Our statutory event is a beautiful place where we meet, discuss and share our vision of the Association. It is also a common thought that we are not living it to the fullest and the format is a bit outdated. For the past five months a task force worked on some improvements and the results can be seen in certain proposals and in the possibility to upload pictures of candidates on the system. But that is not all…
The Chair Team, who was also part of the Agora Reform task force, introduced some changes in the Agenda, switching some items from the plenaries to the prytannia, in order to have more time and fewer attendees to discuss relevant topics, such as activity reports, policy papers and financial matters.
Another new procedure is a pilot Debate for Presidents. Debates were never used in the recent years of our association, but they were organised in the past with former CD members debating with candidates. The Agora debate can be a good way to understand candidates’ vision better and to see them interact with each other opposing or defending their opinions. The Agora Bergamo debate will be held on the second day of the Agora, during the evening plenary when Réka Salamon and Pablo Hernandez Rodriguez will have 30 minutes to debate on given topics. The AEGEEan will collaborate with the Chair Team in drafting the topics, but a poll will be open in order to have members of the Agora suggest topics, ask questions and give their opinion. Therefore, stay tuned and follow The AEGEEan Facebook Page, The Chair Team Facebook Page and the Participants group.
Another big change is the new procedure of presentation for candidates of the Juridical Commission. Now the procedure for presentation is divided in three parts: the application form, a presentation in front of the Agora and questions. Taking inspiration from some parliamentary procedures, the Chair Team and the Agora Reform task force decided to try a reverse order doing a pilot on only one commission with the aim to make elections more informative as possible as well efficient time wise. For Monika Mojak, Elisa Tabby and Matteo Lai, then, the procedure will change as follows: application form online, questions and presentations, restatement of unanswered questions.
During the questions round, on Thursday the 19th of May, during the morning plenary, multiple questions can be asked to multiple candidate, thus they can change their presentations incorporating new information and adjust it based on what the network is most interested in and present it in the morning plenary on Friday the 20th of May. After their presentation, it will be still possible to ask question to candidates, but only unanswered questions will be allowed.
For more information, please download the Agora booklet here.
Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona