Last week saw the final conferences as part of the international conference programme developed by European Study Tours and supported by Achievers International.

Firstly, the United Nations Forum was held at the UN Headquarters in New York and saw 200 students come face to face with members of UN staff involved in policy making.

Chaired by Peter Luff, the Director of Action for a Global Climate Community and Chairman of the European Movement, the conference gave students the opportunity to not only listen to the speakers but also debate with them.

Darko Mocibob from the Department of Political Affairs led a session looking at the UN’s role in rebuilding Iraq. This was followed by Donald Lee from the Department of Economic and Social Affairs who discussed Child Poverty in the 21st Century.

James Sniffen from the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) then looked at the environmental challenges facing the UN and how they educate people about the irreversible effect their actions have. This was followed by a heated debate between students around the topic ‘Is there a limit to freedom of speech?’

The second conference, ‘Business & ICT: An American Perspective’, took place at New York University and brought nearly 300 students together to listen to successful professionals from the business world.

The United Nations Headquarters

The students listen in the conference room

Heather Alexander introduces the day

John Farrell from Publicis looks at advertising

BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat reporter Heather Alexander chaired the conference. She has worked in radio for the BBC for a number of years covering some of the top stories and is now based in New York.

David Filipiak from the Metropolitan Museum of Art started the day by looking at operations management and service delivery, drawing on his extensive experience of working for Broadway ticketing agencies.

He was followed by Alan Jope, the Group Vice President for Unilever. He looked at why brands need a point of view in the world, and focussed on some of Unilever’s most successful campaigns such as Dove, Flora and Lynx.

John Farrell from Publicis then presented a case study on advertising, focussing on how adverts relate to the product and if different stratergies are needed around the world or if it is possible to impliment a single campaign.

Finally, Sean Patton, the Sales Director for Virgin in North America then looked at online business stratergy and how recent campaigns have helped them to gain market share in an increasingly competative industry.

The Achievers International Team