The 2007 Women’s Forum is over, but this blog will remain and continue. We don’t know exactly how yet, but we are exploring options. The creation of the blog was a passionate collective adventure involving executives from the WF, tech people, mentors, sponsors, but particularly a group of twelve students from seven business schools. Most of them are non-native English speakers, and arrived in Deauville without prior blogging experience. Yet they delivered an amazing collaborative portrait of the Forum: its themes, its faces, its characters, its key moments, its atmospheres, its strong words and its soft tones are all reflected on this site in more ways than we could expect, in texts and pictures. It was a genuine pleasure to meet them and “coach” their enthusiasm, creativity and engagement. More from them will be added here in the coming days, as they will reflect on their experience at the Forum

But for now, let’s just thank them for their passionate work, and wish them success. Here they are, gathered at the Deauville beach before heading back to their schools. From the left, standing: Louis Chenard (ESSEC), Alix de Poix (member of the WF Board), Gersende Piganeau (coordinator of the students group), Coralie Prin (ESSEC), Manasi Ramanna (London Business School), Joysy John (London Business School), Bonnie Fong (INSEAD), Ivonne Arciniega (IESE), Annachiara Torciano (Stockholm School of Economics), Margit Trollnas (Stockholm School of Economics), Camilla Quental (HEC), Bruno Giussani (coach/editor of the group). Front: Natiq Shamim (Stockholm School of Economics), Jonathan Citadelle (ESSEC) and Bruno Vinay (COO of the WF). (Photo Mario Farinato)

by Alix de Poix

Tree blue fishes and nine pink fishes in the same pond, creating nearly from scratch the Women’s Forum’s first live blog! Here comes to Deauville the third student’s delegation, the bloggers of the Women’s Forum 2007. Were only missing our two friends from North America, due to climate (travel) difficulties. Diversity of gender, colour, religion, nationality, age, the team is definitely representative of the Forum.

Four ‘nannies’: Alix, Barbara and the two Brunos, with Orange support and last year student’s delegation representative, Gersende, to set the brief: Authorisation given to go everywhere, nearly no control on their creativity, Simple rules given: respect of the individuals and transparency of the information.

And watch what has happened!

We gave them our trust and they enacted it, getting all the interviews they wanted to have.

They are both hard workers and smiling; smiling to one another, and smiling to life. Talented, but modest, still dreaming and already acting

Behind the surface, rock dancing teacher, singer, writer, non for profit activist, etc. Like cats, they have multiple life and talents and do not need to go to a second life experience to experiment new avenues and live their dreams. “How can you change the world, if you go linear?” said one of them.

They are the kids we all like to adopt – of course our own kids are the best - but with an extended family view, they are most welcome, in my tribe, or in your’s.

And if I replace, if we replace, the word adopt by the word mentor, all of us have a role there!

It is our responsibility to transmit to the next generation our values and our experiences. It is also an honor and a privilege to be in contact with that generation. Mentoring is a win-win fulfillment, for the taker and for the giver!

It is not a nice to do but a need to do; it reinforces the brick and mortar of what we call Civilisation and contributes to its sustainability.

It is maintaining a chain and a continuum. It is putting humanity on the word evolution, it is accepting to share with them, it is accepting to give up parcels of our power, and if we start doing it on an individual basis, maybe one day, we can hope to be able to do it on a more global basis, on a country basis, enabling the diminution of the divide between the north and the south, the well off with the without anything.