Gala, GEM of the Year Awards Ceremony, & alumni volunteer coordinators annual gathering…

The weekend of January 27th brought more than 4,000 attendees to Grenoble’s Summum for the 2018 GEM Gala, GEM of the Year Awards Ceremony, and the annual summit for the volunteer coordinators from our alumni chapters around the world.

The weekend of January 27th brought more than 4,000 attendees to Grenoble’s Summum for the 2018 GEM Gala, GEM of the Year Awards Ceremony, and the annual summit for the volunteer coordinators from our alumni chapters around the world.

1,400,000 Social Media views

We celebrated the graduating class of 2017 while garnering more than 1,400,000 views on social media with the #GEMAlumni! What better way to welcome the more than 1,000 new additions to our network! 

An enthusiastic crowd hailing from all over the globe gathered together in cocktail attire last Saturday in Grenoble to celebrate. 
Nearly 4,000 attendees were present for this momentous occasion including 2,800 across two graduation ceremonies, 1,700 at the Gala dinner, twenty-seven volunteer alumni coordinators from our network’s global chapters, and lastly 5 GEM of the Year Award winners. 

Highlights from the weekend

The Alumni Leaders Summit

From Thursday night until Sunday morning, the 2018 ALS brought together the volunteer alumni coordinators from the GEM Alumni network’s global chapters. An action-packed program for this team, Friday featured the Alumni Volunteers Academy with group work and trainings complete with a workbook to keep their notes and ideas for serious games and other strategies to implement in their groups. The following day they joined us at the Gala to give each new graduate their sash before getting on stage to welcome the 2017 graduates into the GEM Alumni network! 

Graduation Ceremony

Beginning at 10am on Saturday, the young graduates of the international programs made their way across the Summum’s stage while their family and friends greeted them with a round of applause. 

Later in the afternoon, the Executive Education and IFC programs had their chance in the Summum’s limelight. Simultaneously, The Doctoral School, who is celebrating its 20th anniversary, held its graduation ceremony in the school’s amphitheater.

The Programme Grande Ecole boasted an epic ceremony complete with entertainment acts! 

As the patron of the graduating class, Alain Bouveret, GEM ESC 1987, gave a heartfelt speech before leaving the new graduates with a lasting piece of advice:

“Risk is like a wild animal, when tamed, it becomes your greatest ally”.

GEM of the year award ceremony

We announced their names at the end of 2017, but it was during the Gala that we invited them on stage to receive their awards in front of their peers. 

The Gala evening 

A dinner followed by an evening of dancing with tunes mixed by nationally recognized DJs on two huge dance floors! The most courageous among us even stayed until dawn …

See you in 2019 

The date has already been saved in our calendars, be sure to add it to yours!  We look forward to seeing you on Saturday, February 2nd, 2019 for next year’s GEM Gala!  

A first look at the photo gallery