Event Examples

Small social activity

Not all events need to have a strategic or professional agenda. Sometimes the best ideas and collaborations are realised in an informal setting, including when socialising and having a pleasant time with others.

Informal and less structured environments often provide fertile ground for strengthening and developing authentic relationships. Without a sense of protocol or a rigid agenda, there is often more freedom to make new connections and initiate conversations that are aligned with participants’ mutual areas of interest or shared experiences.

So why not plan a “Danish Hygge-day”, where alumni come together to share stories over coffee or tea. At the hostel at DFC in Copenhagen, Wednesday has always been ‘cake day’ so perhaps you want to draw inspiration from this long-standing tradition?

The final programme and content of your event should be developed by the local network coordinator/activity organiser, with input from participating alumni, where relevant. That said, the most important thing is that alumni are given the opportunity to come together in a welcoming setting, whilst being valued as meaningful contributors to the network, regardless of their line of work, education, area of residence etc.

Example: Members of the Vietnam Denmark Alumni Network had a great day together, racing other alumni teams in the Hanoi dragon boat race.

Professional knowledge exchange activity

Maybe you have just returned from a Danida sponsored course and want to share your new insights or other experiences in a specific field of study with fellow alumni, who are specialists in this same area.

This type of knowledge exchange event can be very valuable, especially as it may help deliver tangible solutions to common challenges, or even allow for new ideas and innovation to flourish.

Things that you yourself have found useful will no doubt also prove useful to others in similar positions. Who knows, you may find that this type of event can be the first step in fostering a supportive community of practice within your specialism.

Example: The Danida Alumni Network Ghana organized the workshop ’Coconut Waste as a Resource’ for coconut entrepreneurs and other stakeholders related to the coconut and waste management industries.

Larger scale event

Sometimes a big event that attracts a large group of people can be just the boost an alumni network needs. This type of activity can range from an annual meeting of the local alumni network, where all alumni come together to plan the following year’s activities and evaluate the past year. But it can also be more of a business networking event that involves network partners and other stakeholders, who will benefit from the skills and knowledge of alumni.

Example: Read more about the first Nordic Alumni Event in Uganda that not only included alumni from all the Scandinavian networks, but ambassadors and members of the Nordic Business Association.

You may also want to look at the following guides for planning and running larger events:

Step by step toolkit to Annual General Meeting

Step by step guide to a larger scale event