The Network Commission is a team full of people that several AEGEEans know due to all the communication they have with antennae across Europe. However, the work of the NetCom would not be efficient without teams of subcommissioners and in this interview you get an insight into what it is like being a subcommie for a Network Commissioner.

Carmen Maria

Alvaro Espinosa (AEGEE-Santander, Pauline Létard (AEGEE-Toulouse) and Carmen Maria Benegas (AEGEE-Alicante) are subcommissioners of Pilar Lop. Silvija Peric (AEGEE-Zagreb) helps Antonija Parat, Maria Arends (AEGEE-Groningen) helps Patricia Anthony and Erika Bettin (AEGEE-Venezia) helps Claudio Armandi. All of them share a deep passion for helping the Network and being part of seeing antennae improve.

For most of the subcommies the reason to help the NetCom team was to be more active on the European Level of AEGEE. For example; Pauline worked together with Lucille Rieux, who herself was a subcommie of Luis Alvarado Martinez at this time, in the Speak Up project. The aim was to develop the French part of the Network by doing a bus tour in several big French cities with one message – “young people, get involve and participate”! Unfortunately, the project did not get through but it was a really good experience for Pauline and her first on European level. Network development and Youth participation had been key topics of interest for her since her beginning in AEGEE. Then Lucille who Pauline refers to as somewhat her mentor in AEGEE strongly encouraged her to become a subcommie.

Alvaro, who is part of the same team says “Being a subcommissioner was an opportunity, this is something that never crossed my mind before. However, Pilar, together with the previous team thought that I could fit because they trust me and in my work on the local level. Receiving that kind of confidence from these great and experienced people was the reason I decided to become one of them.” For Silvija this idea was first introduced by her former NetCom – Ana Dragić, but at that time, she had a lot of other obligations and had just started her term as President of AEGEE-Zagreb. However, she continued with the idea stuck in her brain and when Antonija Parat was elected as NetCom, she decided to apply. What she enjoys is working on European level too, because she knew it would increase her knowledge about AEGEE and give her the opportunity to help other locals as well as improving her own local: AEGEE-Zagreb.

For Maria there are too many reasons, as she says it. She talked with newly elected NetCom Patricia Anthony after Agora Rhein-Neckar about the need for a strong team of subcommies in the Nordic area, because of the problems we are facing (especially in Scandinavia, even though AEGEE does not have many locals there) due to Euroscepticism. The idea arose to try to work on this topic together with the locals in the UK, and that is the main reason she wanted to become involved. Apart from that she believes that the UK, Scandinavia, and the Baltics are wonderful places in Europe, which are, unfortunately, underrepresented in AEGEE, and Maria truly hopes to be able to make a change. Carmen joined when there was somebody leaving the team and she was ready to continue that person’s work as she loves the Network and helping others. She is a big fan of organisation in terms of administration and procedures inside any organisation and selects that as the main reason why she wanted to join.

As one can imagine the subcommies tasks and functions mainly relate to contact with some of the antennae that the NetCom is responsible for. When asked about what they do, subcommie Pauline answers :“First I worked with the members of the antennae I’m in charge of taking care of. I talk with them on a regular basis, at least once a month when everything goes smoothly and sometimes everyday when they need it. I’m trying to take the pulse of the antenna, to find out in there are any problems or tensions but also find out about the assets and richness that the antennae have to make them share it with the rest of the Network when it’s possible. Every month, I send them a reminder saying that they have to fill in the monthly report. I sometimes have to harass them a bit to get them to do it but it is important as when antennae does not submit the reports on time it delays the work of NetCommie Pilar. Then I’m part of the Tripulacion, Pilar, her other subcommies and I form a team. Together we organise the Network Meetings and the Renove, we prepare the delegates for the Agora, and we inform the members about interesting opportunities…”. In the case of Maria it is similar as she has the responsibility of AEGEE-Durham, AEGEE-London and AEGEE-Sheffield whom she also asks for Activity Reports and at times they work on a PR strategy. Basically she is trying to help out wherever they want her, as she puts it, and of course she also helps with the organisation of NWM in Tartu this autumn.

Alvaro Espinosa

Pauline continues the interview with telling us about the differences between the antennae she is responsible for. “In my opinion, an antenna relies mostly on people and on a good team. So the difference is in who is part of this team, who animate and dynamise the antenna. There are little tiny teams that sometimes rely on two or three or more person-teams with around 10 really active people. I’m responsible for AEGEE-Paris, AEGEE-Lyon, AEGEE-Brussels/Bruxelles and the two contacts in Lille and Nantes. They mainly have the same profile of antenna but of course the situation in each city is different. For example, AEGEE-Paris is really famous in the Network and in France too  (more than the other French speaking locals anyway) but as Paris is a very expensive city with a lot of student associations, it’s a bit challenging for them. In my opinion, this year they are all facing the same challenge: their experienced and most active members left or are leaving soon. That’s why together with Léa Charlet (AEGEE-Paris), Louise Pahisa (AEGEE-Paris), Marine Betrancourt (AEGEE-Lyon), Inana Namet(Former member of AEGEE-Toulouse and now AEGEE-Paris), Lisa Fanget (AEGEE-Paris) and AEGEE-Paris’s team, we organize a Regional Training Course in Paris. The objective was to make the newly elected boards meet and train them.”

Alvaro sees huge differences between the antennae: “AEGEE-Santander, for instance, was a challenge. They faced some problems and solved them, they also grew a lot, changed their statutes, created a new online database, a new website. Their members are incredible and the communication with them was really fluent so, at the end, it was a pleasure to work together. Then, we have AEGEE-Zaragoza which was just on another level with all the “Agora stuff”. Finally, AEGEE-Bilbao which in my opinion has also grown the last year thanks to the work of their members and the collaboration with their AEGEE neighbors.”

However, there are some other tasks for subcommies around the Network. For example Pauline is also coordinating the organisation of board meetings in the French speaking locals and the RTC.

Maria Arends (to the right) together with Antonija Parat

The AEGEEan: What do you like the most about being a subcommie?

Pauline: Meeting amazing people who have taught me so much!

Silvija: Working in an intercultural team with great people, having the opportunity to learn and grow more and to help others with my experience and knowledge.

Carmen: Mainly working in a team and getting in touch with different people which is making me learn a lot from others. I also like helping antennae with their problems; if they are solved, that’s the best reward.

Erika: The Rainbow (responsible for Italian speaking antennae) subcommie team is great. We created a very good group spirit. Plus, I learned a lot in this year and more important I helped and I was helped.

Maria: Keeping in touch with the locals, seeing how they work and what we can improve is one of the task related things that I really enjoy. Apart from this, of course, the team is amazing! With Patricia and the three other subcommies, I think we really have an amazing and good working team.

Erika Bettin (to the left)

What challenges do you face as a subcommie?

Pauline: Keeping myself updated, there are a lot of informations circulating in AEGEE, you want the antennae to know about it but you don’t want to spam them.

Carmen: Some locals are complicated to run, mainly because they have not many active members and that is always a problem when it comes to fulfilling antenna criteria, filling out questionnaires, respect deadlines and this kind of administrative stuff. As a subcommie, I try to be properly informed and help them understand the procedures and encourage them to cooperate with other antennae that might be able to help or give advice as well.

Silvija: helping other locals in my Network to become stronger, overcome all challenges they are facing and at the same time being updated and knowing everything about what is going on in AEGEE in order to help them

Erika: I was lucky with locals and there weren’t big challenges to face. Before Agora Rhein- Neckar, NetCommie Claudio Armandi and I tried to do everything possible to save AEGEE-Trieste, but there were no signals from them. It is always sad when a local is deleted.

Silvija Peric (to the right)

What has been your favorite moment as a subcommie?

Pauline: Network Meeting Paris : Back on tracks! The first time I met Léa was in Paris and she is a bit like my sister in AEGEE, we joined AEGEE at the same time and we work together a lot. On top of this, it had been a while since we had a NWM in France, so this event was symbolic for us, it was the result of a strong solidarity between the French speaking locals, but also the success of AEGEE-Paris’ amazing team and also of the Tripulacion!

Silvija: My favorite moment was meeting other people in my team and working with them because they have a lot of great ideas and a lot of positive spirit.

Why would you encourage others to become a subcommie?

Pauline: Because you learn so much, because you give so much to the Network and to the antennae too, because it’s an amazing experience!

Silvija: It is the best place to start working on a European level and get to know things better, also, helping others is something priceless and on top of it all you will meet fantastic people and get a lot of experience.

Erika: Being subcommie is such a beautiful experience. You meet a lot of wonderful people. You share your experiences, your doubts, your fears, and it’s a good way to have a “first taste” of European Level.

Carmen: I would encourage people if they are interested in the organisational and internal aspects of AEGEE. If you have experience in your antenna and feel motivated, you can do it. The best thing is that you will learn a lot from working with that many different people.

As for whether we will see any of the subcommies as a Network Commissioner in the future depends on many things, but one thing is for sure: they all enjoy their work together with the Network Commission a lot!

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-Koebenhavn 

While everybody is preparing for Agora Zaragoza, there is another important meeting taking place directly after the big statutory event, namely the European Level Meeting. It took place for the first time one year ago after Agora Budapest, and The AEGEEan used the opportunity to interview Beata Matuszka from the Comité Directeur (CD) about the idea as she was the one who developed it.

When did you get the idea of a European Level Meeting?

Beata: The idea came to me when I was still a Network Commissioner. As a NetCommie, you need to have a complete and perfect overview of the whole European level, you need to know the responsibilities and activities of each and every body, since whenever your locals need support, you are the one who can advise them or redirect them to the relevant body. It is best if you know the people on the European Level, since it is much easier to get in contact with them, ask for help for your locals, and basically this is where the idea was born: I wanted to provide a platform for networking and to facilitate the future communication of the AEGEE members.

Budapest was the kick-off, the trial version of the event and (maybe not so much surprisingly) it was a success, quite a lot of people came, several ideas were born and the people could get to know each other. Beside networking, we have other important aims as well for these European level meetings, such as best practice sharing, working on initiatives together in order to develop our Network.

In Budapest it has been called the Committees’ and Commissions’ meeting because we were thinking to start first with the bodies which are responsible for rather the administrative part of the Network management. In Mannheim the scope became broader and the European level meeting has reached its final form, involving all the Working  Groups, Projects, Committees and Commissions. Even if we had fewer amount of participants after Mannheim, the diversity helped us to reach even better results than in Budapest.

After these events, the one in Zaragoza is very much anticipated. In terms of logistics, I got a great support from the local organisers to organise the one in Budapest and also Mannheim, it’s not different in Zaragoza either. After the open call, we got quite some applications and I’m really glad to see that so many people are interested in strengthening the cooperation and working together to make the European level and AEGEE better! The programme will be drafted with the help of the participants, the topics which are important to be discussed according to them have been already collected and Fabian Brüggemann, who was moderating the discussion in Mannheim, has also been giving us great support in developing the programme to get the best result out of these two days.

Diana Tupchiienko, president of the Juridical Commission also agrees that the European Level meeting is important.  “It is time to put aside all misunderstandings and deliberate on the ways how to improve the work of AEGEE as one, undividable mechanism. During these kind of meetings you can get to know people who are or may turn out to be the future of our Association, understand others, share their opinions and share wise advices. And it’s great to have a new idea after a rich-flavoured cup of latte and have a plan how to put it into practice after a slice of a cheesecake. It’s definitely a great opportunity to learn!”

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-København

The dates are set. From February 13^th until February 18^th 2014, AEGEE members will gather in Lublin to take part in EBM. An event organised not only by AEGEE-Lublin, but in cooperation with other Polish antennae. The AEGEEan interviewed the main coordinator Jakub Oleksy to get an update on the event.

 The AEGEEan: What have you been doing since the announcement at the Agora Rhein-Neckar that EBM would take place in Lublin ?

Jakub: We have done a lot of things concerning particular logistics, including finding accommodation and meeting places for the workshops, as well as developing promotion and a database of potential partners.

The AEGEEan: What are the next steps in the organisation of the event?

Jakub: The next step is to get further funding for this big project, including the Visegrad grant. We will also deal with the promotion of the project, social program and other organisational matters. Promotion of EBM will not only be through Facebook, but also through our website, YouTube and other media. In Zaragoza we will show up with a strong team, and do promotion there as well.

What is on most people’s minds when talking about organising a statutory event is fundraising (FR). Chema Rueda mentioned how the crisis is making it more difficult to gather funds and EBM coordinator Jakub Oleksy agrees. “Fundraising is a difficult task, but the scale of a project, a steadfastness of purpose, and eligibility make it easier than it would seem at first.”

Photographed by Roel van Engelen

Seeing that this task is so difficult, we decided to ask former Agora organisers to share their experience with gathering funds. Jannes Rupf and Alex Sieber from the organising team of Agora Rhein-Neckar were ready to answer all our questions.

So we asked them what the main obstacles were, when dealing with FR for Agora Rhein-Neckar and how they overcame them.

Jannes: The biggest obstacle was to find the first sponsors. Once we found them, we could use them as a reference and attract other new sponsors. But having none at the beginning was the most difficult bit.

Did it help that you had many antennae helping with the matter?

Jannes: Actually you would expect it to help having a lot of antennae involved in the FR, but as long as there are not any direct contacts to the companies it is quite difficult to do fundraising successfully.

Have you discussed this in the Knowledge Transfer to AEGEE-Zaragoza?

Alex: We had already discussed some issues during Agora Rhein-Neckar. There has also been some communication after the Agora, but I expect that most of KT will take place during the two months before Agora, as this is also the period during which we had a lot of questions to the organisers of Agora Budapest.

Following the interview with Agora Rhein-Neckar organisers it was time to go further back in time and talk with the main organiser of Agora Budapest: Márton Demeter. Márton gave us more details on the same topic but also how organising such a big event has affected AEGEE-Budapest as an antenna.  

Márton: FR does not only mean that there is a huge, rich and nice company that you just have to call and then they give you a pile of Euros. It is a bit more complicated: you can get cash, you can get products (FR ‘in kind’), you can get services, discounts, private donations and checks paid by someone else. We had all of these and thank God it was enough. It sounds easy, but it is not. Definitely not.

In the meantime the crisis is going on and the companies do not have enough money even for their own needs, so it was a really tough job. Usually if you have a list of 100 companies, you try to contact them, and 10 out of 100 will tell you that they might be interested. Usually 1 of these 10 will give you something. It is really demotivating that you get a lot of negative answers, but once you got a supportive one, that really rocks!

What really helped us was that we organized calling days, meaning the Agora team gathered in the office and called every single company we got in our contact database. Plus we recruited a lot of helpers for FR, not only experienced AEGEEans but also very fresh members! Any time we had any success in FR we posted it on Facebook so our members saw that we are doing something with tangible results and the very hard work of FR team members was also appreciated!

What did the Agora mean to your local financially?

Our budget was around €55.000. Around 50% was covered by the participation fee and the rest was covered by other sources.
In our partnership list we had non-governmental organisations, governmental organisations, universities, EU institutions, embassies, small local companies, state companies and also huge multinational corporations. Plus, it was very nice that we had private donations as well. The Agora team got a very decent amount of seed money from the board in order to start to organize the Agora and at the end we closed our budget with positive balance, which can be an indicator of success.

We hope the same will happen for AEGEE-Zaragoza and AEGEE-Lublin.

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-Koebenhavn

You remember Lauren, right? Some months ago she started paying a bit more attention to the food she was eating. She found out more about our food system, like the concept of seasonality of fruits and vegetables or the way some food products travel half across the globe before landing on our plates. She also learned about alternatives, such as the group of students in Antwerpen who set up a system of vegetable bags, making sure she and others can enjoy their weekly portion of fresh, local, and organic products.

Today, Lauren is in Mannheim. She’s been here for a couple of weeks already, taking part in an exchange project between her university in Antwerp and the one here. The beer may not be as good as back home, but there’s so much to do she has hardly time to think about that.

One of the first days she was in Mannheim for example, a big event took place at the university, with hundreds of students from all over Europe coming together. Being new to the city, she went to have a look, and ended up sitting in a workshop on exactly the same thing she had left behind in Antwerpen: vegetable bags. How nice to meet so many young people sharing her concerns.

After an open discussion on the characteristics of our food system and the choices one can usually make when shopping for groceries, the group was divided into different teams to brainstorm about the different parts of the process of setting up a vegetable bag system. Lauren really enjoyed being able to share some of the things she already knew during the discussion, but the brainstorming turned out to be quite difficult, and raised a lot of questions.

How do you select the producers you want to work together with? How do you organise your logistics in a simple and efficient way? How do you reach your future consumers? And what are some other activities you can offer them? Luckily the facilitator of the workshop had done some research as well, interviewing people who had already developed their own systems, and could give feedback on the results of their brainstorming.

Lauren left the workshop with her head buzzing with new ideas, and the contacts of one of the local students. A couple of days later, she’s starting to settle into her life in Mannheim, and she’s already missing her fresh vegetables from back home. She can’t find a local initiative, so she decides to call up the girl from the workshop. Maybe they could start one themselves?

Taking their notes from the workshop and using her earlier experience as a customer in Antwerpen, they begin to work out the basics. Finding producers in a short radius to the city and visiting them to get to know them. Securing support from the university to help fund the programme and having an easily reachable location. Researching the tastes and expectations of their future customers. Recruiting volunteers to hand out the packages and collect the money. Develop promotion materials and think of a strategy to reach people.

That night Lauren is heading to a bar in the centre of town with her new friend, ready for her first AEGEE meeting. They have solved most of the questions and know what to pay attention to. Going over the results of their search, they feel they are ready to present their idea to the other members. But will they like it?

From here on the story is yours. If this is the first time you hear about vegetable bags, find out more here. Or maybe you already heard about it in your own city? Tell us all about your experience so we share it with others. And if you would be interested in starting one yourself, let us know and we can support you with more tips! For all information: enwg.aegee@gmail.com

Written by Mathieu Soete, Policy Officer on Sustainability

During Agora Rhein-Neckar, the Visa Freedom Working Group (VFWG) organized quite a successful workshop! The main leader and speaker of the workshop was an American citizen living in Germany and the Czech Republic, Mrs. Kimberli Jo Lewis, who has a certificate from the London Coaching Academy.

Kimberli Lewis, International CEO, executive coach, and mentor, talked about transitioning and being culturally transitioned both in the private and work life. Kimberli has over 22 years CEO experience in 10 countries and has a lighthearted view on how to manage transition. She is an executive coach of cultural transition and expatriate all over the world. Kimberli is the CEO of globalbusinesstherapy.com and ponytaletalk.com.

We had around 60 members at the workshop, which was quite a surprise considering the fact that it was already the third day of the Agora and right after lunch.

The first part of the workshop was an introduction of Kimberli, her short life story. How she moved from the USA to Europe. How different it was to see and live with the people here. She went to Germany, where she met her current husband and settled down. She explained how Germans are able to walk around the town with no specific aim, while in the US people usually go for shopping at weekends. She told us that after some time living in Germany, she was able to accept the traditional morning beer. The biggest problem for Kimberli was to learn the time perception in Germany, when suddenly she had to be everywhere on time and keep the deadlines. 

That changed a bit after going to the Czech Republic. The Czech Republic was a bit more relaxed. But on the other hand, life was harder there. People were not that helpful anymore and you have to deal with a lot of problems alone. The rusty system of the Czech Republic’s bureaucracy requires a lot of paperwork and patience, because the Czechs are: 1) not keeping the deadlines, only if it is for money; 2) usually are tired and bored from their jobs, so they just do not care about your problems. On the other hand, Czechs know how to sell you the beauty of their country.

Kimberli gave a short presentation about the effects of travelling into different countries, cultures and environments. You should be careful not to start being all sad and depressed when you are coming from your “honeymoon phase”. You miss those beautiful places and the great people, just like our Post-Agora-Syndrome. All the small differences and details that you can recognize after coming back home are actually pushing you to think more about going abroad again and try to explore other places more often. The voice in your head is telling you that what makes you excited makes you happy too. And that you should use your chance. The weather is so bad all the time anyways and the job is boring. That is the point when you decide that you need a change – so you start travelling. And one day you find yourself not living your “old” life anymore.

What comes next, Kimberli said, is the cultural shock and basically “waking up” from your beautiful pink dream. You have to deal with everyday stuff. How to ask for bread, when you actually do not know the name of it in the other language? Where can you exchange money? Is it possible to drive a car here or do I need a special license? Why the flat rent is so high and why is it hard to find a good restaurant? Why are people so closed and always in a hurry? Why can’t I understand the joke?

But after some time, you adapt. You are not scared by the really bad traffic in the morning, as you got a book to read while sitting on the bus. You learn the language well enough to understand the jokes and order in a restaurant. You can feel proud that you have seen more sights than the domestic people. You make friends and plan a trip to a city nearby. You go to a really good party. You do things that locals do too and you do not find it weird anymore. Everything seems to be easier and more enjoyable again. You get a job and you feel really happy because you walked so far and survived!

In the second part of the workshop, we got a small homework. We were supposed to define the word “culture” and its meaning. Culture is not only related to the country or people’s behavior – culture is also your neighborhood, your school, free time activity, an event spent abroad with a mix of foreigners and more. We split into groups and we were defining our own culture. The strongest features and what we find weird about ourselves and our cultures. What is the contradiction to our cultures and how we should deal with it. Then representatives from Germany, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, Poland, Ukraine and Greece presented results of their culture description. Germans and Greeks – like two different worlds! Are Spanish lazy? Are Turkish always on time? What about the driving skills of Polish people? You could have heard that and much more  during our workshop. If you missed it, do not be sad, because the Visa Freedom Working Group is organizing a workshop for Agora Zaragoza again!

Written by Visa Freedom Working Group

While many AEGEE members were spending their time green travelling with the destination Mannheim, the Sports Working Group (SWG) was hosting a football tournament for the ones already in the city.

The idea behind the active afternoon was not only to raise awareness about physical activity but also to inform members about the topic of racism in sports. In a collaborative project between the SWG and Policy Officer Stephanie Müller, Agora Rhein-Neckar was used to consult AEGEE members about racism.

At the time that the football tournament took place not many had arrived in Mannheim yet and a large part of the ones who were there were taking part in city tours. However, there was no need to call off the match since the motivation was there, so instead of being AEGEE members playing against each other, it turned out to be a little group of AEGEE members playing against some locals from Mannheim.

While the active representatives from our organization were sweating on the field under the summer sun, the rest cheered them along while also filling in surveys about racism in sports created by Stephanie Müller. Later on during the Agora the questionnaire was used again during the AEGEE fair and these are only the first steps in the research of AEGEE people’s opinion on the topic.

Back at the match the spectators saw a large number of goals being scored by the footballers, and in the end it was a victory on the field to the AEGEE team. Outside of the team the small but interesting event is also considered a victory. It proved raised awareness amongst our members about the connection between sport and racism and it also underlined that there is an interest in such sportive activities in our organization. There might not have been many people able to take part in the game, but many showed interest in the outcome, and the Sports Working Group has afterwards received numerous requests to repeat the event before Agora Zaragoza, in even larger dimensions.

Written by Patricia Anthony, Secretary of the Sports Working Group

One of the activities that the Sports Working Group arranged for Spring Agora Rhein-Neckar was hosting a workshop with the theme of bullying. Despite few participants, the workshop was a successful example on how an interesting topic can gather AEGEE people together.

For Agora Rhein-Neckar the Sports Working Group (SWG) invited Adam Wilde from the LGBT rugby team in Berlin to share his thoughts and experience on how sport is connected to bullying. As many may know the SWG is working on homophobia in sports and homophobia is just a smaller part of bullying.

The workshop, hosted by Adam Wilde together with SWG speaker Ángel Rodríguez, made AEGEE members open up about their personal experience of bullying and surprisingly many participants of the workshop have been affected about this vicious topic at one point or another in their life.

One of the methods used during the workshop was sharing information about homophobia in sports. Participants watched parts of the interesting BBC documentary about homophobia in sports together and afterwards listened to Adam Wilde’s personal experiences and projects to fight bullying.

What engaged the small group of participants the most was sitting in a circle and talking about personal experiences. When wondering what impact sports have on bullying the response was more positive. Sports can give people strength, it can bring a togetherness feeling amongst people, and it can help deal with anger. For one participant, sports have helped deal with bullying and been a tool to become stronger physically and mentally.

In regards of how bullying can be fought the ever-returning idea of visiting schools was brought up. Actually, it was difficult to come up with specific actions on how Adam Wilde together with his team can combat bullying, but it made the participants wonder about it and the workshop raised awareness about an important topic!

All participants of the workshop left the room in Mannheim very satisfied, and happy to have been part of the interesting talk. It was a pity that not more members were able to take part, especially since Adam had taken the journey from Berlin. However, it was motivating to see the general interest there is in the topic!

Written by Patricia Anthony, Secretary of the Sports Working Group

Recently it has become more and more popular in AEGEE to record high quality videos and make them go viral on the internet. Two antennae that are good in that matter are AEGEE-Napoli and AEGEE-Kyiv, and they are therefore both nominated for The AEGEEans Choice Awards 2013.

From AEGEE-Napoli’s video

The AEGEEan interviewed both antennae to get to know more about their love for video making.

The AEGEEan: Why do you create a lot of videos in your antennae?

Giovanni Cerullo (AEGEE-Napoli) In our antenna there are a lot of people that love movies and that are attracted by making short films. At the beginning it was a kind of game, we were just trying to do our best to see what we could do. Then we got addicted, and anytime is the perfect opportunity to make a new one. Furthermore video and YouTube in general are nowadays a very important way to make viral advertising. They give you the opportunity to reach hundreds of people by few clicks. So it’s an opportunity to catch!

Anna Kotovych (AEGEE-Kyiv): It is a great chance to capture moments. Video is something more “alive” than pictures; on video you can see more emotions, actions, smiles. Video is something you keep hold online, and there is less possibility for it to get lost. Very often people are too lazy to watch albums on Facebook, Picasa or any other photo servers or social networks. Videos are more dynamic, and more attractive. And we just have people that like to do this.

What is the golden recipe for a good video?

Giovanni: If you want to make an advertisement, I think it should be short, clear and funny. If it’s too long people will not watch it and if it’s boring people will not share it.

Anna: The main recipe most probably is the mood of the video. If people are enjoying the time spending together, on video you can easily see this. Also the idea is a point. If there is a creative idea, and you know approx. how it should look like in the end, half of the work is already done!

What is the best advice you can give to other antennae that find it difficult to make videos?

Giovanni: They just have to try. When we started recording videos in October we did not know at all how to do it. Then we found it was so funny to be a director or an actor, and also our members realized that. Now we have a lot of people that want to participate in our videos, especially the new members. So therefore with a good video you can make a great advertisement, and you can also let your members enjoy!

Anna: First if all, don’t be afraid! It is much easier than you think. Just think about the video in advance. You don’t need to have a professional scriptwriter or a director with huge experience. Just a person that enjoys to do this and can hold a camera in their hands and presses button “rec” two times: start and stop.

Use any user-friendly video editors, and, voilà – you have a nice or even great video, that you, your local, friends, family and the whole Network can enjoy while watching, and smiling. 

AEGEE-Napoli during their roll call in Budapest

Besides being nominated for best video AEGEE-Napoli is also honoured for their creative mindset when it comes to rollcalls. When asked about how they came up with the idea the answer was: “We really wanted to make something original, but funny. So we decided to sing that Napolitan rap song that talks about a hefty boy, you know people that go to the gym every day and that eat only proteins. If you have ever met us, you would know that we are not like that at all. That’s why we found really funny to sing that song and to sing it in that way.” AEGEE-Napoli use it because they value the creativity and how it will make people remember your antenna. It gets people talking and it is therefore a different kind of advertising for the antenna.

There is no doubt that AEGEE-Kyiv and AEGEE-Napoli are not the only creative antennae in the Network but they do set a good example and hopefully more will follow them in the future.

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-København

They don’t know one another well, none of them knew in advance that the other two were candidating, but all three of them ensured us that there is no competition going on. This might be surprising since only one of them will in the end become Network Commissioner of their beloved Russian-speaking locals, as splitting up the area is not a real option. The AEGEEan interviewed Oleg Gladchenko (AEGEE-Kharkiv), Vira Kaknych (AEGEE-Lviv) and Sergii Turchyn (AEGEE-Ivano-Frankivsk) about their candidatures.

Sergii Turchyn

Network Commission elections are a special case in AEGEE. Since all Network Commissioners are elected by the whole network and not per region, locals have no exclusive influence in who will be their NetCommie. This sometimes creates special situations at Agorae, for example when two candidates from the same country candidate and both are elected. At Agora Rhein-Neckar we will have a very special occasion: not one, not two, but three people from Ukraine are running for NetCom, and they might as well all three get elected.

The AEGEEan: What was your reaction when you found out that two other Ukrainians candidated as well?

Oleg: (smiles) It was unexpected, but fact-inspired: Ukraine has a lot of motivated people who want to work on the European level of AEGEE. And on the other side – competition is always good, I love competitions.
Vira: I was surprised and of course I was afraid, because the more applicants, the less are my chances to win the elections.
Sergii: When I submitted my candidature, I knew that another person applied as well, which turned out to be Vira. I think it is great to have so much motivation from Ukraine. One of us will certainly win!

Vira Kaknych

The AEGEEan: There is a chance that you will not become the NetCom for the Russian-speaking locals. Can you make a top-three of the regions you prefer (Russian-speaking locals included)?

Oleg: I just want to work for AEGEE, so for me it does not matter which locals I will work with. But if I’d have a choice, I prefer to work with Russian-speaking locals, because I’ve already worked with them as Subcom. Also I would like to work with the Caucasian locals, as I have always been interested in this area.
Vira: Of course I would love to work with my dear Ukraine, but if it happens that I won’t, I’m ready to work with any locals. My main mission and goal is to keep the Network working steadily and effectively, to support locals and be ready to help them in any situation, extend AEGEE horizons, promote members in contributing to AEGEE development, etc. It’s not about the winning, it’s about fighting for what you think is best for the locals.
Sergii: If it is not North East, I would have chosen the region with Poland, Hungary etc. It can be the Baltics, it can be Turkey or Caucasus. Any area, where locals have Skype and understand English or Russian. But I decided to apply because I have some ideas about international events and grants, which can be more interesting for post-Soviet countries, so I would like to be responsible for the North-East region.

The AEGEEan: Why are you a better candidate than the other two?

Oleg Gladchenko

Oleg: I think my greatest advantage is that I’ve already had the experience of working in the NetCom team, I already know the people from the locals I worked with well and they know me, and have skills in managing locals.
Vira: Nobody can ever identify who is better and who is not. We are all different. Everybody already lived a piece of their life, has their own experience, life stories. It’s incomparable. It’s like comparing an apple with a peach – both are fruits, but the taste, color, structure care completely diverse. I know which abilities and skills I have and what I’m good at, but so do they. The only way to find out this is to work as a team, to supplement each other, so that AEGEE would be proud of its NetComs.
Sergii: As far as I have read in the applications, I see that I am the oldest and most experienced among others. But my experience is not connected with AEGEE. My weak place is that not so much people in the Network know me, but I have no idea about how many people know Vira and Oleg either. These elections are a lottery. If I win – great, if not – not bad, I will apply for a SubCom of Vira or Oleg.

Written by Marije Arentze, AEGEE-Leiden

One of the most active bodies of AEGEE-Europe will welcome new members to their team and again NetCom has motivated and talented people as candidates. We have talked to one of the NetCom candidates, Meltem from AEGEE-İstanbul, about her motivation to become a Netcommie, her plans, goals and much more…

Can you tell us how your life is going like recently ? Will we see you present at the Agora?

Currently I am a third year bachelor degree student and studying Industrial Engineering. At the AEGEE part of my life, I am Secretary of AEGEE-İstanbul and subcommie of Tika Kukhianidze and I am also the coordinator of spring NWM-İstanbul and working on thematic part as well. In brief,  I am trying to balance my  AEGEE life and my studies just like most of the AEGEE members. And yes I will be present at the Agora.

You are already a subcommissioner, what was your motivation to become one in the first place?

After getting into AEGEE and later on attending my very first NWM I began to be interested in NetComs’ work  and duties. After then, to share my experiences I gained in AEGEE and to support locals work and of course to support Tika with her duties, I wanted to be a subcommie.

Meltem with AEGEE-İstanbul and Europe on Track Members

As a subcommie have you had any difficulties in your work and if so what they were precisely?

Deadlines. The most challenging problems are the ones that you can do nothing to solve. Otherwise there is always a proper way to solve every kind of problem.  For example some of the locals were facing  problems with their universities and their geographical regions. At that point there is not much you can do and that was the situation I had difficulties with in my work.

Regarding your experience,what difficulties are locals in AEGEE having?

AEGEEs’ biggest power, but also its biggest problem is its human resources. We  are having problems with defining AEGEE precisely and with expressing ourselves. That is simply a negative effect to our PR and that naturally turns into a human resources problem too. Getting those new members who will be active and involve in AEGEE is hard because of this reason. Hence I can say that human resources is  a big issue for locals in AEGEE.

Do you have any suggestions that you would like to share in order to conflict the problems with locals?

Knowledge transfer.  Any kind of training courses or meetings are crucial to develop locals, knowledge of the members and also the network, because there is not a book that you can read that can teach you how AEGEE works.  You can only learn by experiencing it. Only if you become a part of it and contribute you can understand what exactly it is. If we can transfer the knowledge that we all gained, AEGEE can be active for many years more. Locals have a big issue at that point because every step begins with becoming a member of a local.

What do you think about the mentor system that you stated to be created among locals?

Apart from the mentorship system project of NetCom, what the mentor system I think is about is mentorship for specific goals like projects, events, LTC’s or even RTC’s among locals. Because for locals it is quite possible to hesitate about being a mentor of a local for a full term. Also most of the time the human resources cycle of locals don’t have a long term as well to put all their effort and motivation  in supporting a local. This works the same with organizing an Agora and calling for helpers  from other locals. I believe that can link locals among each other and can motivate them.

Can you specify a little about your expectations from your subcomissioners team, if you get elected?

Not having a “subcommie team” but having a “team” that will work all together and support each others work. Especially I wish to have contact with every  local one by one and that only can happen with an efficient subcommie team.

Written by Deniz Özhan, AEGEE-Eskişehir