Dear All,

You are invited to a great opportunity for quality networking within the MBA Alumni of the EPFL & HEC.

The monthly after work takes place on the 2nd Tuesday of each month starting at 7:00pm in either location:

+++ LAUSANNE +++ Kaizen +++ Rue Pépinet 3 +++ www.kaizenrestaurant.com +++ No replies needed: just come as you are.

+++ ZURICH +++ Münz +++ Münzplatz 3 +++ www.muenz.ch +++ Please respond: http://www.doodle.com/hd5hmthr4g8kvesf

Book your calendar: Tuesdays FEB14, MAR13, APR10, MAY08, JUN12, JUL10, AUG14, SEP11, OCT09, NOV13, DEC11.

Your MoT Alumni Association committee

Article by Jay Love

You can cut your work week by a day while boosting company morale exponentially. Here are 6 good reasons to try it.

After living within the confines of a four-day work week during the past four months at Slingshot SEO, my first reaction to questions about this unbelievable perk is "Why not?" Small business owners, CEOs and executives from all over the country ask me on a weekly basis if it really works. My answer is a resounding YES!

Obviously, if you have a large customer service component to your business or if you must be open for retail hours, it takes a bit of ingenuity and some scheduling prowess to adjust to this type of schedule. Perhaps after reading this blog post you will want to try a pilot version of the famous Slingshot SEO four-day work week in your business. If you do, I would love to hear how it goes or answer a question or two.

First, though, let me explain the "why" behind this concept, beginning with a very important aspect of the "people" portion of any business – the "company culture." Believe it or not, many aspects of our culture are directly related to this special perk. Here are a few of the reasons for that statement and perhaps a few questions you should ask yourself as a business owner:

1. How much more innovative and exciting would your business be if every single team member spent one full day each week devoted to research? What insights, new ideas and energy would be pumped into your business?

2. Such a perk is an amazing draw in the age of recruiting the best in talent to your team. Like a hit song, your HR department needs a "hook" to snag the cream of the crop. It will make an incredible difference.

3. Tied into No. 2, your employee retention rate literally soars. Who would ever want to give up three days at home, only commuting four days a week--and the cerebral exercise of weekly research?

4. Even though the team is working 10-hour days, the sense of urgency brings a high level of energy, and, in my opinion, focused collaboration. It is a joy to watch and to be sucked up into.

5. The extra time for research makes for a well-informed team and the realization they have something unique. (Plus, meeting a repairman on a Friday or planning numerous three-day getaways is never taken for granted ...)

6. In our case, Thursday nights after work become an even bigger chance for team socialization and fun. This also seems to be vital to retention rates. A recent study indicated the No. 1 reason for a person not to change jobs is based upon having a close friend at the same company. Sort of makes sense, right?

Add these six reasons along with three or four you likely came up with while reading this blog and you should come to the conclusion that the extra focus, energy, teamwork and dedication resulting from a four-day work week will drive your productivity skyward! Not a bad outcome for a simple idea.

You can find the original article by Jay Love [here].

MoTie on the move – Ago Cluytens

"Hire people who are better than you are, then leave them to get on with it... ; Look for people who will aim for the remarkable, who will not settle for the routine." — David Ogilvy

People usually do an MBA after having worked for a number of years in order to gather the necessary tools they need in order to progress in their career.  Learning the material in the MBA program is a logical step to take in order to grow in your career, a second major step is to learn how to communicate this knowledge effectively in order to be a good manager.  Unfortunately, management is not a defined science and most MBA programs openly admit they struggle in finding an effective way of teaching it.  Through his role in Marcus Whyte, Ago Cluytens helps tomorrow’s leaders master the essentials of management and leadership, and allows them to build a solid base for their future career.

Ago Cluytens and his MoT team won the 2009 best business plan award with “Deal on the way”. Although they received initial funding from Venture Kick and were well on path, Deal On The Way did not grow from a prototype to an actual business.  Ago Cluytens moved in a very different way to create a successful business venture called Marcus Whyte. 

In January 2012 the MoTAA interviewed Ago to find out more about Marcus Whyte and how they are reinventing the way talented people within companies are developed and trained.

MoT AA : Ago, could you tell us a little bit about how and why you started Marcus Whyte ?
Ago : Sure. I have always been passionate about personal development and growth, ever since I picked up a copy of Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden” as a teenager. The only thing I enjoy more than acquiring new knowledge and learning new things is passing it on to others. In a very real sense, Marcus Whyte was born out of that desire, combined with my strong entrepreneurial drive.

MoT AA : So how has the company evolved since then ?
Ago : The company was launched in 2011 with the idea of creating and implementing development programs for corporate managers and leaders at different stages of their career. Finding early clients was not easy, given the economic recession and the fact that we were a small new company in a sea of giants.

At some point I started seeing that ss with any startup, pivoting the business and revenue model is essential to marketplace success.

Our clients were basically telling us three things – they have less and less budget, they had more and more people in far-off places like emerging markets (and were looking for easy ways to scale up and down) and they had more and more pressure to prove the business case for investing in people to their own senior management.

At the same time, we are witnessing a real revolution in how social media and technology are reshaping the way we live and learn. The average Facebook user now spends more than 11 a month there. The world’s most respected universities and business schools are all offering programs that are in part online. Which is only logical – who says you need to be in a classroom to learn ?

If you put one and one together, you start seeing interesting patterns. Which is why we decided to leverage technology to start building management development programs that motivate people, are accessible when they need it and have real impact in the workplace. And to do so more cost effectively and with much greater scalability than traditional training providers – from 10 to 1000 participants.

MoT AA : You have an impressive backgound in marketing and human resources in top level management in ING. How do you think your background and recent MoT experinece helped you shape your company?
Ago : I sincerely believe there are there are three major things that led up to the creation of a company like Marcus Whyte:

1) I enjoy learning new things and passing that knowledge onto others, this is like a personal mission if you like. And I always wanted to be an entrepreneur.
2) Having been in large organizations like ING in top managerial HR roles for over a decade and seeing how people struggle to build solid management and leadership skills made me see the opportunity that was there
3) Having gone through the MoT made me appreciate the potential of using technology to drive down costs whilst maintaining a steady – or better – level of service

MoT AA : How do you feel your service effectively affects the performance of new managers?
Ago : The first thing I always say to people is “this is not about technology”. In other words, the time they spend attending webinars and browsing through online resources is only the beginning, maybe ten percent of what matters.

The real work is done in the workplace, every single day, by putting yourself out there and trying new things.

What we do is essentially taking the best of what is out there in terms of tools, the latest academic research and our own experience as managers and people who have “learnt the hard way” and combine that into a 12-week hyper condensed development program that focuses only on what is 100% essential and leaves out all the fluff.

The end result is that they advance much quicker than normal, and avoid most of the silly mistakes that we made when we started out as managers. Which helps them and their careers, as well as their employers.

MoT AA : You have an on-line platform that acts as the backbone for all your programs. Could you tell us a little about how things work ?
Ago : Absolutely. As I mentioned, all our programs are 12 weeks in duration, meaning 12 individual modules. Every module starts with a 60-minute webinar during which someone from Marcus Whyte (possibily myself) delves into a particular topic. For example, we may focus on a common challenge and how to overcome it – or a method for improving. That takes about 30 minutes, followed by another 30 minutes or so of questions and answers.

Within 24 hours after the webinar, everything is uploaded to our servers and people have access through their own central DashBoard. They can replay the webinar, download the audio in .MP3 format and download the course content. They can also ask questions to us and their fellow participants – we include a forum functionality – and we bundle valuable additional online resources from major business schools and leading thinkers there.

They also get a weekly challenge delivered straight into their inbox – the idea is to get them out there and take action on what we discussed. So if we have laid out an effective technique for giving feedback to others, we’ll ask them to give feedback to five people.

So basically once per week they get relevant information - including tools and methods – and an incentive to get out there and practice whilst at the same time getting the support they need to succeed.

MoT AA : Can you give us an example of what is included in one of the modules?
Ago : Sure – for example, one of our first modules is around “Five Common Mistakes First-Time Managers Make.” This is where we talk about things like the difficulty to go from being part of the team to leading the team, or why you really need to go from a “doing it yourself mentality” to delegating effectively.

Usually, it’s not rocket science, yet we see people making the same mistakes over and over again. And because we made most of them ourselves – and succeeded in overcoming our challenges – we now have a set of very practical and extremely effective methods that we can teach others.

One of our mantras is “12 Weeks. Not 12 Months”. By that we mean that people often take 12 months or longer to master the essentials of management when they first take up a managerial position – by cutting out all the fluff and well intended advice that just confuses people even more, you can really shorten that time in a very significant way.

MoT AA : So you have been at this for a year now, how has the market responded to your service?
Ago : In all honesty, we just launched this particular service offering on January 1st of this year meaning it’s still early days. The first program we run in this way (outside of an early pilot), the ”Management Fast Track” will launch on April 2nd and run for 12 weeks. Because it is entirely developed around what actual clients were telling us, there are several major players interested and things are moving along quite nicely at this point.

Ultimately, you really need to take a page out of the “Steve Blank Manual” - I think his process goes for everything from high tech startups to selling knitware in a corner shop.

Get out of the building (or the shop), talk to your clients, find out what they need and build a minimal viable product. Once you have it, get it in their hands and see if it sticks. Ask questions, pivot and do it all over again until you get it right.

If it doesn’t stick the first time it doesn’t mean you are wrong; often a few minor tweaks are all that is needed to go from modest to major success.

Einstein once said “the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again, and expect a different result”. As an entrepreneur and marketer, I strongly believe rapid prototyping and experimenting based on real data and market feedback are what it’s all about.

When I came out of my corporate job, I used to think that you were either successful – meaning you found the right product for the right niche and experienced overnight success – or you weren’t. The MoT, reality and my own experience have now taught me that is simply not true. It is not a matter of IF you will make it, but HOW you will make it.

MoT AA : Well Ago thank you very much for the interview and all this insight on management coaching which is something we will be seeing more of this coming Friday February 3rd at “The Naked Ape” event.
 

Due to withdrawal from several of our main partners, we regret to inform you that the Speed Interviewing event planned for March 20th is cancelled.

We have of course worked hard to find new partners, but to no avail. With the current situation of the economy, many companies have decided to freeze any new hires.

No new date is set for the time being.

After meeting up at the La Cascade parking, the group of 14 adventurers set up on a challenge: reach the Buvette 400m higher with the help of snow-shoes!

 
Two hours of hiking and climbing later, the team was rewarded with well deserved fondue and croûte au fromage. Some courageous members even finished lunch with a Double-Meringue with "double crême de Gruyère".

Article written by Eric Schurenberg - Read the original article here

This classic 25-word definition pares entrepreneurship to its essence and explains why it's so hard. And so addictive.

As an entrepreneur, you surely have an elevator pitch, the pithy 15-second synopsis of what your company does and why, and you can all but repeat it in your sleep. But until recently, I’d never seen a good elevator pitch for entrepreneurship itself—that is, what you do that all entrepreneurs do?

Now I've seen it, and it comes from Harvard Business School, of all places. It was conceived 37 years ago by HBS professor Howard Stevenson. I came across it in the book Breakthrough Entrepreneurship (which I highly recommend) by entrepreneur and teacher Jon Burgstone and writer Bill Murphy, Jr. Of Stevenson’s definition, Burgstone says, “people often need to say it out loud 50 or 100 times before they really understand what it means.” Here it is:

 Entrepreneurship is the pursuit of opportunity without regard to resources currently controlled.

 I talked to Stevenson about his classic definition this weekend. Back in 1983, he told me, people tended to define entrepreneurship almost as a personality disorder, a kind of risk addiction. “But that didn’t fit the entrepreneurs I knew,” he said. “I never met an entrepreneur who got up in the morning saying ‘Where’s the most risk in today’s economy, and how can I get some? Most entrepreneurs I know are looking to lay risk off—on investors, partners, lenders, and anyone else.” As for personality, he said, “The entrepreneurs I know are all different types. They’re as likely to be wallflowers as to be the wild man of Borneo.”

 By focusing on entrepreneurship as a process, his definition opened the term to all kinds of people. Plus, it matched the one demographic fact HBS researchers already knew about entrepreneurs—they were more likely to start out poor than rich. “They see an opportunity and don’t feel constrained from pursuing it because they lack resources,” says Stevenson. “They’re used to making do without resources.”

 The perception of opportunity in the absence of resources helps explain much of what differentiates entrepreneurial leadership from that of corporate administrators: the emphasis on team rather than hierarchy, fast decisions rather than deliberation, and equity rather than cash compensation.

 What would you expect, asks Stevenson: When you don’t have the cash to boss people around, like in a corporation, you have to create a more horizontal organization. “You hire people who want what you have and not what you don’t have,” Stevenson says. In other words, entrepreneurs offer their team members a larger share of a vision for a future payoff, rather than a smaller share of the meager resources at hand. Opportunity is the only real resource you have.

 Or, as Burgstone puts it:

Every time you want to make any important decision, there are two possible courses of action. You can look at the array of choices that present themselves, pick the best available option and try to make it fit. Or, you can do what the true entrepreneur does: Figure out the best conceivable option and then make it available.

And that, folks, is what makes entrepreneurship so friggin' hard. And so friggin' necessary.

Following the successes of the Monthly After-works in Lausanne and Zurich, the MoT Alumni Association is launching a similar event organized for our Geneva members and friends:


Monthly Geneva degustation - 1st Wednesday of each month

Meeting point: CAVE at about 6 - 7 pm on the first Wednesday of every month.
Address: 5 cours des Bastions CH-1205 Genève the CAVE
Website: http://www.cavesa.ch/cave_vin_geneve/10.html
Dinner after degustation: Sixieme heure, Socrat, Pasta d’oro, and many others


Three valid considerations for coming to the CAVE if you are in the region:


1. Even if you show up and there is no one you know, it is under control: it is after all a wine cellar 10 meters under ground with NO CELLULAR connection and you have over 3000 bottles of wine to choose from, and a sample of 6 different wines offered to you.

2. Since the meeting point would be open from 17h - 19h.30, working professionals that are tied up in the office will not miss the appointment but just a few more glasses of wine.

3. If you want to come for a drink but are then obliged to hurry home to a screaming partner, it is still good because you still get the chance to catch up with your friends.

The next Geneva Degustation events will take place on wednesday: February 1st, March 7th, April 4th

This event is opened to all MoT graduates and students, as well as MoT friends

Become an Active MoT AA member (Support the committee that works for you!)

If you are an MoT alumni then becoming an MoT active member is worth the annual fee of 50 CHF because all our events are tailored towards our specific customer, in this case you the MoT graduates!

The benefits from our committee include Networking, fun events, Company visits, special rebates on products & services from our partners, and full access to the MoT website's intranet and directory.

"Well I want to become an active member but how do I pay?"

If this is your dilemma don't worry we would never let this excuse work with us, and that is why we have been so effective at easing this transaction for you.

Option 1: Pay your membership fee with PAYPAL or your credit card by clicking the logo "pay now".

Option 2: Pay your membership with the traditional Payment slip. If you wish to have a digital copy of the pink payment slip, click here.

Option 3: You can transfer money through ebanking. There is a PostFinance account. Details here:

MoT AA Lausanne

PostFinance Account n°: 17-747224-4

IBAN: CH04 0900 0000 1774 7224 4 - BIC (=SWIFT): POFICHBEXXX

More details: http://www.mot-alumni.com/about.php

Discovering new talents is key to strengthening our MoT alumni network, enhancing MoT credibility, and promoting the quality of our graduates worldwide.

A Facebook MoT page has thus been created to promote the MoT program, with its vision and message being: Shine on the MoT

The MoT Facebook page serves as a vehicle to enhance MoT's credibility and increase awareness of the programme and the worldclass MoT accreditation. It facilitates networking and communication among qualified people with similar interests and backgrounds, as well as as a forum that recruiters can use to find qualified talent.

Take a look at what the latest MoT Class is experiencing, and join the MoT community via the following link www.facebook.com/MoTEPFL.

We encourage all Alumni to post messages on the MoT facebook wall and to like our Alma Mater's page.

Article written by Ilya Pozin. Read the original article here.

Don't show 'em the money (even if you have it). Here are nine better ways to boost morale.

The ability to motivate employees is one of the greatest skills an entrepreneur can possess. Two years ago, I realized I didn't have this skill. So I hired a CEO who did.

Josh had 12 years in the corporate world, which included running a major department at Comcast. I knew he was seasoned, but I was still skeptical at first. We were going through some tough growing pains, and I thought that a lack of cash would make it extremely difficult to improve the company morale.

I was wrong.

With his help and the help of the great team leaders he put in place, Josh not only rebuilt the culture, but also created a passionate, hard-working team that is as committed to growing and improving the company as I am.

Here are nine things I learned from him:

1. Be generous with praise. Everyone wants it and it's one of the easiest things to give. Plus, praise from the CEO goes a lot farther than you might think. Praise every improvement that you see your team members make. Once you're comfortable delivering praise one-on-one to an employee, try praising them in front of others.

2. Get rid of the managers. Projects without project managers? That doesn't seem right! Try it. Removing the project lead or supervisor and empowering your staff to work together as a team rather then everyone reporting to one individual can do wonders. Think about it. What's worse than letting your supervisor down? Letting your team down! Allowing people to work together as a team, on an equal level with their co-workers, will often produce better projects faster. People will come in early, stay late, and devote more of their energy to solving problems.

3. Make your ideas theirs. People hate being told what to do. Instead of telling people what you want done; ask them in a way that will make them feel like they came up with the idea. "I'd like you to do it this way" turns into "Do you think it's a good idea if we do it this way?"

4. Never criticize or correct. No one, and I mean no one, wants to hear that they did something wrong. If you're looking for a de-motivator, this is it. Try an indirect approach to get people to improve, learn from their mistakes, and fix them. Ask, "Was that the best way to approach the problem? Why not? Have any ideas on what you could have done differently?" Then you're having a conversation and talking through solutions, not pointing a finger.

5. Make everyone a leader. Highlight your top performers' strengths and let them know that because of their excellence, you want them to be the example for others. You'll set the bar high and they'll be motivated to live up to their reputation as a leader.

6. Take an employee to lunch once a week. Surprise them. Don't make an announcement that you're establishing a new policy. Literally walk up to one of your employees, and invite them to lunch with you. It's an easy way to remind them that you notice and appreciate their work.

7. Give recognition and small rewards. These two things come in many forms: Give a shout out to someone in a company meeting for what she has accomplished. Run contests or internal games and keep track of the results on a whiteboard that everyone can see. Tangible awards that don't break the bank can work too. Try things like dinner, trophies, spa services, and plaques.

8. Throw company parties. Doing things as a group can go a long way. Have a company picnic. Organize birthday parties. Hold a happy hour. Don't just wait until the holidays to do a company activity; organize events throughout the year to remind your staff that you're all in it together.

9. Share the rewards—and the pain. When your company does well, celebrate. This is the best time to let everyone know that you're thankful for their hard work. Go out of your way to show how far you will go when people help your company succeed. If there are disappointments, share those too. If you expect high performance, your team deserves to know where the company stands. Be honest and transparent.

Ilya Pozin

Ilya Pozin founded his first company, Ciplex, at age 17. The digital marketing and creative agency caters to small businesses and start-ups. Ciplex, which has received the Inc.500|5000 award for two consecutive years, is headquartered in Los Angeles with offices in New York, Jerusalem, Serbia, and Germany. In 2010 Ilya hired a new CEO and moved into the President/CMO role so that he could focus on building new ventures. Originally from Russia, he currently resides in L.A. with his wife and daughter.

Our sincere congratulations to the graduating class of 2011! This year's ceremony was considered by many to have been the best in years. Great speeches by everyone and on time. We have to give a special thanks to our partner HELVETIQ, represented by Nils Rinaldi, for being the sponsor of the Best Business Plan Awards.

Following the ceremony and cocktail we followed the yearly tradition of hosting the Graduation Party at the JETLAG!
This year the post graduation party at the JETLAG was a very big success thanks to the great organization from the part of the HEC & especially to Eric Thuillard.
Close to 250 graduates, family and friends came to the party that extended well into the night. Next year it will be the task of the MoT class to organize such a successful event.

Pictures from the ceremony:

Presentation & congrats from the MoT Alumni Association president, Damien Douchet (MoT'01).

Speech by Nils Rinaldi (HELVETIQ), our partner and sponsor for the Best Business Plan Award.

Best Business Plan Award winners (team Biopsy 2.0 with Marie-Nathalie Castel, Stanislas Mackiewicz, Roland Kisseleff & Benoît Defrasne) with Nils Rinaldi (HELVETIQ) and Damien Douchet (MoT AA).

eMBA in MoT 2011 Class picture

All the pictures of the ceremony are available here: http://www.hec.unil.ch/pictures/emba/graduation_ceremony/

Read more about the latest ranking of the universities worldwide. EPFL is ranked best non-american university by the Leiden Ranking:

http://www.leidenranking.com/ranking.aspx

24 heures' article about this:

http://archives.24heures.ch/vaud-regions/actu/epfl-meilleure-universite-americaine-2011-12-09

A new tradition starts with the 10 year reunion of the 2001 class!

On November 24th 2011, the 10 year reunion of the 2001 class took place, setting a new tradition for the MoT Alumni Association! Indeed, with the success of the first edition, this event will be renewed every year.

So if you're a 2002 graduate, get ready to meet your classmates!

With a new committee, new fresh ideas!

In order to better communicate with you, we will be changing our communication format. Instead of a newsletter every two months, with emails specific to each event or news, we'll be sending one email every month that will summarise current news, upcoming & past events as well as our MoTie on the Move. Major events such as the General Assembly will however keep their mailing.

In parallel, we'll also keep you informed through our linkedin group.

With this new strategy, we hope to better communicate, while optimising the quantity of emails sent. If you have any thoughts or feedback, please don't hesiste to contact us at info[at)mot-alumni[dot)com.

Your MoT AA committee

On November 4th, 16 people attended the 2011 General Assembly at Chalet Suisse in Lausanne. A new executive committee was elected.

The committee now consists of 8 members:

• Damien Douchet (MoT 01) as President,
• Kevin Blackman (MoT 10) as Vice-President and Webmaster,
• Mariangela Acerra (MoT 08) as General Secretary,
• Ann Van Lysebetten (MoT 08) as Financial Officer,
• Stefanos Konandreas  (MoT 08) as Promotion Officer Communication,
• David  Hanlon (MoT10) as Promotion Officers Events (Suisse Romande)
• Bijan Said (MoT10) as Promotion Officers Events (Suisse Romande) 
• Christoph Bünger (MoT 05) as Promotion Officer Events (Swiss German).

Marc Hauswirth (MoT 07) was elected together with Niklaus Schneeberger (MoT 08) as Financial Auditor.

After an overview on the 2011 activities, given by Damien Douchet, Kevin Blackman, Webmaster Officer 2011, illustrated the Intranet Section, now available for Members on our website. The presentation was followed by the approval of the financial statement and the election of the New Commitee. Eventually, Damien Douchet presented the association program for the next year that will emphasize on continuous effort in events & communication through our website, company visits, conferences and workshops, as well as on the 2nd edition of Speed Interviewing, organized in partnership with MoveUp, at the Rolex Learning Center in Lausanne.

The evening ended with a delicious fondue and excellent raclette! We would like to thank all members and guests who joined the events and hope to keep high the MoT spirit for the upcoming year and meet all moties  expectations about activities and communication.

If you are an MoT AA active member, don't forget that you can benefit from special rebates on products and services from our partners!

• Denta Brice: 10% off dental care
• Helvetiq: 15% off games and T-Shirts
• Quatuor: CHF 10.- off the wine tasting box
• Hotel des 3 couronnes*****: special MoT AA package & rebates on rooms
• Greenstreets: 10% off american-style bikes

More details on these rebates are available here.

The rebate codes are available in the intranet, in "Rebates" section.

Une semaine pour découvrir l'entrepreneuriat à l'UNIGE du 14 au 20 novembre 2011

Au mois de novembre, chaque année plus de 100 pays participent à la Semaine Mondiale de l’Entrepreneuriat (GEW).
Pour la première fois, l'UNIGE se mobilise en collaboration avec de nombreux acteurs de la place!

Plus de 13 événements, 40 intervenants, des projets sociaux, des projets technologiques, un ciné-club, et bien d'autres activités seront organisées au sein de l'UNIGE afin de vous donner les moyens de donner vie à vos idées!!

Toutes les informations sur: www.unige.ch/unidee

Details here: http://www.unige.ch/unitec/actualite/evenement/Programme.pdf

We are pleased to announce that your new MoT Alumni member intranet is available. Please follow the instructions below to access the Intranet and take advantage of the new rich Intranet functionality. 

In order to access the portal:

1. Open your browser and connect to the MoT AA home page at:
http://www.mot-alumni.com/

2. Enter your email address in the "user" field. Enter your password in the "password" field. (See how to obtain your password below.)

Note: first time users can obtain their password by using the "forgot your password" link on the home page. (http://www.mot-alumni.com/intranet/password.php ) On the page that follows enter your email address, and select "reset password". You will obtain an email containing a link that allows you to obtain your password.

In case of problems we are available to help you at
webmaster@mot-alumni.com

The new Intranet has several sections, all of which are available to ACTIVE members (those who pay the annual subscription fee), and a subset is available to all Alumni. 

Areas available to ALL Alumni:

Intranet Home - the Intranet landing page contains the latest news and happenings of the active community.

My Profile - MoT Alumni may now update their profile with picture, address, email and other contact information. You may also fill out your CV, both professional and academic. The Directory is searchable by all ACTIVE members. 

Areas available to Active members ( membership paid ):

Directory - online searchable directory of Alumni members.

Rebates - access several rebates / discounts that have been kindly offered by various merchants to MoT Alumni.

Jobs - search job listings posted by other Alumni methods, head-hunters and recruitment agencies.

Experts - contact vetted experts for advice and consultancy.

Forum - discuss topics and converse with other members.

Documents - access the MoT AA document library. Foldres and documents may also be contributed by members.

Pictures - view the MoT AA picture galleries, including class and event photo albums.

We hope that you find this new Intranet section useful to you, and we thank you for your support. We welcome your messages and feedback.

The November edition of the Monthly After Work continue to
be a great success, with participation from MoTies of all years, from 1998 to 2012!

Fun evening, networking opportunity, great stand-up
buffet: don’t miss our next After Works!

Dear MoT Alumni,

We are pleased to invite you to the 2011 General Assembly of the MoT Alumni Association that will take place at the Chalet Suisse on November 4th. You can find below more information about the evening. If you wish to come, please register yourself on the doodle website.

Registration : http://www.doodle.com/y539cvp887skfrns
Registration deadline: October 28th 2011

Date: November 4th 2011, 18:30   
Location:  Chalet Suisse, Route du Signal 40, Lausanne
By car, free parking spaces available; by bus, n°16 bus-stop “Signal” (last bus departs at 23:58)
Website: http://www.chaletsuisse.ch/location-en26.html

Program:
•    18:30 – 19:00 : Welcoming cocktail (offered by the MoT AA)
•    19:00 – 19:30 : General Assembly
•    19:30 – 23:00 : Dinner

Agenda of the GA:
1.    President’s welcome
2.    Overview of 2010-11
3.    Financial statements of the Association
4.    Financial Auditor’s Report
5.    Election of the proposed committee 2011-12
6.    Election of the financial auditors
7.    Overview of the year to come
8.    Questions and answers
 
Should you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Looking forward to seeing you at the General Assembly!

The MoT AA committee

Our September newsletter is out! Learn all about our past and upcoming events including our recent Sailing Trip to Evian and read our exclusive MoTie on the Move article with Christopher Webb (MoT'09). The pdf format of the Newsletter is available here.

Dear Alumni,

We hope you all had a great summer. Although you may be nostalgic of you summer break, and the time you spent by the water do not despair just yet. The MoT Committee is pleased to invite all current and graduated students to join us for a sailing trip to Evian-les-Bains. The aim of the event is to allow the current students learn about the MoT program by spending some time with the alumni.

Meeting point and basic trip information

Meeting point: September 24th at port of St. Suplice at 14:00, please be on time!
Trip duration: September 24th – 25th
What: A sailing trip from St. Sulpice to Evian on 2 boats provided by the MoT Team
Where: Meeting at the Port of St. Sulpice, near to the EPFL

What to bring

Small soft bag with basic necessities. Appetizer goods such as beer, wine and chips are greatly appreciated.

Travel

14:30: sailing from the Port of St. Sulpice to Evian shortly after the MoT class with two boats Backman 20 and an Albin 30 (available places 14). Note: if more than 14 people sign up we will get another boat. Also note that if you do not want to stay at Evian for the night you can either plan to return by car, or take the last boat back that leaves at 20:45 to Ouchy Lausanne.

Dinner

17:30 dinner at the restaurant "Histoire de Goût" booked by the MoT AA (http://www.restaurant-histoiredegout.com/).
Address for those coming by car: 1 av. du Général Dupas, 74500 Evian Les Bains

Sleeping arrangements

Option 1: After having slept at 3 different hotels at Evian, the best value for money was the Hilton, at around 200 Euro / night (depending on when you book) you get to sleep in an extremely comfortable hotel that offers a full buffet breakfast and a spa. Note that hotel arrangements have to be done by participants themselves (hotel tel: +33 4 50 84 60 00).

Option 2: For the alumni members that are using all their money for their startup, or for the new students that have just paid for their text books, there is a second sleeping arrangement on the boats. Four places are available on the two boats and access to toilets, warm showers, TV, and electricity are provided for. The Backman 20 will be the “Girls boat”, and the Albin 30 will be the “boys boat”. If you do decide to sleep on the boat, bring a towel and some sandals. The port of Evian is very well organized with a shower and bathing station that is accounted for boats that berth at the port.

Returning home on Sunday

One boat will sail to Lausanne and the second will be sailing to Geneva at 11:00 am. If you need to leave earlier or later there is ferry transport at www.cgn.ch

Register on doodle: http://www.doodle.com/csk7di7pcayds3ym
Deadline for inscription: September 17th 2011

More information on the trip

Should you have further question, please contact: events@mot-alumni.com

Stefanos Konandreas (1st boat provider)
e-mail: vicepresident@mot-alumni.com
Tel : +41 78 922 61 23

Andre Delafontaine (2nd boat provider)
e-mail: andre.delafontaine@gmail.com
Tel : +41 79 374 08 15

Looking forward to seeing you!

The MoT AA Committee

Our 2011 General Assembly will take place on November 4th. More details will follow.

The MoT Alumni Association welcomes the new 2012 class and gives its best wishes for 16 wonderful months filled with successful challenges!

The 2011 Speed Interviewing event is postponed to March 20th 2012.

More details will be available here and sent to all MoT alumni and students end 2011/early 2012.

Due to insufficient registrations, the mountain bike weekend of August 19-21 is cancelled.

http://www.mot-alumni.com/events.php?eventsId=37

Dear Alumni,

Our bimonthly Newsletter for May is out!

It contains a lot of information but most importantly some events you maybe want to bookmark on your agendas!

Details are given in the letter but, we would like to highlight the following items:

- New! Monthly After Work now in ZURICH. Come out in numbers next June 14th at Münz, Münzplatz 3, Zurich – starting from 7 pmm.
- Monthly After Work: June 14th at Kaizen, Lausanne
- Mountain Bike Weekend: August 19th-21st
- Sailing trip to Evian: September 24th
- Speed Interviewing 2011: October 4th

In this Newsletter you can also find:
- Join the MoT AA committee
- Pay your membership with Paypal or Credit Card, now available on our website
- MoTies on the Move Interview of David Brunner (MoT 01)

The pdf format of the Newsletter is available here.

Enjoy reading and hope to see you on one of our events!

Best regards,

The MoT AA Committee

Wish to spend an unforgettable weekend this summer, up the Swiss mountains? The MoT Alumni association, in partnership with absolutbike, is proud to invite you to a Mountain Bike Weekend in Zermatt, on August 19th to 21st.

The off-road biking tours are supervised by professional MTB guides: Half a day of training followed by 2 days of fun mountain biking in the Zermatt region (Sunnega, Rothorn, Schwarzsee). And to make this a truly excellent and unforgettable weekend: a great 4* hotel with SPA/sauna (Beau-Site) and quality restaurants!

If you are interested, register quickly by sending us an email to events@mot-alumni.com. You should receive a confirmation email within 48 hours with further instructions.

Registration deadline is: May 31st, 2011 (participants accepted on a first come, first served basis, limited to 20 people).

Looking forward to receiving your registration!

Best regards,

The MoT Alumni Association committee

PS: curious to know more about the MTB weekend? View the video on YouTube!

Dear Alumni,

Our bimonthly Newsletter for March is out!

It contains a lot of information but most importantly some events you maybe want to bookmark on your agendas!

Details are given in the letter but, we would like to highlight the following items:

- Next Monthly After Work: April 12th & May 10th at Kaizen, Lausanne
- Mountain Bike Weekend: August 19th-21st
- Speed Interviewing 2011: October 4th

In this Newsletter you can also find:

- Join the MoT AA committee
- Pay your membership with Paypal or Credit Card, now available on our website
- MoTies on the Move Interview of Olivier Bucheli (MoT 01)

The pdf format of the Newsletter is available here.

Enjoy reading and hope to see you on one of our events!

Best regards,

The MoT AA Committee

The MoT Alumni Association is pleased to announce the visit of Edwards Lifesciences, global leader in the science of heart valves and hemodynamic monitoring. The visit will be followed by a dinner at the restaurant Croix Verte (Nyon).

When: Tuesday, March 29th 2011, 17:30

Where: Edwards Lifesciences, Route de l'Etraz 70, 1260 Nyon

Registration on doodle: http://www.doodle.com/yeif64u2mmcdeeti

Registration deadline: March 20th 2011

Registration fee: free

Important: The number of participants is limited to 30, first come first served basis. One guest allowed per member.

For more detail, see the invitation flyer here :
http://www.mot-alumni.com/files/events/MoT_AA-ELS_visit_flyer.pdf

Hope to see you there!

The MoT Alumni Association committee

Dear MoT Alumni,

Our bimonthly Newsletter for January is out!

It contains a lot of information but most importantly some events you maybe want to bookmark on your agendas!

Details are given in the letter but, we would like to highlight the following items:

- Next Monthly After Work: February 8th at Kaizen, Lausanne
- Visit to Edwards Lifesciences: March 29th

In this Newsletter you also find:
- Pay your membership with Paypal, now available on our website
- Several special rebates now available for Active Members by Hotel 3 Couronnes, Helvetiq, Neolabel and Greenstreet !
- MoTies on the Move Interview to Thierry Gros (MoT 08) - Founders of Street Commerce

The pdf format of the Newsletter is available here.

Enjoy reading and hope to see you on one of our events!

Yours,

MoT AA Committee

The MoT Alumni Association is glad to announce that new advantages will be available for its active members in 2011, in particular rebates on products and services from its partners.

To give you a taste of what is to come, we are proud to share with ALL MoT graduates and students our first Christmas Promotion!

If you have not received the email sent today, please contact us at info@mot-alumni.com and we'll send you the details and codes for the promotion.

Best regards,

The MoT AA committee

Many thanks to our partners, Neolabel, RedCut & Greenstreets, for making this promotion possible.

Become an active member! Should you wish to become a MoT AA active member in 2011 and benefit from all the advantages and networking opportunities, you just have to pay the annual membership fee of only CHF 50. Payment details, including Paypal links, are available here: http://www.mot-alumni.com/about.php

Dear MoT Alumni,

Our bimonthly Newsletter for November is out!

It contains a lot of information but most importantly some events you maybe want to bookmark on your agendas!

Details are given in the letter but, we would like to highlight the following items:

- The election of the 2010-11 MoT AA Committee
- The approval of the New Association Chart

In this Newsletter you also find:

- Pay your membership with Paypal, now available on our website
- MoTies on the Move Interview to Pierre Kohn and Gregory Chollet (MoT 06) - Founders of Neolabel
- Special rebate of 10.00 CHF offered by Neolabel to all Moties for buying their first product Quatuor. You find the code in the letter!.

The pdf format of the Newsletter is available here

Enjoy reading and hope to see you on one of our events!

Yours, MoT AA Committee

The MoT AA is pleased to open the 2010-11 Social events season with a hiking to Les Paccots.

When: January 22nd, 2010
Where: 1619 - Les Paccots

Further information can be found on our flyer. Have a look!

Subscription on: http://www.doodle.com/kxdyvft4gin6pa3t Deadline January 14th 2011

It will be another perfect occasion to enjoy this amazing region. Don't miss it!

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Yours, MoT AA Team
 

For more details: http://www.mot-alumni.com/events.php?eventsId=28

To offer our members an easier way to pay their yearly membership fees, we have created a Paypal account. So it is now possible to pay your membership fee or make a donation to the MoT AA through Paypal!

More details here

Dear MoTie,

The MoT Alumni Association needs you!

Twelve months ago, the MoT AA’s new executive committee has given itself ambitious objectives: recreate a dynamic environment with new communication tools and many networking opportunities! And during the last 12 months, here’s what we did:
•    New website
•    Bimonthly newsletters with news of events and articles on MoTies
•    Visits of companies (Flexcell, CERN)
•    Fun events (Hike at lake Tanay, Ovronnaz Ski & SPA, BBQ, Evian outing, etc.)
•    Social networking events (Seminar, Speed Interviewing, etc.)

For the next 12 month period, we are seeking to continue offering all MoT AA members more networking opportunities as well as fun events. We also wish to extend our events to the German speaking part of Switzerland. To do so, we need new members to join the committee team to help us in this endeavour! And in particular:

•    Promotion Officer(s)  “Schwizerdütsch” : in charge of organising/coordinating events in the German speaking part of Switzerland
•    Promotion Officer(s) Newsletters: in charge of editing the bimonthly newsletter and finding its content (interviews for MoTie on The Move)

As we aim to have a dynamic team, there is a constant collaboration between team members. The tasks are not strictly confined to a person and no one is left by him/herself as we always help each other.

You might wonder: “why would I want to join the committee?” Well, three reasons should convince you:
•    Networking opportunity
•    Experience
•    Fun

So even if your availability is limited, your help still remains greatly appreciated! Don’t hesitate and come join the MoT AA committee team!!

If you have any question, please don’t hesitate to email us at info@mot-alumni.com. If you are interested to join us, please send us before October 25th an email (same address) with your name and the position(s) you would like.

Looking forward to receiving your email!

The MoT AA Committee


PS: For the 2010 graduates: the new association chart (to be voted on October 29th) will allow any graduant to join the committee. So if you are interested, please don’t hesitate to join us!

Dear MoTie,

It is with great pleasure that you are invited to the 2010 General Assembly of the MoT Alumni Association that will take place at the Casino de Morges on October 29th. You can find below more information about the evening. If you wish to come, please register yourself on the doodle website.

Registration : http://www.doodle.com/spmihnsphbxrqf8c

Date: October 29th 2010, 18:30   
Location:  Casino de Morges, Place du Casino 4, Morges

Program:
•    18:30 – 19:00 : Welcoming cocktail (offered by the MoT AA)
•    19:00 – 20:00 : General Assembly
•    20:00 – 23:00 : Dinner

Agenda of the GA:
1.    President’s welcome
2.    Overview of 2009-10
3.    Financial statements of the Association
4.    Financial Auditor’s Report
5.    Election of the proposed committee 2010-11
6.    Election of the financial auditors
7.    Voting of the new proposed association chart
8.    Voting of honourable member(s)
9.    Overview of the year to come
10.    Questions and answers
 
Voting of the new association chart:
The current chart dates back to the creation of the association, in 1999. In the past 11 years, there have been many evolutions: the MoT postgraduate program became a master, then an executive master and now an executive MBA. Also CAS and DAS have been added to the MoT program.

By proposing a new association chart, the executive committee aims to update the association’s goals and activities to better meet today’s needs.

The major changes are:
-    Chart structure and layout
-    Membership status (including the introduction of new membership status,  Contributing Members & Guest Members to allow CAS and DAS graduates to participate in MoT AA activities)
-    Requirements for joining the Executive Committee

Please click on the following links to open the current and new proposed charts:
•    Current MoT AA chart (1999)
•    New proposed chart (2010)

Dinner Menu:
You will have the choice between 2 starters and 2 main courses, and the possibility of choosing from the regular menu. You will be asked to choose your meal upon your arrival at the restaurant.

Should you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Looking forward to seeing you at the General Assembly!

The MoT AA committee

Dear MoT Alumni,

After the summer break, we are back with our bimonthly Newsletter for September:

It contains a lot of information but most importantly some events you maybe want to bookmark on your agendas!

Details are given in the letter but, we would like to highlight the following items:

- Speed Interviewing at Rolex Learning Center – EPFL, jointly organized with move up, that will take place tomorrow starting from 17.45

- General Assembly on October 29th - Please book the date!

In this Newsletter you also find:

- Looking back – a year of activities

- MoTies on the Move Interview to Hadi Barkat (MoT 02) - CEO at RedCut

- Account details for the 2010 membership payment

Enjoy reading and hope to see you on of these events! 

The MoTAA committee

The pdf format of the Newsletter is available here

The MoT website has been relooked, with an up-to-date graphic line and better information access. Don't hesitate to visit it:

http://www.epfl.ch/mot

The MoT Alumni Association welcomes the new 2011 class and gives its best wishes for 16 wonderful months filled with successful challenges!

The MoT AA committee will be taking a break during this summer. So we wish you all a great and warm summer!

Also, please note that there will be no newsletter in July. The next one will be published in September.

The MoT Alumni Association and Move UP are pleased to present to you for the very first time in Switzerland the “Speed Interviewing” event: a unique opportunity to meet decision-makers and Human Resource Directors from technological companies based in Switzerland! It will be hosted on September 28^th 2010 (18:00) at the Rolex Learning Centre (EPFL).

This event will involve short interviews between participants and Human Resource Directors from leading companies within the sectors of Life Sciences (Pharma, Med & Bio-tech) and  High-tech industry. You will have the chance to meet key people and convince them during 7 minute interviews!

If you are interested by this unique opportunity, please send before July 15^th, 2010  to events@mot-alumni.com your CV (word format), the registration and profile forms (see links below).

Beware: this event is limited to 25 participants, and priority is given on a First Come First Served basis. More details are available in the Registration form. All information and documents provided during this event will remain strictly confidential and only in the hands of Move UP and the HR directors.

Should you have any question, don’t hesitate to email us at events@mot-alumni.com.

PS: documents to be sent if you wish to participate at the Speed Interviewing event:

• Your CV (word format)
• Registration Form (download Word 2007 version here and Word 2003 version here)
• Profile Form (download Word 2007 version here and Word 2003 version here)

Here's our Newsletter for May with the latest news:

1. MoT AA Web page on line
2. MoT AA Chart Revision
3. Join the MoT AA committee
4. MoT AA events in the Pipeline
5. MoTies on the Move - Frédéric Bichsel
6. Past events:
   1. MoT field trip - Visit to Flexcell
   2. MoT Social Event - BBQ
7. Upcoming events

Enjoy reading!

The MoTAA committee.

The pdf format of the Newsletter is available here

It is with great pleasure that the MoT AA present to you its new website!

Currently, the public section is available with information about the association, news, events, newsletters and an Q&A. In a second phase, the intranet section will be activated with tools to stay in touch, such as the MoT directory & forums.

If you have any comments/remarks/wishes, please don't hesitate to contact us! You can do so by email (info@mot-alumni.com) or through the form available under "Contact Committee".

And a big Thank You to Pierre Grydbeck, our webdesigner, who has done a great job making this website a reality!

Frédéric Bichsel (MoT 04) is launching SOLEXIS, a new start-up in solar sector. SOLEXIS is exposing from April 15^th to 18^th at Energissima(www.energissima.ch), the Swiss showroom presenting the more innovative technologies in the field of renewable energies.  More details about Frédéric’s new challenge will be available in the next NL. We wish to Frédéric good luck and all the best for the future of SOLEXIS!