IMT Lille-Douai, Fatima Semmoudi

The graduation ceremony of IMT Lille Douai is held at Lille Grand Palais!

IMT Lille Douai is an engineering school born from the merger in January 2017 of the School of Mines of Douai and Telecom Lille. Incorporated into the Institut Mines Telecom, it has more than 1900 students (including 450 apprentices), 500 graduates per year, and a network of 13 500 graduates worldwide. The graduation ceremony is attended by more than 1500 people each year (graduates and their families). It has been organised at Lille Grand Palais for several years.

Interview with MsFatima Semmoudi
Director of Communications
IMT Lille Douai

 

 

The graduation ceremony – a highlight at the beginning of the year that requires a suitable venue

600 new students enter the school each year: engineers, apprentices, specialist Master’s students, admissions based on student records (post-graduate, Master’s 1), and 20% of foreign students. Every year, 500 of them graduate: “Each year, we organise a graduation ceremony for them, a ceremony that welcomes 500 graduates with their families”, explains Fatima Semmoudi, Director of Communications, IMT Lille Douai.

“We need a venue that can accommodate a number of participants approaching 1500 people with a large amphitheatre and a room for the cocktails that follow, and preferably a place that’s accessible. So it’s natural that we chose Lille Grand Palais to host this ceremony, especially in 2019”.This event had already been organised by Telecom Lille at Lille Grand Palais to host its graduation ceremony for the last 3 years.

 

Lille Grand Palais, the perfect venue

“Lille Grand Palais offers specially adapted spaces: the Vauban amphitheatre has the right capacity with a stage, the necessary technical equipment (lighting etc) as well as the Jeanne de Flandres room right next to the exit from the amphitheatre for the cocktail event. The ceremony is held on Saturday, our team is there in the morning to help with the organisation, while the event starts at 2.30 pm and ends at 7.00 pm (cocktail ceremony). The event is also recorded so that we can broadcast the ceremony live on youtube”, Fatima Semmoudi adds.

 

Prior organisation

The prior organisation of the event requires 2 months of preparation: “We draw up the lists, who does what, we prepare the ceremony. It is essentially a relationship with the graduates in order to meet their expectations and answer their questions. We also organise ticketing registrations for security reasons, as required of us. I have within the Communications Directorate one person in charge of the event and another working on the audio-visual side who run this project from A to Z helped by the rest of the team in the run-up to the big day.”

On the eve of the ceremony, technical logistics are smoothly handled

“From the logistics point of view, Lille Grand Palais takes care of everything and offers a turnkey service. Lille Grand Palais’ project manager is in contact with our team to facilitate organising the event.”

 

The advantages of Lille Grand Palais for this type of ceremony

For Fatima Semmoudi:“First, the turnkey deliveryof a venue which requires no further input on our part is certainly an advantage. The chairs in the auditorium are comfortable, there is a wonderful stage, the technical teams are on hand for the lighting, and the whole service is very high-quality.

“From an organisational point of view, the relationship with the Lille Grand Palais teams is very good. From the outset, the commercial contact is in place, the technical teams as well, they are very professionaland there is nothing for us to worry about.

“Another advantage of Lille Grand Palais: its location in the city centre. Lille Grand Palais is well located at the motorway exit and close to the train station and airports. This accessibility and the car parks available are nicely suited to this type of event. In addition, traffic inside the building is fluid and it has been designed to the latest standards.

 “I know this place and fully understand it. Finally, we have a single contact, a single person to go to who can offer us excellent solutions for all our needs.”