed the Presidents to the conference and moderated the group sessions. The content discussed during the conference was restructured to make the sessions more actionable and discussion focused. During the first day CEMS Clubs had the chance to connect with the Global Office and ask questions during the open Q&A session. This was followed by a social hour where Presidents had the opportunity to get to know each other and play some games. 

The first day was concluded with the highly anticipated CEMS Club Awards Ceremony, which was organised by the SBRs Svenja Starck and David Flückiger. The ceremony was also hosted via Zoom allowing the CEMS Club board members from Spring 2020 to attend the event together with the Presidents from Fall 2020. The Oscars-themed event attracted over 60 participants via Zoom, whilst additionally being streamed live via the @cems_alliance Instagram channel. For a second time in a row, the winners will receive a generous sponsoring by our Corporate Partner zeb for their hard work in the last semester! We congratulate the winners CEMS Club Hong Kong (1st), CEMS Club Stockholm (2nd) and CEMS Club St. Gallen (3rd), for their great achievements!

The second and third days were designed for Clubs to generate ideas and discuss common issues. Each of their committees, namely marketing, corporate, alumni, social and social responsibility, were discussed separately. Each session was structured to have an introduction by one of the CCC organizers, followed by an allocation into breakout rooms where clubs either found solutions to common challenges faced by the respective committee or exchanged new event ideas. Afterwards, all ideas were consolidated in the main room. 

As expected, the Covid-19 pandemic plays a large role in the organization of events this semester, so a separate discussion round was focused on how CEMS Clubs can keep their cohorts engaged given varying local regulations. This was complemented with workshops focused on financing, board and committee recruitment as well as handover processes.   

The CEMS Club Support Function and the Student Board would like to extend their gratitude to our Corporate Partner zeb for sponsoring the CEMS Club Awards, as well as the participants for their insightful contributions during the CCC!