The University-Wide Alumni Event

CONNECTIVAL 2025

On 17 October 2025, the time had finally come: Stuttgart Media University (HdM) celebrated its first university-wide alumni event. A day that marked the starting point for a strong, interdisciplinary network.

CONNECTIVAL 2025 brought together alumni from all disciplines and graduating years. United by their shared background of studying at the HdM, the afternoon was characterised by professional exchange, reunions with familiar faces and opportunities for personal and professional development. Expertise from a wide range of fields within media and technology came together, impressively showcasing the strength and diversity of the HdM community.

Throughout the afternoon, participants experienced a vibrant mix of current topics, academic impulses and advisory services focused on professional and personal development. Interactive formats encouraged exchange, idea pitching and discussion. It was a day of superlatives: a day of nostalgia, returning and reunion.

Key Topics at CONNECTIVAL 2025

When ChatGPT participates in meetings

Introduction to Conversational Voice AI and live demo of the voice agent XPerto, presented by Lena Leybovich and Jason Schühlein.

Insight into the development of physical interfaces

Prof Tille showed how AI prototyping creates physical interfaces - from concept and design to interactive Arduino-Prototypes that connect the digital and physical worlds.

Learning with AI

Prof Dr Dörsam showed how ChatGPT & Microsoft CoPilot support students, where the limits lie and shared experiences with the AI chatbot "Software Engineering Coding Teacher" from practical use.

Flood the Zone

Prof Dr Bader discussed with three journalism alumni how the "Flood the Zone" tactic uses floods of information to attract attention and change the media landscape.

From HdM to Entrepreneurship

HdM Entrepreneurship Talk: Niklas Dorn (paxray), Dominik Domjanic (deepr) and Matthias Nagel (pyck) shared their start-up stories and experiences from the HdM Startup Centre.

AI as a Colleague

Katja Leifheit and Prof Dr Sandhu presented the oucomes of the "Generative AI" future workshop and invited participants to an interactive exchange on AI skills and strategies in communication…

Open Stage - Pitch your project

At the Open Stage, creative projects were pitched, collaborators were found and valuable feedback was gathered - a stage full of ideas and energy.

Connect Lounge

The Connect Lounge offered opportunities for exchange and advice: Susanne Kühn on soft skills, the Start-up Centre on entrepreneurship and research transfer and Barbara Teutsch on questions relating…

Alumni Voices

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Elke Köferl

Dipl.-Ing. Media Technology | Graduated 1990 | Today Board Advisor & International Executive

After 35 years, it was finally time for an alumni event. I travelled all the way from Brussels - and it was worth it in every respect. One of the highlights for me was networking: it was great to talk to other alumni, exchange ideas and hear about the paths they took after graduating.

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Stefan Beisswenger

B. Sc. Mobile Medien | graduating in 2021 | UX Engineer

For me, the highlight was networking and reconnecting with familiar faces - I simply wanted to stay in touch with HdM. At CONNECTIVAL, I met up with a former fellow student who I knew from an interdisciplinary project during my studies but had never met in person due to the COVID-19 pandemic - until now.