AlumSpeak, an initiative by the Alumni Team, is a platform for sharing of rich, valuable knowledge and experience between the Alumni and the students. It is a voluntary exercise and any alumni can volunteer to take a guest lecture, share knowledge of current industry happenings and even informal student- interactions. This is a year-round engagement activity and any alumnus who wishes to take a session for the students can connect with us via the Alumni Portal, e-mail or call. The initiative has seen great enthusiasm by the Alumni who have lauded the team for the AlumSpeak series.
The Alumni Team has conducted the following AlumSpeaks so far this year:
In the inaugural AlumSpeak for the new academic session on 29 July 2020, the Alumni Team was pleased to host Mr Varun Raina, our Alumnus from the Batch of 2008 and Lead - Consumer & Brand Marketing (WhatsApp India), at Facebook. In his enthralling talk over Zoom, he spoke about his journey through and after SIBM Pune, in a narrative peppered with stories and examples of his own work and his favourite brands. He reminded everyone to always think global, be empathetic, and to seek out multicultural and diverse experiences and learn from them, setting the perfect tone for the start of a new MBA journey.
The Alumni Team was pleased to host another edition of AlumSpeak virtually on 1 August 2020. The guest speaker was Mr Anirban B., an Alumnus of the Batch of 2007 and Global Innovation Director for Danone. His talk titled "Gatorade, Game of Thrones and Greek Philosophy" took a very interesting deep dive into the concepts of ethos, pathos and logos and how they are translated into the stories told by brands and in modern advertising. Through examples of brands using these concepts, he broke down complex ideas and made them understandable for all the students who were watching. The talk, along with several questions from students, helped everyone get a fresh perspective into the world of Marketing.
We later hosted Ms. Basuri Dutta, Vice President - Great Place to Work® Institute (India), Mumbai, and our Alumna from the Batch of 2002, in the AlumSpeak session organised by Alumni team on 4 September 2020. Her talk titled 'Workplace Culture and its Effect on Business Results - Exploring New Possibilities in 2020' entailed that at great workplaces, Employee Experience is at the heart of business models. Her take on employee wellbeing and trust as the centre of interactions were some of the key takeaways from the session. She emphasized on the creation of credibility, respect, fairness, pride and camaraderie for achieving employee wellbeing and thus good revenues.
We were delighted to host Mr. Amit Chand, Zonal Business Head at udaan.com, Coach & Mentor at AKChand.com and our Alumnus from the Batch of 2013, in the AlumSpeak session organised by Alumni team on the 11th of September. Mr. Chand shared anecdotes from his corporate journey while providing insights based on his entrepreneurial journey. He stressed on the pertinence of flexibility, resilience and adaptability to stay relevant in the current scenario. He engaged in an interactive session with our students and emphasised on personal branding, high participation, constant learning and developing a never-give-up attitude.
