Arjen's study reviewed alumni association good practices, and various enabling tools, and concluded that a simple development to the EIIL web-site should provide an effective way to bring together the alumni of the EIIL. 'We need to make sure that we use the Members' resources effectively' said Arjen 'so no expensive software purchases at this stage, and we also need to ensure that the administrative load on the EIIL secretariat can be minimised. Although it is possible to create a self-managing common interest group using existing social networking tools, such as the EIIL's LinkedIn group, these have a disadvantage in terms of organisation and presentation of members' details, which ultimately limits their ease of use. I've proposed a way that we can create listings of course members on the EIIL website. Initially this will result in a simple overview of who joined which courses and when. Future developments might include features such as assorting by company, searching who has been on multiple courses, or geographical listings, allowing targeted contact of alumni by alumni for whatever networking business benefit comes along. We'll see how the alumni want to use this' said Arjen.

Arjen's proposal counters the main disadvantages of the existing LinkedIn group in that all alumni registered will be easily accessible through an organised listing. The alumni webpages will be in the login section of the EIIL website, so security is guaranteed, and privacy concerns will be addressed by listing only a participant's name, course(s) attended, and linking to the individual’s LinkedIn page. People without LinkedIn accounts, could choose to have their phone numbers or email addresses displayed, or simply ask that interested members contact them through the EIIL secretariat who will maintain their data as a service. 

'Arjen's approach appeals to us since there will be almost no cost incurred, but the potential benefit to members is huge' said Lara Egli, the EIIL's Business Development and Marketing Manager. 'The additional webpages will have to be developed by the secretariat, but subsequent administrative load will be minimal. If the data is presented concisely, it could list several years’ of alumni before becoming unwieldy.'

Over the next few weeks Arjen will be contacting all alumni based on the EIIL's existing participants’ database. If your details have changed, please let us know, and if you know of a former colleague whose details have changed, please forward this newsletter and ask them to get in touch through  This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it .