In the second half of May, the Graduate School of Management of St. Petersburg University (GSOM) launched the GSOM Connect project. It is a telegram bot designed specifically for communication and regular one-on-one meeting of the GSOM Family community - alumni, students, faculty and employees of GSOM. For three weeks, with the help of a chat bot, almost 150 people from different cities of Russia, from Paris, London, Hamburg, Berlin, Rotterdam, Tallinn and Minsk discussed their studies at GSOM, career development, work in startups and corporations. In total, 250 people used the chat bot.

 

“We launched a new project for introducing community members to each other - the GSOM Connect chat bot. Each person associated with GSOM has a unique experience that he can share with other members of our large family. We are glad that in such a short time the project found a response among the community, and many have already managed to get to know each other, share knowledge and help each other,” said Kseniya V. Kolesnikova, Deputy Head of Alumni Relations Department.

 

The telegram bot @GSOMconnectBot once a week invites participants to meet with a representative of the GSOM Family community, tells them how to get to know each other better and find a common contact, and at the end of the week asks if they managed to meet the proposed person and how it went. The friday.software team that developed the bot monitors the work process every week, improves processes and answers user questions.

 

“When I found out about the appearance of the GSOM Connect bot, I immediately registered. I like its connection within the GSOM Family community, but it is one thing to communicate with students and professors, and another one is to alumni. For me, alumni are an example of how to apply the knowledge and skills that I receive at the university in practice. In addition, they can share their mistakes and save me from repeating them. I already had my first online meeting at Zoom with an alumnus of 2012. In short - it was unusual, interesting and informative. And it was especially pleasant to realize that despite the 10-year difference between the periods of our studies at the Graduate School of Management, the love and gratitude for the School both with me and my interlocutor turned out to be at the same high level,” said the second-year student of the Management program Ilona Dantsevich.

 

How to use the Telegram bot:

1. Go to the Telegram bot and answer a few intro questions.

2. The bot will offer an interlocutor from GSOM Family members.

3. In the middle of the week, the bot will ask how you are doing. If you can’t agree on a meeting / call with your partner or if your plans change, you can skip the meeting or get another pair.

4. At the end of the week, the bot will ask what do you think about it.

5. Every week, the bot will ask if you want to participate in meetings this week.