Sometimes things go way all beyond any expectation. You are chatting with a friend about general random things, and you end up organising a thematic event together with a commission and a committee. Believe it or not, it all started with a joke and it ended up so happily. This is the story of how the Audit Commission of AEGEE-Europe, the EQAC-Events Quality Assurance Committee and AEGEE-Kyiv managed to organise Fun-Ance Form-Action: FAFA #1 Kyiv.

The AEGEEan: How did this whole idea start?

Luca Bisighini (President of Audit Commission of AEGEE-Europe): Believe it or not, it all started one night with a joke me and Iryna (president of AEGEE-Kyiv) discussed one night in January. Actually, to be honest, I had this idea in my mind for a very long time as I was seeing all the Network Commissioners having their own events and me having none. I would never thought it would have ended into something like this. At all. Luckily Iryna accepted my idea, in two-three days we had already a plan made and in seven days the event was on the Intranet after some Skype meetings full of enthusiasm. Fun-Ance Form-Action (or FAFA) was born.

Iryna (President of AEGEE-Kyiv): Actually it was cool idea from my point of view. I couldn’t imagine that after NY event in Krakow we would right away organise an event with the Audit Commission. It was a great example that even during entertaining events it is possible to meet people with whom you can do serious projects!

Why involve Audit and EQAC?

Maria (EQAC and AC Subcom): Audit Commission and Events Quality Assurance Committee are European Buddies who have a lot of experience to share. Both things – events management and audit and financial management – are logical things that need specific skills to be successful. It is not hard to teach about basic steps and cultivate new treasurers and event organisers, but to make them successful we need to provide proper (and interesting) education. Before, there wasn’t any specific training that could lay the ground for such discussion and providing new skill in Audit and event management. So, Audit and EQAC were involved to discuss about this steps and teach participants of FAFA this planning and auditing skills.

How were the Workshops?

Luca: The workshops about the Audit Commission and project/campaign management have been practically developed from scratch, using techniques I developed mostly out from AEGEE in my university studies – united to the cool techniques of facilitation the Academy taught me during last year as Junior Trainer. Somehow, I saw lots of people being involved in the process, activities and realised that actually the Audit Commission and treasury are not things for just an elite group of people.

Daria (EQAC Secretary): Kyiv saw new workshops of EQAC that were done according to the needs we meet in AEGEE. We didn’t have a goal to teach people how to fill assessment/evaluation forms to make their EQAC responsible happy, but tried to teach people to think critically about events.

How many participants and organisers attended the event? How was the event designed (workshops, social programme)?

Iryna: Around 15 people were involved. They were motivated to meet foreigners as the organisers’ team consisted mostly of newbies. It was great to give this opportunity to them and test them at the international level. In AEGEE-Kyiv, we always try to balance our events. That is why FAFA consisted not only of workshops, but we also had a city tour, went clubbing and enjoyed a pub crawl.

What is next for you three?

Luca: The Audit Commission got back to a good visibility and events like this one just show the good intentions we have: bringing back people to discuss about finances. All of this on our own soon 30th anniversary: it is delightful, isn’t it? You can think about joining us, following us or discuss with us at audit@aegee.org. We are here for you!

And maybe, who knows…maybe a second FAFA can be great too!

Maria: Changes are coming soon in EQAC. After Agora we will be happy to announce changes in the assessment and evaluation forms and come out for the dialogue and comments with every person who wants to have some clarification or help. Please, keep in touch with us in our pages here: EQAC page, AEGEE Events page or at quality.events@aegee.org

Iryna: We are going to be active and help dreams and ideas of our members come true. They, of course, need to be according to Strategic Plan and Action Agenda [she smiles, ed.]. On a serious note, with such events I can say on behalf of all our local that we want to give people opportunities to develop, to start their CV with interesting projects, to get new experience and unbelievable stories. Members of our antenna try to make high quality events and projects and we concentrate on those which give us opportunities for non-formal education and personal development.

Written by Luca Bisighini, AEGEE-Brescia, Iryna Sheremeta, AEGEE-Kyiv, and Maria Kochkina, AEGEE-Moskva

Every AEGEE local is trying to build amazing,  fun, unforgettable events every year, but to create a quality event, that has the impact that organisers want, is not so easy. But organisers are not alone in this process because Events Quality Assurance Committee ( EQAC) is always willing to help and they are only one e-mail away.

The Events Quality Assurance Committee of AEGEE-Europe aims to support locals and organisers to ensure a better quality of events taking place in the AEGEE network. Providing guidelines, quality indicators, assessment and evaluation forms, the Events Quality Assurance Committee’s main field of tasks consists of: helping the locals with event planning, cooperating with bodies on a European level, promoting events, and increasing the quality of events regarding content and logistics. Other examples are: having a better overview of AEGEE events for an easier impact measurement process, and improving educational events to aid the recognition of non-formal educational methods.

Each member has three of four NetCommies assigned, and the relations with the assigned NetComs are fundamental for compliance with deadlines. All of EQAC’s activities are based on the ”Framework of Quality Assurance of the Non-Formal Education Manual”, edited by the European Youth Forum and every change and development of the committee has to follow the steps of this manual.

Their aim is to support and advise organisers of events in all phases of setting up an event, and the committee invites all present and future organisers of events to approach every EQAC member, should there be any case of doubt or need for proper advice, stating that: “We’ll be more than happy to support you!”.

From the EQAC’s point of view, the one thing that is a must in order to have a successful event is a clear goal, a well defined purpose. This recipe for success is the foundation for a good organisational team, and allotting a proper amount of time for planning and testing various aspects of an event is key. Nevertheless, experience is the one quality that makes the difference in the end. For this, they advise you to start as a participant in various AEGEE events, to continue with organising small events, to meet people that have more experience and can give you tips & tricks and to check the guidelines before building an event.

Future projects, that EQAC is working on are: the development of a new assessment form system, the development of a new evaluation form, data mining and impact measurement, and the development of a badge system. AEGEEans can find out more about what all of these mean, how they work, and other future projects at the Agora in Chișinău.

The saying “strong essences are held in small bottles” proves to be true because the Committee has only three members, plus four additional members who belong to the EQAC Task Force. The latter are a kind of ‘job shadowers’, being specialised in developing one or more tasks, for example the data mining or the badge system.

If you see yourself as the most experienced event organiser of your local, as someone who is responsible, reliable, willing to help with organising quality events, or you want to learn even more and put event management in your CV by learning the Europe-wide approved form of quality assurance then join EQAC to learn how to improve the planning management and evaluation of your events for you and for your local! EQAC is offering plenty of opportunities: working in an international and intercultural team, working in cooperation with different European bodies of AEGEE-Europe, personal development in the field of quality assurance and much more. For becoming a part of an enthusiastic team, do not miss the open call for new EQAC members that will start soon after Agora Chişinău!

Written by Violeta Croitoru, AEGEE-Iaşi