Montreal, Canada, June 8, 2020 – AIESEC is set to host the first edition of a virtual global event under the name of Global Leadership Day set to be held online for 24 hours in a row, starting with 9:00 GMT+10 on the 12th of June 2020 with live-streamed content around the topic of youth leadership.

Youth Leadership in the times of COVID-19 

AIESEC’s core is youth leadership development, and the organization has been developing the leadership skills of young people from all around the world through cross-cultural youth exchanges since its inception in 1948. 

Nevertheless, the current context of a global pandemic and it’s restrictions posed to mobility has forced AIESEC to suspend its core operation of running youth exchanges and find new opportunities to engage youth around the topic of leadership – hosting a virtual conference accessible to anyone from the comfort of their own homes is one of those. 

24 Hours Around the Globe 

The virtual event is set to be moderated from four different timezones:

1. The event starts at 9:00 am on the 12th of June in the Sydney Australia timezone (GMT+10);

2. Mumbai, India (GMT+5.5) is the next timezone hosting 6 hours of live-streamed sessions;

3. After 12hours since the opening, the event moves to Amsterdam, The Netherlands (GMT+2);

4. The event moves to the location of AIESEC’s HQ in Montreal, Quebec, Canada for the last 6h of live-streamed content, closing at 7:00 pm (GMT -4), 24h after the opening on the opposite side of the world.

Over 8k young participants and 40+ speakers

As of one week before the event, more than 8000 young people from over 70 countries and territories have signed up to attend the event, making it the largest virtual conference organized by AIESEC to date. 

With the event set to be streamed on AIESEC’s social media channels, it has the potential to reach an audience as big as 1mln followers.

The 24h of content around youth leadership will consist of panel discussions, one-to-one interviews, keynotes and speeches on topics ranging from the future of work to entrepreneurship, sustainability and diversity and inclusion. 

The line-up of speakers and guests gathers a diverse range of thought leaders: from country ministers to young activists, from C-level executives of multinational corporations to social entrepreneurs.

AIESEC takes this opportunity to engage youth with the organization around the topic of leadership as well as deepen or kick-start partnership such as the ones SAP Next-Gen, qeeq.com, and PwC – the main partners of the event.

AIESEC invites anyone else who would like to learn more about the event or sign up to attend to find out more on the event website:  https://www.global-leadership-day.com/ and encourages all the participants to engage on social media by sharing content under the hashtag #GLD2020.

About AIESEC:

AIESEC is a global platform for young people to develop their leadership potential through international internships and volunteer opportunities. Since AIESEC was founded in 1948, the organization has engaged and developed over 1,000,000 young people globally through international placements and membership opportunities. AIESEC is a youth-run, non-governmental, and not-for-profit organization in consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), affiliated with the UN DPI, member of ICMYO, and is recognized by UNESCO.

For more information, please contact:

Rares Man, Communications Responsible, raresm@ai.aiesec.org