Would you like to know who is the new IT-Responsible of the Comité Directeur? Here you are: Derk Snijders, Computer Science Dutch student with previous experience as IT assistant of the Chair Team during Agora Chisinau. The former Treasurer of AEGEE-Enschede is busy working on the replacement of the current intranet, MyAEGEE, and is also ready to give his contribution to the Agora in his country.

The AEGEEan: Could you introduce yourself?
Derk: Hey! I am Derk Snijders, 23 years old, from AEGEE-Enschede. I am currently studying Computer Science (well, the government thinks I do [he smiles, ed.]), being at the beginning of my Master’s. I am two meters tall, which is what got me the nickname “Tall Dutch Guy” at EPM Zagreb. Zagreb was my third European event with AEGEE; I have been to Bergamo and Chisinau as well. Last year, I was a Board member (Treasurer) of “Stichting Sociëteit Asterion”, AEGEE-Enschede’s own pub, on top of having created lots of committee’s on our local level. My hobbies are gaming, working on my own programming projects and trolling other people. I am currently pretty much binge watching the entire series of Star Trek and my favourite movie is probably Frozen. I think those are enough private secrets of mine, if you want to know more you will have to trade them for some of your own!

Why did you decide to join the CD as IT Assistant?
It took me quite a while actually to really make this decision. I was at the end of my pub board year and was contemplating what to do next. I was not really looking forward to going back to full-time studying, so this seemed like an appealing alternative. Having heard of the possibility I initially laughed at it “as if I would do that”. Then, I started realising the advantages: getting some experience working on an international IT project as a project manager is not so bad. On top of that, I would spend some time in Brussels, which I expected (and it still do!) to be sort of a long holiday. And finally, doing this would mean I support my organisation and get to work with lots of awesome people! The negatives? Not so many actually, so it happened.

Did you have any previous IT experience?

I would say, yes, I do. I have completed my bachelor’s degree in Computer Science at the University of Twente, I had multiple private projects, creating apps, games, websites and other fun stuff. On top of that, I was IT responsible in my pub board and also for the last Agora. In Chisinau I was part of the Chair Team, taking up the IT part of it. This already got me to get to know some of the people involved in AEGEE as well as providing me with some very valuable and funny moments!

Which are your tasks in the CD?

Lia Tuska likes me to call her “my master and commander”, yet that does not really describe my tasks that well because, in the end, I am the one in control of the internet. I have been walking around the house (and street) with my laptop scanning the WiFi signal strengths, explained Ctrl+V to someone and installed rollercoaster on a broken PC. On top of that, I have been putting most of my time in working on the replacement of the current intranet, MyAEGEE. Within this project, now I have the title of “project manager”, where I am supposed to lead the project team in the right direction. This includes writing lots of documentation, talking with people, prioritising issues and making sure everyone knows what to do. In general, I also communicate all kinds of IT subjects to the CD. Finally, you could say I have a new pen pal friend- Philipp! We email a lot and he is providing me with lots of information and small tasks to fix in the house.

What would you like to do as IT Assistant?

Hmm, good question. I think I am pretty happy with my tasks so far! I have a clear challenge with MyAEGEE and, while it is sometimes a bit frustrating -the others do not really understand what I am doing- this does provide me with a lot of freedom (and responsibility), which I have been really liking so far. At the end of my assistance, it would be really cool to have successfully launched MyAEGEE, something which is a very daunting task, as many have come and tried before me.

What is the most unforgettable experience in your role in the CD?

Again, tough question. My first reaction was “Réka’s culinary specialities”, but on second thought, I would say the overall experience of living in a house like this. Every day we are in the office, some have Skype calls and other are just frantically typing on their keyboard, some are even giving a tour of the house to a newly arrived team. All this multi-disciplinarity and interculturality makes it an incredible experience. And everyone is just really nice to each other as well. Amazing how quickly I became friends with some people here, actually.

Do you think you will make some changes in AEGEE-Europe website?
This was actually also in the job description! Yet I have not spent so much time on this. I have set up a testing ground and we will soon start experimenting with designs and implementations of a new website. So who knows? [he smiles, ed.]

Have you applied for the recent open call for IT assistant of the Chair Team of Agora Enschede or did you focus just on the CD position?

Actually, no. I would have liked another time as Chair IT, though not applying for this had little to do with my CD position.

How will you contribute to the next Agora?

Ha, an easy question! I am part of the core team of the organisers.  I am the secretary there, responsible for incoming and visa, and last but not least, IT responsible! I make sure that all the minutes are in the right place,  any questions we receive are answered and our website is built. Additionally, I was the previous Chair IT, therefore I am transferring my knowledge to Jani, the Chair IT at Enschede, and I am pretty much the IT contact of CD now. You could say I am responsible for a lot of technical aspects of the Agora [he laughs, ed.]. All of this was the reason why I did not apply for the Chair IT position during this Agora, that would be too much IT at once [he smiles, ed.].

Can you tell us something about the Hackathon in Bruxelles with Lia Tuska? 

Not that much actually, I was not there. I really did want to go but had other obligations I had to execute. The interesting part of this is that it did eventually make me apply for the CD assistance! I got in contact with CD about the hackathon. Through that, I got informed about this opportunity and eventually was convinced to send in an application by the very insistent and persuasive Réka.

Written by Matteo Lai, AEGEE-Cagliari

Spring Agora Enschede is approaching very fast and there is just one thing between being an applicant and a participant: the application.

The first thing to know is: who is going to read your applications? The Chair Team, in cooperation with the Comité Directeur, is the one in charge of selecting participants. And in case you are wondering, yes, the Chair Team will read ALL your motivation letters. Despite the fact that in the team we speak more or less a dozen languages, ironically none of us is fluent in Dutch. Plus, the working language of the Agora is English, therefore while writing your application remember to use English only. Do not worry if your written English is not the best, as long as you will be able to put a sentence in the right order subject + verb + complement(s), we will definitely understand you.

What to write in it? The application system is helping a bit by giving some outline questions that can help you in drafting the text.

1. Why do you want to participate in this Agora?

2. What do you know about the Agora?

3. How can you contribute to this Agora?

4. What is your AEGEE experience?

5. Since when are you an AEGEE member?

You don’t necessarily have to answer in that order. For example, you can start by describing the highlights of your AEGEE experience and when you joined AEGEE. If you are a new member and you did not have a chance to be active in your local, explain what are your expectations towards the association and the Agora. When asked to explain what you know about the Agora, do not write “enough to attend” or copy and paste what the CIA says about it. Go more in depth and describe what Agora means and is to you, what the General Assembly is for AEGEE. What if you never attend an Agora? Don’t worry, usually up to half of the participants are at their first statutory event. Here you can write how you discovered about Agora, what do you expect the Agora to be. You can also talk with more experienced members, your local boards or even the Network Commissioners and ask what our General Assembly looks like, thus having a better picture of it.

How you can contribute to this Agora is a subjective questions, but in this field you can specify if you are thinking to hold a workshop or a progress meeting, if you are thinking to present something in the plenary, if you would like to help other delegates or visitors with your knowledge or even if you want to run for an elective position. After answering all these questions, why you want to attend the Agora will come easily. And no, eating stroopwafel will not be considered a good motivation, even thought we all love stroopwafel. [she winks, ed.]

Don’t leave it empty, don’t type random words or don’t put just smiles on it. Especially empty applications mean automatical rejection if you are a visitor. Even if you are most likely to be accepted – if you are a delegate or member of a European body – writing a good motivation letter is always a plus. Definitely, it would be perfect to state at least the body you are representing or what you are going to do during the Agora.

Locals’ boards are important too. They have the faculty of creating a ranking for visitors and assign the participant type (when it is not decided by the local agora) and to leave comments. In this cases the best thing to do is to be honest. Do not copy and paste the motivation letter of other applicants from your local, but also do not copy and paste board comments for every single member who applied, especially if you do not make an effort to at least change their gender. If you think that several people are promising and more or less equally good, change the words you use for each one of them, personalise your comment. Indeed it is true that boards do not know personally all the members, especially with big locals. In case this happen, and you do not know the applicants, then find a moment to talk with them in order to understand better their motivation to go to the Agora.

You can apply for Spring Agora Enschede till the 23rd of March here. Locals’ Boards can set a participant type and add board comments until the 25th of March using this link.

For any questions, you can reach the Chair Team here or send an email at chair@aegee.org

Written by Erika Bettin, Interim Vice-Chairwoman of Spring Agora Enschede 2017

Let’s face it: unless you are active on the European level, there is a big chance that you don’t really know what our different bodies are doing, what they are supposed to do and why they were created in the first place. The AEGEEan magazine is here to help and set the story straight. Up first – Mediation Commission.

If you check the current Member’s Manual, you will notice that there is no such body as the Mediation Commission. In its place, stands the Members Commission.  The reason for such a name change was the proposal made by the Members Commission Agora Skopje (2011) – Agora Enschede (2012). According to it, the name was tweaked together with its functions. Realizing that the MemCom was being activated already after the problem appeared, it was decided to make an emphasis on mediation, so that problems can be solved earlier and conflicts can be avoided. But let’s not get carried away and start from the beginning.

We work in a multicultural organization full of people with different values and ideas. Sometimes, conflicts appear. At times, they can be very proactive and lead to creation of a completely new and successful concept, however, at other times, conflicts end up being destructive. This is where the MedCom comes in.

According to the CIA, the MedCom is there for three things.

1. It is responsible for making sure that the Data Privacy Statement of the CIA is respected. Here they act as an ombudsman.

2. They can be officially activated by two bodies (NetCom, Audit Commission, JC, CD) or 10 antennas. This action results in a dispute, or “MedCom Case,” and is something very formal and serious. After a thorough investigation, they are allowed to take sanctions up to the point of deleting an antenna. However, their verdict can be reversed by the next Agora.

3. The last point comes from the new name – Mediation. This is a step taken in order to prevent a “MedCom case.” Since Agora Enschede 2012, the MedCom can now be addressed by any person or body of the network. This new function allows any member to turn to them for help/mediation in a conflict. Nevertheless, it is strongly urged that the member first turns to their NetCom as this is what they are there to do. But we will  cover the NetCom a bit later.

Agora Budapest elected a new Mediation Commission. Let’s give a warm welcome to our new mediators – Fabian Brüggemann (President, AEGEE-Düsseldorf), Hara Kogkou (AEGEE-Peiraias), Ermanno Napolitano (AEGEE-Catania), Maurits Korse (AEGEE-Enschede), Atanas Nachkov (JC) and Anna Gots (CD observer).

For more information about this AEGEE body, feel free to visit their page – www.commissions.aegee.org/medcom.

They can also be contacted directly at medcom@aegee.org.

Thanks for the photos to Gunnar Erth.

Written by Olga Volovyk, AEGEE-Kyiv

Starting any visa process in AEGEE is like a lottery – you never know how organisers will behave, how attentively the visa officer will look at your documentation, and what will you get in your passport in the end.

After Agora Skopje we all had a sad experience in visa issues, when no Caucasian locals were able to attend the Agora because visa procedures were not followed by organisers. Afterwards it was discussed many times why it happened and how to avoid this. Everybody was sure that the Agora in Enschede would be non-problematic at all in terms of visas. However, let us see what happened in the end.

Communication with the organising team was very fast, some single complaints from participants about organisers not answering e-mails were not surprising – in the last couple of months before the Agora, the team was simply overloaded with e-mails and tons of work. We all were pleasantly surprised when it appeared that the organisers put so much efforts into visa issues that they even had agreements with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Netherlands; all visa applicants going to Agora Enschede were allowed to obtain visas with the copy of invitation letter, and all foreign missions in visa countries were informed about the upcoming event.

However, in all this positive attitude there was one little drawback – participants were not timely informed about those agreements and they did not get proper instructions what to tell their embassies; i.e. that their applications were associated with that agreement with the Ministry. Thus, calling an embassy and asking if they can apply just with a copy of invitation letter, logically because of the rules of the embassy, most participants got a negative answer. What did we get with this? Panic, of course. If you were denied a visa at least once in your life, you become paranoid about visa issues and extremely careful in terms of documents. Taking a risk to apply with copy of invitation? No way!

However, fast reaction of organisers, provision of copy of the agreement with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and first successful visas among participants helped to overcome all fears, and mass applications to embassies in different parts of South-Eastern Europe were started. The result – all applicants received their visas, there were no denials, and everybody happily packed their luggage, slowly moving to the Netherlands.

Due to good work of the organising team and the Visa Responsible, all Agora participants were able to attend the Agora and see that this General Assembly appeared to be one of those wonderful Agorae where you can see the main coordinator smiling, and the whole organising team working fast, smoothly, and still being able to make jokes.

I am sure I will express the overall gratitude of all visa participants to Amarins, the Visa Responsible of Agora Enschede, and the entire AEGEE-Enschede team for all their efforts concerning visa issues, and all their help. Thank you very much for your patience, all your explanations and understanding! See you in Budapest!

Written by Olga Iatsyna, AEGEE-Dnipropetrovsk

In AEGEE, we are used to a lot of action days – or weeks, or months – to raise awareness for different topics or to encourage people to become active. Whether it is the Higher Education Days, the European Day of Environment or the

Logo of the Climate Impacts Day

Youth in Action Months, it is easier to activate people for a certain issue if you can focus on it for a specific period of time and offer them specific guidelines on how to get going.

During the Spring Agora Enschede, another worldwide action day took place, the Climate Impact Day. In the last decades, the man-made impact on climate became stronger and stronger. Unusual weather events are recorded all over the world, though people do not often make the link between these local events, rising CO2-emissions, and the changing climate worldwide. The aim of the Climate Impact Day is therefore to help people to “connect the dots”, to realise how the climate is changing and that global action has to be taken.

With the Environmental Working Group (EnWG), we wanted to add another dot to the picture by getting all Agora participants into one big dot and taking a photo of it. Fortunately we had the support of the

The Agora participants form a climate dot

amazing Agora organisers and could use the opportunity of the big group picture on the first day of the Agora to gather everybody into our climatedot; a dot that includes all participants, symbolising that we are all part of the change — and hopefully also of the solution.

We want to thank the participants as well as the organisers for the picture and are happy to see green topics becoming more and more mainstream.

Written by Hans-Peter Bretz, AEGEE-Aachen

The need for quality events with good thematic content has been long recognised in AEGEE and last year, the Events Committee (EVC) was created to help the event organisers achieve just that. As the next step, the EVC decided to organise a workshop at this Agora to create a discussion amongst members from different locals about what makes a good event, share their experiences and hopefully give them some new ideas which they would put to use in the future.

Clarifying priorities and expectations

The workshop started with a discussion about the priorities of organisers and the expectations of participants in regards to an event. Marit Veeber from the EVC was very happy to see that everyone agreed upon the content being the organisers’ top priority, but it was also agreed that different participants come to the event with different expectations, and whilst the content part may be the most important for some, others come for company and the social programme.

Do’s and Don’ts

Then the topic was changed to giving tips and tricks, and the participants of the workshop came up with following pieces of advice:

•  Have clear task division among your team!

• Have a set time frame of all the things that need to be done during (and also after and before the event) – make sure that all members of the team are aware of this and stick to it

• Leave time buffers that are long enough between activities

• Make sure that the participants know whom to turn to when they get lost

• Double check everything

This last tip was mentioned during the second part of the workshop: risk management in event organisation. Then the discussion was continued with considering different things that could go wrong during an event and how recognising and addressing some possible issues before they arise (using common sense, of course) can help the organisers be much less stressed during the event itself.

Here are some suggestions

• If the event is dependent on some sort of outside factor which one cannot influence (e.g., the weather), it is always advisable to have an alternative activity which could be the replacement in case everything does not go according to plan (e.g., raining cats and dogs could ruin the prospects of a beach party)

• Inform the participants to bring their European Health Insurance Cards to the event, advise them to get travel insurance and know where the nearest hospital is

• Main organisers should also think about themselves and from the very beginning have a right hand person who also has all the info about the event so that the team has someone to turn to in case the main organiser, for some reason, is unable to perform their duties (e.g. illness, exams, travelling before the event etc.)

• while planning the budget, leave about 10% for unforeseen expenses – and also think about how this money is spent if non-necessary for emergencies (otherwise one might be asked to give it back).

Written by Marit Veeber, AEGEE-Tartu & Speaker of the Events Committee

391 persons took the time and minutes to vote for 11 different awards. 11 different awards that were organised by The AEGEEan for “The AEGEEans’ choice awards“.  Awards created to encourage creativity in AEGEE and honour persons who have taken part in making a difference during the year 2011. The votes have been counted, and The AEGEEan is delighted to announce the winners.