expert-emba-mcgill-hecThe Executive MBA class of 2014 is made up of 35 interesting individuals with a wide range of experiences and knowledge. They’ll all tell you about how important the class network is, and how much they learn from each other in their regular class sessions.  Even though they’re only 4.5 months into the program, they have excelled at building a strong and effective network across the class.  But there’s still a lot of untapped knowhow!  That’s why the class will spend two half days digging into each other’s areas of expertise, through the Knowledge Fair. The first Knowledge fair for the 2014 cohort was held last Sunday.

 

How does the Knowledge Fair work?

Everyone in the class volunteers their own areas of expertise, and indicates topics in which they are interested in learning more.  Using that information, topics were chosen for “Knowledge Booths”, for a fair held over two afternoons.  The topics are diverse, ranging from Overview of the Latest Trends in Physical Security to The Pleasures and Pitfalls of Derivatives Trading, to  How to Manage an Unsatisfied Client to Franchising: When, Where, Why and How, and many more.  Everyone in the class will have the chance to learn from at least 7 experts on topics of interest to them.  The cumulative experience of the class is hundreds of years, and the Knowledge Fair gives everyone a way to directly access that experience.  The fair’s orientation is practical: how is a particular topic dealt with successfully in business today? What are the learnings from real experiences? What REALLY works?  The Knowledge Fair gives the class a chance to learn from someone who’s ‘been there’ – asking questions, sharing experiences, leveraging each others ideas to build new ones.

The Knowledge Fair is an important element in the practice-oriented, issue-driven learning approach we adopt in the McGill-HEC Montreal Executive MBA program.