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

During Agora, some people are meant to be in charge of conducting the sessions, giving the timetable, taking minutes and solving any possible problem with the IT infrastructure. They are the Chair Team: Chairperson (Marta Wnuk), vice-Chairperson (Erika Bettin), Secretary (Gabriela Geană) and IT (Jani Dugonik). They have been recently selected to prepare and manage Spring Agora Enschede 2017, and The AEGEEan interviewed them for you. 

Marta Wnuk – Chairperson

The AEGEEan: Please introduce yourself

Marta: I am a member of AEGEE since 2012. I have been active locally in AEGEE-Poznań and AEGEE-Warszawa. Then I became the Content Manager of the Eastern Partnership Project and a Network Commissioner for locals in Poland and in Ukraine.  Recently, I had the opportunity to work on Statutory Events as Vice-Chairperson.

Erika: I am a member of AEGEE since 2011, back then joining AEGEE-Venezia and now I am a member of AEGEE-Verona. I have been part of some team, but my most relevant activity was being Editor- In -Chief of both The AEGEEan and Key to Europe. Speaking about the work of Chair Team, I have been job shadower for Autumn Agora Cagliari, secretary assistant in three Agoras and chaired two prytannia in Autumn Agora Chisinau.

Gabriela: Hello, my name is Gabriela Geană and I am from AEGEE-București. I am 24 and recently employed, I also graduated Communication and PR Faculty, a field which I am really interested to find out more about. I joined AEGEE in autumn 2011 and ever since I have been an active member both in my local and on the European level. I am currently a member of the Public Relations Committee and former journalist for the AEGEEan magazine, which I am really proud of having been a part. I love cats, good movies of all kinds, people who can make me smile, the little things in life. [she smiles, ed.]

Jani: Hello, my name is Jani and I have been an official member for two years and a board member as a representative for IT. I graduated in Computer Science and Information Technology, and currently working at the university as a researcher and teaching assistant. Also, I am in several associations as a board member (IT, disciplinary board,…). I love animals, travelling, meeting new people, experiencing new cultures, and having fun with my friends.

Erika Bettin – Vice-Chairperson

Why did you decide to apply for the Chair Team?

Marta: Chairing a statutory event is both exciting and demanding task. It is a unique experience that teaches a lot and gives a lot of satisfaction. Each Agora is a challenge. Moreover, I realised I am willing to take up this challenge once again. At the same time, I wanted to assure continuity of the Chair Team’s work to make sure that Agora is handled in the best possible way.

Erika: Because I wanted to be part of the team for some time. I always loved the Agora, even if the sentiment was not always mutual, and I have been fascinated by the work of Chair Team.

Gabriela: I decided to apply to the Secretary of the Agora because I always thought I can do more in AEGEE and learn a lot at the same time. I was also thinking of this job before applying to the secretary of the agora, but I felt it was not the right time for me then. This time I did not hesitate, I took the opportunity and applied. It will be challenging, but definitely worthwhile.

Jani: I was always interested in organising conferences and other events. Also, I love challenges and Agora is certainly one of them.

Marta, a second term is in front of you. What will your major challenge be?

Gabriela Geană – Secretary of the Agora

The motto of the Chair Team should be “expect the unexpected”. In other words, the challenge always is to handle the unexpected situation that may occur during the Agora. The challenge is to make fast, accurate decisions that are in line with rules and procedures and which lead to quick resolutions taking all the involved factors into account. Everything else is a matter of a good preparation.

Erika, what will your contribution to the team be?

For now, I already created the hashtag #blueeyedchairteam. What undoubtful contribution, right? [she smiles, ed.] Jokes apart, I hope to bring some ideas that I have for the team and for the agenda. The lack of time is a well-known enemy in our statutory event, so I hope that we will manage to fit everything.

Gabriela, how important are minutes for our association?

Minutes are essential, as they are one of the main sources of information during the Agora, not only to people where the information reaches but also to the people who deliver it. Minutes are messages delivered to the people we want to reach and a constant source of information for all of us at Agora.

How do you envision the cooperation with your fellow Chair Team members?

Erika: For now the cooperation is going well. We all have been members of this association for quite some time and we lived the Agora in different roles: delegates, visitors, envoys, organisers, that I am sure it will bring some different perspectives. We will have the chance to do some team building in Brussel when we will meet in person, in order to be a perfect oiled machine in Enschede.

In Agora Enschede, what is the thing you are most looking forward to?

Marta: The Opening Plenary, I would say. The beginning of the Agora is always a big moment that is a transition point between preparations and the Agora itself. It is a great feeling after the months of preparations to seat finally behind the Chair table with the whole team and take up the challenge of chairing.

Jani Dugonik – IT responsible

Erika: An Agora in Enschede is said to be legendary. I have heard so much about Spring Agora Enschede 2012, that now I am dying out of curiosity to finally taste the touch of the Dutch local at first hand. Needless to say that the thing I am most looking forward to is the very first plenary when all our preparatory work will see the light and the chairing part will start.

Gabriela: The thing I am most looking forward to of the Agora is seeing my friends again, of course. Agora is the best event to meet again with all of your friends or at least a part of them and catch up. I am also looking forward to being on the other side of the table and learning valuable things.

Jani: I am looking to gain even more experience in the IT field as well as in organising such big events and teamwork.

Written by Federica Soro, AEGEE-Cagliari

European Planning Meeting will see the debut of the Chair Team of AEGEE-Europe 2015-2016. For two years in a row, Tom Simons (AEGEE-Enschede) will be the Chairperson of the Agora/EPM with Marta Wnuk (AEGEE-Warszawa) acting as Vice-Chairperson. The line continues with the Secretary of the Agora – Lia Tuska (AEGEE-Kastoria/Sofia), and the IT assistant- Erik Steenman (AEGEE-Enschede).

 
The most experienced team member is Chairperson Tom Simons, who successfully run for a second time during Autumn Agora Kyiv. Being member of AEGEE-Enschede since 2010 and having attended many statutory events, he has certainly a big expertise when it comes to statutory events. Those can, however, be implemented and Tom has a clear vision on what can be changed. “In my opinion, there is currently an imbalance between discussing CIA (Corpus Iuricum Aegeeanse) text and time spent on elections. I hope that in the upcoming Agora we will have a plan in place to properly balance these two aspects.” says Tom. He will certainly have a useful hand with the Agora Reform Task who is currently studying our principal statutory event. “As Chair Team we still have a lot of standard work we need to take care of. So, having a motivated team to think about improvements is very much welcome.” he states, “But definitely it would also be a challenge when it comes to implement all the eventual changes during the next Agora. In fact they are currently working on a lot of good ideas to make the Agora more efficient, improve the quality of existing content and add new content.”

 
Marta Wnuk, the Vice-Chairperson, is thrilled to be a part of the team and she is looking forward to working for Spring Agora Bergamo and Autumn Agora Chișinău and seeing eventually their results. Also for her, reforming our statutory event is very high on her agenda, therefore Chair Team’s one, and she identified two major problems she would like to work on. “I see the importance in tackling lack of time for asking questions and sufficient debate and at the same time, losing precious minutes on parts of the agenda that are not of utmost relevance. Secondly, I would look at ways to make prytania more efficient” she continues. Coming from a year working in the Network Commission, when she worked closely with the local, she thinks she will be ‘able to bring more of local perspective into work of the Chair Team’. “What I mean by that”, she continues “is that I will try to include in our actions what I learnt during my term as a NetCommie – how Statutory Events are perceived and what challenges are connected with them. I believe it’s beneficial that Chair Team has a broad overview of the organisation.”

 
After losing the elections in Agora Cagliari against the current Secretary General Svenja van der Tol, Lia Tuska was elected in Kyiv. She was already secretary assistant several times and she said that secretaries need to have a good time management, be organised and have good listening skills and “you need to love what you are doing” she adds. The Secretary of the Agora is a task that not everybody wants to take, but minutes of the Agora are very important for us, as Lia confirmed: “I’ve been member of three different locals and only one of them actually shares the minutes of the local Agorae. I don’t live close to any of those cities anymore, so I cannot attend the local Agorae feeling that I don’t know anything about what is happening there if I don’t ask some of the members. […] That’s why I believe that minutes are important for people who cannot be there at the Agorae, for future generations, but also for the ones who are there to read what happened from an objective point of view”. According to CIA, minutes must be delivered within two months after the Agora/Epm and Lia is confident she will be able to meet the deadline. “I am glad that one of the most useful things that Leadership Summer School taught me is time management. I have already organised my time for after EPM and Agora Bergamo in order my minutes to be on time” she concludes.

 
Last but not least, Erik Steenman is the new IT assistant who decided to apply for the position because “ it will likely be my last chance to get a real taste of AEGEE-Europe. […] When I heard the applications for the IT-Responsible would open, I realised that if I would look back on my student life at that moment, I would likely regret not using my membership with AEGEE to go out into Europe more”. The IT position is prominent in an event that rely a lot on presentations and internet connection, that’s why Erik’s main task will be “making sure the Chair Team has a working internet connection, and that the correct presentation will be on-screen at the correct time. This shouldn’t be too hard if everyone would hand in their presentations in time. But of course that never happens”. Of course he will be actively involved in all Chair Team tasks. Erik will also deal with the Euth project that will be introduced during the upcoming Spring Agora Bergamo. Despite not being actively involved in the current work, he says that he will be in “setting up the infrastructure so we can test the new tools for the EUth project during the upcoming Agorae”.

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona

The Chair Team is changing its members during every Autumn Agora. The newly elected team is preparing for the statutory events that are coming, because preparation is the key to a successful event, in this case first of all for the European Planning Meeting (EPM). They have responsibilities that need to be respected so that the event goes on as planned. The AEGEEan got in touch with Tom, Andrea, Svenja and Gianmarco in order to find out more about the new team.

As many of us already know, the Chair Team was elected during Autumn Agora Cagliari. It is represented by four people: the Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson, Secretary and IT Responsible. The Chairperson, in this case Tom Simons (AEGEE-Enschede), as well as the Vice-Chairperson, Andrea Ugrinoska (AEGEE-Skopje), lead the meetings. The Secretary, Svenja van der Tol (AEGEE-Nijmegen), is responsible for taking the minutes of the sessions and the IT responsible, Gianmarco Rodriguez Aviles (AEGEE-Genova), has to take care of all technology needed during the events. The Chair Team is responsible for two Agorae and one European Planning Meeting (EPM).