lisa gregis – The AEGEEan – AEGEE's online magazine – AEGEE-Europe

Let’s Discover the Fair Taking Place at Agora Bergamo!

Mattia Abis — Wed, 11 May 2016 16:06:38 +0000

Do you want to discover how the AEGEE Fair will look like at Spring Agora Bergamo? In that case you are reading the right article. The AEGEEan interviewed the organisers to show you how the next fair will look like, its scenario, its protagonists and also what kind of work lies behind all the preparation. To gather all this information two people have been interviewed: Salvo Schillaci, Fair Manager for the Public Relations Committee (PRC) and Lisa Gregis, Agora Fair responsible for AEGEE-Bergamo.

Salvo Schillaci, Member of AEGEE-Catania and PRC Fair Manager.

The AEGEEan: Many participants of Agora Bergamo probably know what the AEGEE Fair is, but not all of them. So, what is a fair and, in your opinion, which are the main reasons of organising it?

Salvo: Can you imagine a place where you’re able to meet the most active AEGEEans? Well, I do and its name is the AEGEE Fair. The fair is the place where you find the actual core of AEGEE with all its projects, committees, coordination teams and working groups. A brand new world of perspectives and possibilities where you can enrich you cultural background. This is the meaning it has to me, since the very first moment I joined the organisation. At my first Agora in Patra, I didn’t know the European greatness that lies behind AEGEE-Europe, but when I saw this world in front of me I was astonished. It was incredible and then when I realised that I could be part of it…Well, you know the rest of the story!

Who is the Fair Manager and the people involved in its organisation?

Salvo: The Fair Manager is the bridge between those who want to join the fair, which means the bodies, and the fair itself, the landmark for all those who want to say something about the fair. The Fair Manager actively collaborates with the Fair Responsible of the hosting antenna, prevents any problem and ensure the success of the event. This year I’ve been lucky, because a lot of people supported my work and I want to thank all of them: Gerardo Garcia Diaz and Mayri Tiido (PRC Speaker and Vice-Speaker), Gabriele Nicotra (PR Manager of AEGEE-Catania) and Lisa Gregis (Fair Responsible of Agora Bergamo). Without their “ausilium et consilium” my work would be way more difficult and nearly impossible.

Lisa Gregis, current Network Commissioner and AEGEE-Bergamo Fair Responsible

The Fair is always a collaboration between local organisers and a body of AEGEE-Europe, in this case the Public Relations Committee. How difficult is it to organise everything from a distance?

Lisa: The fair is just one of the pieces of the collaboration between different bodies, in fact the entire Agora is an event organised by different groups of people. For instance I’m not the only one working on it, since I have two amazing team members: Andrea and Ambra. As you said in this case, the cooperation is between local organisers and the PRC. We are working especially with Salvo who is the Fair Manager and we are very well connected. We are in daily communication and we are also able to have fun while working. I’m very happy we are working together, because I think he really understands the needs of the two sides: local organisers and AEGEE bodies.

The magnificient Donizetti Theatre, in front of which the AEGEE Fair will take place. Inside it Agora Bergamo will begin.

When and where is the fair going to take place?

Lisa: The fair is going to take place at the Bergamo city centre, on the first day of the Agora, May 18th, at 3 pm. It will be the first activity of the Agora. The place is very beautiful and it’s in front of the Donizetti Theatre, where the Opening Plenary and Opening Ceremony will take place. It’s a public open space and we will be enjoying also the city centre while attending the Agora Fair.

The open space where the fair will be held.

Usually the fair was taking place on the second day of the Agora, this time it will be on the very first day. Why?

Lisa: We wanted to save time and try to do things differently. We thought that it could be a good way to start the event, since the fair is a moment during which people can meet, discuss and share opinions. We didn’t want to put the participants in a closed space since the beginning.

How many AEGEE bodies will be present at the fair? Can you give us a spoiler about what they will organise?

Salvo: There will be around 20 AEGEE bodies, with great projects for all the AEGEEans. I’m not a spoiler guy, I don’t want to be mean, but making a list would take so much time and this article would be a booklet. That’s why we edited one: by downloading it you can get a little preview of what is waiting for you.

AEGEEans participating at Agora Kyiv Fair

What do you expect from it and why should people visit the stands?

Salvo: Like I already said, the fair is to me the fresh start for all the AEGEEans already active on a local level,
but that also want to become even more active on the European one. So, for all the AEGEEans with great expectations and projects, for all the AEGEEans who want to be something more: this fair is addressed to all of you! I feel so lucky because from my point of view I can just see a huge family I joined two years ago, while I was wandering at my first Agora and now I’m giving my best to make all this happen again. My hope is that among you there will be another curious AEGEEan, ready to get close to us, to fall in love with our dream.

Excluding AEGEE bodies, which partners will be there? Why should we visit those stands?

Agora Fair banner. You can see the partnership of the Municipality of Bergamo.

Lisa: There will be the University of Bergamo and some of the sponsors which helped us organise the Agora. The Municipality will be there in order to let you discover all the places you can visit in the surroundings of Bergamo. And last, but not least, something
very cool: ten computers will be there in order to let you play some video games.

Finally, will it be open only to Agora participants?

Lisa: The Agora Fair is open to everyone who wants to take part in it. We also printed some promo materials and we invited all the students of the University of Bergamo.

Here you can find the Facebook Event.

Written by Mattia Abis, AEGEE-Cagliari

Member of the Month Lisa Gregis: “AEGEE? No Love at First Sight”

Comité Directeur — Mon, 29 Jun 2015 15:29:38 +0000

Here we go again! This month The AEGEEan selected Lisa Gregis, President of AEGEE-Bergamo, as the Member of the Month (MoM). An AEGEE member by chance, with a strong interest in communication, she has even been “Mattia Abis” for a while on Facebook!

The AEGEEan: Lisa Gregis, you are the new member of the month! Tell us about yourself something that we cannot find on your Facebook profile!

Lisa: Thank you, but first of all I want to tell everybody that I think something went wrong during the voting session because there’s no way I can be the MoM. There’s not much to say though because all my life is on my Facebook profile! [she laughs]

When and why did you join AEGEE?

I joined AEGEE in November of 2011 because I was member of PolarTv, a web tv, and Paolo Ghisleni (former president of AEGEE-Bergamo, MedCom, Main Coordinator of Spring Agora Bergamo 2016, etc.) joined it too. After I met him, I started to participate in AEGEE-Bergamo’s aperitivo [typical Italian pre-dinner drink], and after four or five times a former member of AEGEE-Bergamo asked me, in not a very polite way, “Why are you always here?”, I felt guilty – catholic heritage – so I decided to join. No love at first sight, not at all.

You are the President of AEGEE-Bergamo, the local hosting the upcoming Spring Agora 2016. How did you get the idea to apply? Did you expect AEGEE-Bergamo to be chosen?

Let me say that I have the honour to be President of AEGEE-Bergamo which is going to organise an outstanding Agora. This crazy idea was born when nobody was watching. It was like something was in the air. We joked about it, we laughed about it, but then we saw a very huge occasion and we decided to take advantage of it and believe in our idea. We applied twice and the second time we got chosen. We lived the second selection procedure with extreme calm and stillness but always hoping for the best. When Paolo told us that we’ve been selected we cheered and partied a lot. [she laughs]

You contributed together with some other members from the Italian speaking locals to realise a common PR campaign. How did it start? And what did you achieve?

Yes, I thought that even if there’s no national level, the Italian speaking locals could cooperate for PR and recruitment and we know that Summer Universities (SUs) are one of the more useful tool we have. So why not kill two birds with one stone? The team was amazing and it was made up from experienced AEGEE-members who are journalists, graphic designer, video makers, IT and some people who are very passionate about SUs. They are Erika Bettin (AEGEE-Venezia), Silvia Cannarozzi (AEGEE-Bergamo), Peppe Colicchia (AEGEE-Pisa), Antonio Della Ventura (AEGEE-Napoli), Lorenzo Li Veli (AEGEE-Torino), Raffaele Marcello (AEGEE-Roma), Francesca Russo (AEGEE-Padova) and Matteo Secchi (AEGEE-Cagliari). We had a lot of great ideas, but sometimes it’s hard to put all of them into practice. We redid the website www.AEGEE.it for free, thanks also to AEGEE-Ferrara and we published a Facebook Page where we uploaded some graphic images about SUs. I think that we can use this experience to do better in the future. Let me say that nothing could have happened without the work of those amazing guys that I mentioned before. We had a great time.

And now something more about Lisa: What is the last book you read?

“A life” written by Italo Svevo.

What are your plans for the future?

I am president of AEGEE-Bergamo until September, then I’d like to get my degree in Humanistic Science and to go to EVS [European Voluntary Service, ed.] for an year.

What is your favourite quote?

Definitely “Stay Human” by Vittorio Arrigoni, who was an Italian reporter, writer, pacifist and activist in the Gaza Strip for three years until he was kidnapped and murdered.

Tell us a funny story about yourself!

The title of this story is “Please, mister Facebook.” Some months ago, I was chatting with my friends Carolina, Erika, Giulia and Deborah and we started to post Mattia Abis pictures as our profile pics, just for fun. After that a lot of AEGEEans followed us and we were laughing a lot. So I decided to take the game to another level, I wisely decided to change my FB name in Mattia Abis. It was hilarious! Unfortunately, after six hours, when I thought that it was enough, I tried to restore my name, but the policies of Facebook regarding the changing of the name, didn’t allow me to do so. I had to wait 60 days before I could do it. What happy news! So I officially became Mattia Abis. After about 30 days Facebook allowed me to write them to ask to change my name back. I wrote a famous email, in which I prayed them to return me to Lisa Gregis, promising them to never change my FB name again. Finally, I became Lisa Gregis again and my friends will make fun of me for that for the rest of my life.

Written by Alfredo Sellitti, AEGEE-Salerno