The Network Meetings (NWM) taking place in Poland have been receiving many critics for a while because of the high number of participants. However, the Network Commissioner for this area, Mateusz Dokurno, and AEGEE-Zielona Góra have been working for a long time for the upcoming Autumn Network Meeting to ensure it will be of high quality despite being organized for 150 participants.
AEGEE-Zielona Góra will organize a Network Meeting for up to 150 participants between 13-16th of November, close after the Autumn Agora Cagliari. The AEGEEan interviewed the Network Commissioner of thes area, Mateusz Dokurno, and Bartosz Sudorowski who is the Vice President & FR responsible of AEGEE-Zielona Góra.
Mateusz is already very excited about the Network Meeting. “I know that all my locals are very experienced and highly motivated to organize this kind of events and I am absolutely sure that Autumn Network Meeting Zielona Góra 2014 will be brilliantly organized logistically (and of course content as well) just like all other activities organized by them in the past”, he tells to The AEGEEan.
The exact number of participants has not yet been decided and Mateusz says it will probably be 100-120 participants divided into two groups , who will benefit from slightly different sessions. The first group will be dedicated to board members and the most experienced participants and the second one to all other highly motivated members. This concept was tested during the Spring Network Meeting Silesia and the NetCom of this area got positive feedback, so of course Mateusz wants to develop the idea together with his SubCommies and the organization team of AEGEE-Zielona Góra.
However, as mentioned before, many people are of the opinion that the Network Meetings are too big. But Mateusz does not believe that the number of participants makes the Network Meeting organized in Poland of less quality than any others. “I don’t hear opinions about reducing the number of participants of Agora and EBM and in our event we also have a lot of AEGEE spirit. Remember that during prytanium at Agora Rhein-Neckar (introduction of regions) current Comité Directeur (CD) showed Network Meetings in my area as great example of cooperation within the Network, so they gave a clear signal to us that it is not only the strength of my area, this is the strength of all of us, of all AEGEE!” he says.
Now that the Comité Directeur is changing, it means that Mateusz is working closely with the CD elect, Aleksandra Kluczka (Ola), to whom he introduced the most important matters about the upcoming Network Meeting and invited her to Skype Meetings with his SubCommies. He tells us that she was a really valuable part of the meetings. “I am very excited about the next months and cooperation with all other CD members as well, especially Holger Schmitt, as Network Director, and Ola of course”.
About the hosting antenna: AEGEE-Zielona Góra is a local of 30 members where the majority of them, around 20, are active and they describe their members as very young and motivated. The specialty of this city is the wine tradition, which is why the NWM is named “Back to the roots”. Of course there are more special things about the city, but Bartosz Sudorowski tells The AEGEEan and the rest of the Network that one has to come to the city to discover them. On the question of why they took up the challenge of organizing the Autumn NWM, Bartosz said to The AEGEEan “Our local needs a bigger project. We have a lot of local projects that are small. Our members need new tasks, and more ambitious projects. AEGEE-Zielona Góra organized a NWM four years ago, and we want to show to the new generation of AEGEEans how beautiful Zielona Góra is and how strong our local is.”
It has been well-known for a while that AEGEE-Zielona Góra is going to organize the Autumn NWM and the antenna already has several details arranged. There are patrons arranged, like the Mayor of the city, Marshall and Rector. Then there are a few sponsors and almost all locations like the gym, classrooms for workshops, clubs for the social program are all set. Now AEGEE-Zielona Góra is working with the NetCom and Mateusz’s team on the methodological part. For that they are gathering a group of trainers for the workshops, panel discussions and open spaces. They will lso invite a specialist of social sciences. The team wants to prepare a panel about the demographic crisis in Europe.
There is a large team of people working on this Network Meeting, Bartosz tells The AEGEEan. “We have two coordinators: Damian Wójcik, and Mateusz Sadowski. Bartosz Sudorowski is our FR-responsible, Marta Kowalewicz PR-responsible, Jakub Ostalec – IT, Monika Duda – Incoming, Marta Dziklińska – Facebook responsible. The rest of our team is made up of 12 more members, and we have very good news. We have five places for helpers! So wait for the open call and apply.”
Besides the Network Meeting, AEGEE-Zielona Góra has organised other activities lately. One month ago, they cooperated with DKMS Poland and the Polish league of Volleyball, and they registered potential bone marrow donors, as part of the campaign that the local has been carrying for the past months and that gave them the nomination of Most inspiring local activity in the past The AEGEEan’s Choice Awards.
Now, during summer, many of the members are off for some well-deserved vacation but soon a lot of action will start again, especially with the Network Meeting approaching soon.
Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-Zaragoza