Kids, I’m gonna tell you an incredible story, the story of how I met BEST (the Board of European Students of Technology). I joined one of their Regional Meetings (RM), which is the equivalent to our Network Meetings (NWM) but with more participants than we usually have. Not all sessions were mandatory, but instead there were some recommended and optional ones. It was a place for newbies, active members and alumni. A great place to learn and share.
Their random regions do not seem to work bad even if there are many different feelings about it, of course: there are no stable regions, but they arrange them totally randomly, which can work in order not to create any kind of “regional identity” but maybe difficult for the knowledge transfer inside their Local BEST Groups (LBG, our antennae) as well as for members to travel quite far to attend their RM.
I could not have find a better way to spend that weekend that with a bunch of Technology students that welcomed and integrated me as if I was one of them! I danced Tunak Tunak in the “BESTies” style; so I was feeling at home. We had a very nice and funny International Evening (IE) or, as we call it, European Night (EN); there was plenty of food and a death round (our EuroTrip), so you all know what I mean. It was like being in an AEGEE event but this time I shared it with new amazing people around, people that I also loved. Different associations, same great spirit. I know it; I am quite soppy!
I had the chance to learn further about BEST and about how they work, so we can use the things that seems to be working nicely for them; I made note of some topics I liked and that could be used in our Network (mainly for the NetCom when organising NWMs). It was more about people’s participation and opinions about their region and their locals development and cooperation between them than about trainers just telling stories or facts even if they also informed about their European level and about the issues concerning their whole Network; for example, discussing about the topics and candidates of their next General Assembly (GA), our Agorae. A member of the European Board (our Comité Directeur, CD) was also present in the RM just like we do in NWM to help connecting all levels easier.
I also had the opportunity to speak about what we do in AEGEE, how do we distribute areas, how my own antenna is working, how do we get fundraising, manage meals or any other issue related to events’ organisation. It was great for me to share and learn from them, and also the other way round, as we keep in contact to talk about several common topics. Our associations are really similar in terms of internal structure and we can still learn a lot from each other to improve ourselves and keep making AEGEE and BEST even more awesome. That is why we are partners, isn’t it?
Great job of Fergus Incoronato, the Regional Advisor (RA), our Network Commissioner, in charge of the content of the RM and of LBG Madrid Carlos III, the organising local. They all worked so hard for everyone to enjoy and make the most of this long weekend. Thanks again, lovely people!
As I already suggested to some antennae from my area and some LBGs: there is so much potential in this partnership that has not been developed yet; so let’s cooperate further, let’s organise some activities together… people, there’s strength in numbers!
P.S.: As it was not enough for me, I repeated the following week attending a Weekend Trip, part of the Spring Course of LBG Valencia as a guest… I am so in love with this people called BESTies!
