Participants of EPM Leiden were chosen and the hype now is high. We asked some questions to the three lovely ladies chosen to be content managers this year, namely Romy Cartiere (AEGEE-Amsterdam, also the proposer), Daniela Poddesu (AEGEE-Cagliari) and Joanna Pankowska (AEGEE-Warszawa and AEGEE-Toruń). Together with them, in the preparation, also Communication Director Anna Gumbau.
The AEGEEan: You went to the CD house last month to organise the EPM. How did the meeting go?
Daniela: Yes, EPM Content Managers met in the CD house between 15th-17th December. The meeting went very well. We met each other for the first time in person, but our previuos skype meetings contributed to put us in the right working mood.
The meeting was really productive. At first, we started from different points of view. We have different backgrounds and this could have been a source of conflict, but we managed to combine them and draft a plan by which all our expectations were taken into account. Working together at the AEGEE house was great. It made us feel at home and Anna was really kind and helpful. All the other residents of the house were always really kind and friendly with “content manager bosses” as we use to refer to ourselves.
Just another last, but not least thing, during our meeting we had a soundtrack which was a kind of obsession. When someone didn’t understand something, to have an explanation, he has to sing “What do you mean?” as Justin Bieber does. This was a little bit weird because I really don’t like Justin Bieber, but I can’t imagine a content manager bosses’ conversation without his contribution!
Romy: It went very well. Although we had different ideas about the programme at first, we were able to compromise quickly and meet some important deadlines. I can’t wait for the next get-together!
Can you give us a sneak peak of how the content will be? In what will you focus more?
Daniela: For the content part, we chose to focus on future, possibilities and solutions instead of actual situation, problems and fears. So the main idea is to realise an EPM where the network could think mainly on how to come up from the current situation and on the possible ways to contribute as a European student network to improve the situation looking forward to solutions and initiatives.
Often it is lamented that the topic of EPM is not related to Strategic Plan. Are you planning to connect it more?
Joanna: We do everything we can to fix this. Workshops with external guests are planned in a way to inspire the strategic planning and we hope it will serve this purpose. A day and a half is really not enough to cover all the aspects of the topic, so one of our main selecting question was “Is it useful for AEGEE?”. We hope it will be visible for participants and will result in many great initiatives in the upcoming year.
Are you planning to collaborate with Luca Bisighini, the Policy Officer on Migration? How?
Anna: Definitely! During our live meeting, we had a first Skype with Luca in order to share our expectations and plans, as well as to see how the consultation for the policy paper will fit into the EPM agenda. In the last days, the content managers, Luca and CD have been in regular contact to seek cooperation: probably by leading some session, and definitely using the space to consult the members and include the conclusions of the conference in the policy paper.
Refugee is a hot topic, but yet very delicate. How will you treat it?
Romy: We realised this as well, that’s why we’ll create an informational booklet beforehand with some general information and definitions regarding the current situation. In this booklet we will also discuss how to have a respectful debate. In the end it is important that everyone is able to voice their (thought-through) opinion.
Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona