Oct 13, 2017
The annual Welcome Meeting is one of the most important events of the German Fulbright Alumni Association.
It serves to greet returning German Fulbrighters and to welcome the incoming American grantees. This year it took place in Munich on the weekend of October 13-15.
On Friday evening, the meeting started with a wine reception. Vanessa Wergin, President of the German Fulbright Alumni Association, and Dr. Oliver Schmidt, Executive Director of the German-American Fulbright Commission, welcomed the participants.
The main conference day on Saturday was opened with a keynote speech by Stephen F. Ibelli, Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Consulate in Munich, who emphasized the importance of the Fulbright program and shared experiences from his diplomatic service with the conference participants. A variety of workshops in the afternoon addressed different topics – such as the development of the Fulbright community – and offered a lot of opportunities to exchange ideas. The day was concludes with a dinner and a party.
While the first part of the Welcome Meeting involved predetermined workshop topics and key note speeches, the last day of the conference was dedicated to a new event format, the “Un-Conference” where participants came up with their own ideas and topics which were discussed in small groups. This new format was well received and turned out to be a major success.
To find out more about the Fulbright Alumni e.V. and its activities, visit the website
www.fulbright-alumni.de or find them on Facebook: German Fulbright Alumni Association.
