This year, the Forum was held for the first time in the school's workshops. Timothé, president of AMJE Bordeaux, and his colleagues made this change in agreement with the school's management and teachers: "We believe that this change of scenery adds value to our Forum, which took place in a unique setting at the heart of the industry."

A forum that reflects students' interests

The forum is a tailor-made project designed to meet the needs of students, who are future young professionals: "From the outset of our project, we sought to find out what areas interested students so that we could offer them meetings that they would enjoy and find truly useful. After analyzing the responses to our student survey, we tried to tailor our company prospecting accordingly."
The AMJE and PRE students carried out their initial prospecting using a database passed down from year to year by the Forum organizers. This database was then expanded to better meet the needs of Arts et Métiers students.
Even though the forum is not a Gadzarts corporate event, the students drew on the school's extensive alumni network to enrich the range of stands on offer: "As the Gadzarts network is very well developed, it is not uncommon for a former Arts et Métiers student Arts et Métiers in one of the companies we are looking to contact. We don't hesitate to get in touch with them to facilitate a meeting with the company in question. Most of the time, alumni are very happy to refer us and support our invitation to their HR manager or management."

A brand-new format

On Thursday, March 9, the business forum welcomed 21 companies, which the students met with in two stages:

• During the morning, 16 companies took part in professional coffee meetings. Each company had 1.5 hours with a group of around 20 engineering students to give them a more detailed presentation of how their company works and share their experiences with them. Timothé emphasizes the importance of this first part of the day, which gives these meetings a more personal and informal feel: " The professional coffee meetings are what make our Forum unique, as they allow for more relaxed and original exchanges with interested students, who have the opportunity to choose which professional coffee meetings they participate in."
• The afternoon, organized in a traditional format, allowed all students from the Bordeaux-Talence campus to move freely between workshops and meet with the companies in attendance.

This Business Forum, aimed at all Arts et Métiers courses, Arts et Métiers an opportunity for students to make new professional contacts that could be decisive for the rest of their studies and their professional lives.