E-conferences
IESE Knowledge: Anytime, Anyplace

Members of IESE’s Alumni Association have access to various Continuous Education sessions, the school’s Global Leadership Series lectures, and a selection of presentations given during Global Alumni Reunions. And they are all available at a click of your mouse.

Just five years ago - on March 20, 2001 - IESE broadcast its first-ever e-conference on the school’s website. The title of that groundbreaking session was “2001: A Change in the European Economic Cycle?” Since then, a surge in Internet use and the development of other new technologies have made e-conferences increasingly popular among IESE alumni.

More than 4,000 alumni members have tuned into IESE e-conferences, which cover a broad variety of topics, since their launch. The broadcasts are an important complement to the growing number of Continuous Education events that are held in major international cities across the globe. During the academic year 2004-2005, Continuing Education sessions were held in 27 different cities such as New York, Paris, Munich and Shanghai.

Together, these two activities - e-conferences and Continuous Education sessions -provide a strong source of education and networking for gradautes. Their overarching goal is to facilitate lifelong education to alumni, no matter where in the world they may be living.

A Window to IESE Through Cyberspace

Once posted on IESE’s website, alumni can access e-conferences for up to 30 days. Although viewing and benefitting from the events seems easy, a fairly complex process goes on behind the scenes, which involves the conference organizers and a technical team.

It all starts in the auditorium, where most conferences which are broadcast via the internet are held. This is where the presentations are filmed and processed by the audiovisual team. Later, a version of the conference is produced by IESE’s Project Department, where Powerpoint presentations which were used during the conference, are introduced, in order to give on-line viewers the complete experience of the live conference.

Once this edition is prepared, it is handed over to the web team, which posts it on the website and sets up the tracking system to record the number of viewers. Other services are also involved, such as a post-session evaluation form, which enables viewers to submit their opinions, and indicate their favorite sessions and things that can be improved.

Members of the team involved with this process include Enric Florit, who is in charge of assigning a code to each session and keeping track of the number of visits; Carles Aguilar, who creates and prepares the videos of the sessions; Raúl Escalada, who develops the webpages, where the sessions are broadcast; and Toni Martínez, who is responsible for integrating the special documents presented during the session, with the video.

Alumni are quick to say that e-conferences are very useful, Kevin Buchanan (MBA ‘04) and José Coninach (PADE-I-70). Buchanan notes: “I access the e-conferences because they are an easy way to update knowledge that I received with the MBA and learn new concepts. When I see a topic that interests me, I access when I want, without having to travel or change my schedule. The web interface is very simple and you don't need any special software. And with a normal connection speed, you get a very high quality video."

“Living outside Europe has some problems, such as the time difference and the long trip I have to make to attend IESE activities. However, e-conferences give me great flexibility in terms of my schedule and I don't have to travel in order to participate in a Continuous Education session. The topics that have interested me the most so far have been those related to marketing. Overall, I think e-conferences offer a great way to stay in contact with the school and keep learning.”

Condinach, meanwhile, concurs that the sessions provide an excellent way to stay connected with the school, without having to get on a plane.

“Sometimes I do attend Continuous Education sessions. But I also like e-conferences because I can record the elements that most interest me,” he said. “They make it very easy to take part in a session, without having t o worry about changing my schedule or making a trip. Also, I appreciate the quality of the topics and the faculty who lead them. Two recent sessions that I have liked were the session on India, and the session led by Prof. Manuel Velilla.”

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