Germany 101 — World Business Dialogue
Overview
“Köln is not just a city, it’s an emotion.”
The statement, translated from the original German, became more so true as each day passed in Köln, the city crammed with bistros bursting to the seams with the aroma of Kölsch. All thanks to the World Business Dialogue being held at the city’s historic university every year.
I had the fortune of attending the 21st World Business Dialogue at the University of Cologne in March 2018 and it lived up to its reputation of not being just another 5-day dialogue filled with boring discussions and never-ending speeches. It turned out to be an experience, something whose hangover is liable to last for quite some time. WBD, as it is commonly referred to, has a history of being one of the most reputed student-run conventions globally and attracts delegates from about 90 countries every year. Its main agenda is to bring students, corporates and business experts at one place for a week and facilitate discussion on challenges being faced by the industry in terms of organisation, culture and technological disruptions.
Applications
The applications usually open up in mid-August for the first round and the last round closes around late October or early November. With each passing round, the cost of the ticket for the Dialogue keeps going up, and with no scholarships available (unless you get into one of the Dialogue Projects), it’s wise to apply early.
The application portal makes you fill up a pretty long form assessing your overall profile and background, and requires a resume/CV as well as a motivational letter. There is no solid framework for either but it is advisable to have a one-page resume while keeping the motivational letter within the limit as well as crisp and concise. Try to highlight the overlap between the year’s theme and your current motives through your profile. Bring out relevant points and work that you may have done previously in the field, and strike down irrelevant content.
The Dialogue likes proactive people, so be wary of talking just about theory and show some ground experience.
Be sure to get a couple of your advisors/mentors to vet both these documents as they may well prove to be a deciding factor. The results for different rounds come at different times with the last one around mid-December.
The Dialogue
The Dialogue has a pre-decided theme every year and in 2018, it was “The Digital Organization” wherein the aim was to decrypt what it meant for an organization to adapt to technological advancements and how any corporate could leverage such a disruption to its advantage.
The first three days are usually devoted to segregated activities wherein the delegates are divided into teams and they either join a Creation Lab or take a tour of the city. My team ended up in one of the former hosted by the university’s faculty of economics, management and social sciences (WiSo Faculty) and worked on a project to improve the university’s format of assured learning amongst its MBA graduates. Technicalities apart, the faculty wanted to exploit the fact that all 5 people in my team represented 5 different nationalities, 5 different educational backgrounds and 5 different life experiences (pretty smart, eh?). Hence, the Lab led to some of the most meaningful conversations that I’ve ever had. The other two days are usually devoted to unconventional speeches and smaller interactive sessions with executives from the firms associated with the dialogue that year.
Takeaways
The two main outcomes of any such convention or conference are exposure and networking. The interactions that you have with about 300 delegates and 100 industry experts, not to mention the countless locals, over 5 days, tend to give you a new perspective on things ranging from philosophy to tech. And over time, you build up a reliable network of colleagues and business experts, who you can turn to for assistance or even just a second opinion on things. I had the opportunity to personally chat with the likes of Bill Duane and Bernd Wetekam.
Additional
I also hopped around Amsterdam and Paris while I was there and they, within themselves, are complete extravaganzas with their museums and art galleries. I would highly recommend them both.
Europe is expensive and so, if you mind your costs and keep yourself limited to the conference, you can very well complete the entire thing in about Rs. 75k. Paris and Amsterdam are a bit more expensive than Germany and the cost goes up substantially.
Most of Europe’s countryside is breathtakingly beautiful and the cities are state-of-the-art but very chilly at that particular time of the year. Put on your mittens and don’t miss the opportunity to see some of the best piazze and chocolatiers in the world.
Links:
- Official Website
- Application Portal
- Experiences of previous delegates (superbly written!)
