On 21 and 22 November, the 21st International Student Seminar on Management and Financial Issues was held. The event was organized by School of Business Administration in Karviná and the Polish Technical University of Rzeszów, Faculty of Management. However, students from Uniwersytet Ekonomiczny w Krakowie also participated. For the seventh time the competition was held completely online in MS Teams. Students had the opportunity to test their online presentation skills, compare their performance with others and get feedback from the expert jury. And thanks to the online environment, it doesn't matter if they are in another country as part of an Erasmus+ traineeship, they can easily join the competition from anywhere. This year, for example, our student Patrik Vasicek managed to make it to the top 5 from his internship in Taiwan and take home not only a diploma but also a financial reward. The event was attended by 31 students from many countries such as Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, India and others. The expert jury consisted of 6 academics. The Faculty of Karviná was represented by a group of 18 students of all forms of study. The main organizer was Dr. Stoklasa in cooperation with the International Relations Office.

The seminar is mainly about student presentations. During the 10-minute time limit, each student can present their chosen topic in English. This year we could mostly see topics dealing with ecology, marketing, management, but also various student projects, seminar papers or theses. After presenting, students receive questions from the expert jury, as well as feedback on their presentation. Many thanks to the expert jury, composed of representatives of both universities, which consisted of: Ing. Irena Szarowská, Ph.D., MPA, Ing. Karla Foltisová, Marzena Hajduk-Stelmachowicz, Ph.D., Pawel Perz, Ph.D., Paulina Bełch, Ph.D., and the main organizer and moderator of the event Ing. Michal Stoklasa, Ph.D. The aim of these joint seminars is to strengthen the students' presentation competences and to enable them to acquire professional terminology in English, to improve their presentation skills and, last but not least, their ability to respond to additional questions from the expert jury.

The seminar traditionally ends with a "Closing Ceremony" during which the best students are awarded. They receive, in addition to a scholarship of CZK 2,000 for participation, prizes worth 10,000 CZK. The jury had to make some difficult decisions this year, as there were many excellent presentations, and only 5 could be awarded. Some impressed us with their style, others with their scientific approach to solving a problem, and others with the perfect interplay of the presenting team. However, some of the presentations had everything that was needed, plus something extra that allowed them to make it into the top five. The first place was won by the Polish student Aleksandra Pacana with her presentation "The Light Bulb Conspiracy". Second place went to our Indian student Suriya Nanthakumar with her entry "Grab a cup of tea". Third place went to Polish student Julia Zielińska with her presentation "Circular Economy as a challenge". Fourth place went to our Indian student Annaliya Peter with her topic "Sensory Marketing". And the fifth place went to our Czech student Patrik Vašíček with his presentation "Business environment of Toyota". We heartily congratulate all the awarded students and thank all the participants, the expert jury and both faculties. We look forward to seeing you at a future event.