A Chat with the Big Names of Management and Politics
Seminars and meetings with prominent personalities are useful tools that integrate with what's usually studied in classrooms. When the audience is very large it becomes more difficult to create an informal climate of direct exchange and directly interact with the guest. Reason why the Graduate School of Bocconi University proposed "A conversation with...", a series of meetings (held in English) organized to host a limited number of participants, in order to encourage a free and direct interaction between guest speakers and students.
"They represent informal opportunities for discussion dedicated to Graduate School students, organized like 'behind closed doors' events", explains Antonella Carù, Dean of the Graduate School. "Not only students, but also guest speakers were pleasantly surprised by this initiative, as they were able to interact in a more direct way with the public".
The series of meetings opened and closed with two seminars with the President Mario Monti, who discussed with students about European issues. "In addition to being interesting from the point of view of contents, the fact that the participants were relatively few made ​​it possible to reduce the distance between us and the guest speaker, a former prime minister as well as an European Commissioner", says Giuseppe Ippedico, in his second year of Economic and social sciences. "After Monti's speech we stayed in the classroom and asked him several questions, I managed to make one too".
Between these two seminars with Monti, several other meetings allowed guests to share their experiences with students. From Ornella Barra, Executive Vice President of Walgreens Boots Alliance, who talked about business growth in the global market to Diego Della Valle, President and CEO of Tod's, who told participants the history of the company, between business and social commitment. From Stefano Sassi, CEO of Valentino, who explained how to renovate a brand to Andrea Guerra, Pesident of Eataly, who talked with students about business growth, new technologies and leadership. "I attended the meeting with Stefano Sassi who told us about the company, how it has adapted over time to market changes and explained in detail some company strategies, all things that I found very useful and concrete", says Rossella Gervasi, a Marketing Management student. "It was a familiar situation, a sort of informal exchange between the speaker and the listener".