19th EBS Symposium

I applied for and was invited to the EBS Symposium this weekend. It is an impressive event held by the European Business School, a private institution, and its students. It seems that 1200 people were invited, among students, young professionals and representatives from the business world.
The list of speakers was also impressive, with many high caliber personalities there. Unfortunately, many simply didn't show up, maybe because of the consequences of the games played in Wall Street last week. But, just as an example, the German or European bosses of the main consultancies were all there. Again, impressive.
I stayed with 4 other students i nthe apartment of 3 EBS students. This was a good thing, as this created a group of familiar faces with whom I spent most of the time during the event.
We were well taken care of. Besides the simple, but free accomodation, we had a very good shuttle service, all meals taken care of, internet access and even a very nice party on Friday evening, at a winery. I didn't stay for the party on Saturday nigh.
Some of the talks were very good, like the one from John Major and the one from Dr. Burgess, EMEA Chairman of BearingPoint. Other talks were not as good and I missed one or two talks because they were post poned or simply cancelled, without notice. But there was always something going on, so that was ok.
Furthermore, there was a good career fair and pre-scheduled interviews with interested employers. The list of companies was very good, of course. But after being in Berlin, Mannheim, Darmstadt and München at career fairs, you start recognize some of the faces and new information gets more scarce. The interview with KPMG was very interesting, though, and I got the confirmation that I would be invited for the next partner round. But this will probably be after Belgium and Brazil, in 2009. Let's see.

I have put some pictures up on Picasa. I hope you enjoy them.
Tomorrow I should be leaving to Brussels, finally.