A Positive Move Online

A move to virtual events and online meetings for so many over the past year has had its challenges but for the School’s Alumni Team, it has presented new opportunities to engage alumni across the world and to enhance the student experience. Alumni Communications Manager Jane Short tells us more.

In early March 2020, our Alumni Relations Manager Andrew Bell had just returned from a trip to California where he had the pleasure of meeting with a number of our alumni and discussing ways of how they could continue to engage with the School.

There was a real excitement within the Alumni team as we were in the midst of our 100 year celebrations. A special issue of Aluminate had just been published; we were about to announce the Alumni 100 list to showcase alumni making an impact in their respective industries; and we were finalising arrangements for the 100 year Anniversary flagship event in May.

Within the month however, like so many across the world, we found ourselves working from home, moving all the anniversary events online, catching up by video calls rather than over a coffee and of course, juggling the demands of home schooling!

The idea of welcoming alumni back to Edinburgh for talks, panel sessions and networking events over a glass of wine, seemed like a distant memory.

And yet as the weeks turned into months, we soon realised that the move online presented us with a unique opportunity to bring the global network of over 18,000 alumni around the world even closer together, in a way that physical events in one particular location could never do.

The Alumni 100 Conference in May was the first large event we held that demonstrated this opportunity.

Moving to a virtual event, we were able to invite alumni speakers from all corners of the globe to share their experiences. They included Radu Marian from Moldova, Victoria Feldman from San Francisco, Nicola McGowan from Tokyo and Utsava Kasera from India. We also had a ‘Leading in a Crisis’ panel session where senior alumni including Andy MacMillan, CEO of User Testing and Stephen White, Executive Director and COO of Yorkshire Building Society talked about leading their companies in such turbulent times. The closing keynote was delivered by Ian Walker, Senior Director of the Global Impact Team of Johnson and Johnson, a company certainly in the spotlight with the rush for a vaccine for COVID-19.

The line-up of speakers was both international and inspiring, but what was particularly notable was the engagement of alumni joining the session, each sharing in the chat facility where they were joining from, when they had graduated and where their career had taken them. We quickly realised that this type of event, although somewhat forced upon us, actually gave us a real opportunity to literally bring the global network together in one room, albeit an online one.

‘In Discussion’ Events

Buzzing from the success of this event, registration numbers soared for the next date in the diary - an ‘In Discussion’ event with alumnus Alan Jope, CEO of Unilever. We were thrilled that Alan could join us, as this was the first time he had participated in such a speaker event at the University of Edinburgh.

Interviewed by Andrew Bell, Alan talked candidly about his own career progression, and covered topics such as gender equality, sustainability and leadership, as well as some heartfelt advice for current students and new graduates. Many of the topics covered were a result of questions submitted by the alumni audience, both before and during the event. To watch the discussion, visit Alan Jope ‘In Discussion event.

The success of this event has led to the creation of a monthly series of ‘In Discussion’ events, since August 2020, with alumni speakers from a wide range of sectors including marketing, finance, entrepreneurship and hospitality. You can listen to past events with our 'In Discussion' playlist or register for future events on our website.

The 100 year anniversary was brought to a close with a final event on the 8th July, exactly 100 years to the day since our first graduate, Margaret Stevenson Miller, had graduated with her BCom degree. 

Around that time, the Alumni Team also organised a range of virtual events specifically for students. In conjunction with the School’s Student Development Team, for example, an 8 Hour Challenge Event was created in lieu of the cancellation of in-person visits to companies and organisations, both in the UK and internationally. 

Such joint initiatives have continued into the current academic year, with the expansion of the Alumni Mentoring programme for 3rd and 4th year undergraduate students completing their Edinburgh Award, with both local and overseas alumni now recruited as mentors.

Virtual alumni panel events have also been created for students, focusing on particular locations of the world. At each event, three or four alumni from the region shared their experience of securing employment as well their knowledge of current recruitment approaches.

Listening to their advice along with a group of engaged students, whether the alumni were in South America, Africa, Germany or Indonesia, by the end of the panel sessions, I felt as if I’d been on a world tour and enjoyed an informal chat with alumni at each destination!

This was backed up by some great feedback from students including “I really loved the practical experiences shared by alumni such as the tips to prepare for interviews and job-hunting websites” and “It was very useful to talk with our alumni directly. Let’s have more of these events in the future.”

As well as these informal events, a more formal structure has been put in place with the creation of six Alumni Advisory Groups, aligned to the School’s six subject groups. Designed to accelerate access to industry knowledge, over 40 alumni from around the world are working directly with teaching champions on a regular basis, to further integrate industry knowledge into our programmes and to ensure our students are ready for the ever-changing world of work.

We’ve also involving more alumni as Alumni Regional Lead volunteers around the world. Although events in person are on hold, the scope for Leads to get involved in events such as those mentioned above and many more, is vast. We are very grateful to all those who are coming forward to represent their areas and we are looking forward to working with them on our Global Alumni Day. The current list of Alumni Regional Leads can be viewed on our website.

Global Alumni Day

New for 2021, this annual event on 12 May, will include a series of events that will transport alumni around the world. Sessions will features representatives from the Business School, alumni key speakers as well as more informal networking sessions hosted by our Alumni Regional Leads.

The majority of sessions will take place around lunchtime local time and last around 30 minutes. We'll start at 05:30 BST with a session for alumni in the Asia Pacific region and the last formal session of the day will take place at 20:30 BST with a session for alumni on the West Coast of the USA.

Register your interest in the Global Alumni Day via Eventbrite.

With events like this coming up, and with dates in the diary for relaxing current restrictions here in the UK, it feels like one year on, there is an end in sight.

As a team, we are excited to create even more ways to connect our alumni and our students across the world. Suffice to say we will look back on the past year with mixed views, but we certainly acknowledge that it has opened our eyes to how we can bring the global community together and for that, we have to be at least in part, very grateful.