Organizing the Transatlantic Alumni Conference 2023
By Andreas Dewald
It all started back in July 2022, when alumni of the German American Alumni (GAA) network came together in Berlin and decided to plan the second Transatlantic Alumni Conference (TAC). In August 2022, the planning team met for the first time to map out the road to TAC 2023. What followed were months of hard work from many motivated alumni from different alumni associations. Every other Sunday and on many days in between the planning team came together to organize all the different aspects, ranging from logistics, to speakers, to our event website etc.
Following the call to “reimagine transatlantic bridges for a brighter future” we were happy to see a great turnout of over 110 participants from both sides of the Atlantic coming to Erfurt and Berlin for an exciting program over 3.5 days. The main program in Erfurt featured inspiring keynote speeches, panels and interactive sessions around the topics of Diversity, Geopolitics, Sustainability, and Digitalization. Participants were also invited to the U.S. Embassy where they met Ambassador Gutmann and had the chance to visit the Bundestag in Berlin.
What made this conference special was the incorporation of our motto “from alumni for alumni” into all aspects of the conference. Our 19 speakers were almost all alumni from different German-American exchange programs, and we also featured alumni who are early in their careers to highlight the future of the transatlantic community and elevate our young alumni.
My passion for this wonderful opportunity to bring so many alumni together inspired me to invest a significant amount of time alongside my role as president. But of course, I wasn’t alone in this endeavor. The entire volunteer team played an essential role, and I am grateful for the collaboration and support. I want to extend my deepest appreciation to our alumni Jana Frey, Rózsa Simon, Alexander Rohlf, Allie Drexler and Jörg Geier for their contribution to making this conference a success.
Read the conference report here:
