November meant a lot of Knowledge Transfer focus for the Network Commission but also Network Meetings were organised all across the AEGEE Network so the NetCom had plenty of things to do. What they did exactly in these lasts months of 2013 you can read in this NetCom Telegram.

Arsenis Tselengidis

October started with organising the Network Meeting (NWM) in Thessaloniki! My first time as the main organizer – but Luis Alvarado Martinez and Beata Matuzska from the Comité Directeur, John Eikosidekas (AEGEE-Patra) and Andra Toma (Former Network Commissioner) helped me a lot! The following weeks I arranged two meetings in my local, AEGEE-Thessaloniki. In the first one I organized a NWM evaluation for organisers (in order for the next boards to have a good Knowledge Transfer) and I presented a short version of the HR cycle workshop for the members who missed it during the NWM. The next meeting was a preparation for the Agora in Zaragoza. The final days I helped our members with our exchange program with AEGEE-Tenerife.

I spent the biggest part of November by collecting KT material from the rest of the NetCom team and trying to establish a communication line with the most of my locals. I arranged Skype meetings with the two smaller Greek antennae in order to have an image about the situation there. I also had a discussion with a Romanian local about the difference between a NWM and a Regional Training Course (RTC) with the pros and cons of organising each one of them. Finally, I sent the activity plan to my locals and now I am collecting the feedback.

Antonija Parat

Autumn has been incredibly busy and inspiring. In October, university started for most of my locals, and I encouraged them to use this time to promote AEGEE and to get them to join. I visited AEGEE-Beograd to talk about AEGEE at their Tea Party promotion event. I also helped AEGEE-Zagreb by visiting the Scholarship Fair where they had a stand. I walked around, talked to people about AEGEE, and I was glad to see a lot of interest. For me it was really fun to talk to people who know nothing about AEGEE, it reminded me of how I started – as PR responsible for AEGEE-Zadar.

Then I went to the Agora, where I was very inspired by my locals and had so much fun with my Netcommies. Bihać and Tuzla signed the Convention d’Adhésion, and my antennae were sitting in front row to support them. It was great to see. November was the transition period in NetCom, so I tried to make sure all ‘newbies’ feel prepared and integrated in the team. The end of November was marked by intense preparations for NWM Wien that just finished, and it was yet another learning experience that gave me a lot of ideas to discuss on our upcoming NetCom meeting.

Anna Móricz

During the last couple months the antennae have been working mainly on getting new members at freshman camps and throughout events organised at the campus in Pécs, Budapest, Debrecen and Piliscsaba. All of the locals were represented at the Agora in Zaragoza, where they were actively participating as well as by giving presentations. During ZarAgora my locals have been extended with three Czech-speaking locals.

The cooperation has not been the best amongst the locals, however we are going to work on it in the future by implementing a social gathering for all Hungarian-speaking locals. They locals are willing to collaborate during the upcoming Network Meeting.

Last but not least at the last weekend of November I participated at the NWM Wien, which has been organized by Antonija. During many inspirational sessions I truly learned I can contribute in a more effective way to my locals’ work, meaning a good preparation for the upcoming two NWMs and for possible mentorship programs as well for more international events.

Dominique

Dominique Lenssen

October, the month of the Agora and a lot of preparations: helping my locals prepare for the Agora, making my Activity Plan presentation and getting ready for the meeting with my locals! I am lucky to see the board members of my locals quite often; before the Agora, we had the first Nedertop of this year in Utrecht. We discussed many topics, such as fundraising, the Dutch Youth Council and the fun event.

Last months, I also have been working hard on Network Meeting Utrecht, which has just taken place. I visited AEGEE-Utrecht twice to meet with the organizers, stayed in touch with the speakers and the participants were selected. In November, I gave a presentation about AEGEE-Europe during the Europe night of AEGEE-Amsterdam. At a study abroad fair in Ghent, I helped AEGEE-Leuven with promotion, which at the same time was a great opportunity to talk all day long with their board. I combined this with staying in the CD house with AEGEE-Leiden, who visited Brussels for their hitchhiking competition. Now I am preparing my new Work Plan and our NetCom Meeting (NCM). After the Agora, I have been elected as Vice-Speaker of the NetCom, so preparing the agenda of the NCM is one of our first tasks!

Holger Schmitt 

After being newly elected at Agora Zaragoza as Netcommie I started to organise myself how to take care of my network. So I talked with many people from the German-speaking locals discussing how to divide tasks and topics for the network in the best way. I had an intensive exchange with my predecessor Inez and with many others on how to communicate within the network the best and what specifics can be found in the area of the German-speaking locals. Since I have been member of AEGEE for a long time I got in contact with older members who now live in cities where AEGEE existed before in order to start an initiative like in Bayreuth and Erlangen. I got in contact with AEGEE members who now live in  Jena and Dresden in order to start founding new groups in this cities. Therefore I established an East-German Group to exchange best practices and to organise a regional training course.

Finally I took part in the NWM Poznań for which I tried to motivate as many Germans as possible to participate. I experienced for the first time to be a trainer and to be involved in the organisation of a NWM. I met many great people and learned a lot from the very active Polish-speaking locals.

Also I started planning for the next NWM which should take place in spring in Germany. So I am in contact with members from AEGEE-Heidelberg, AEGEE-Bamberg and AEGEE-Erfurt to talk about the possibility of organising the next NWM.

Written by Network Commission

The new Speaker Team of the Network Commission (NetCom) has been announced recently and The AEGEEan used that opportunity to interview the three leading ladies of the NetCom about their plans until Agora Patra.

Antonija – The speaker of the Network Commission

The Speaker, Antonija Parat (AEGEE-Zadar) still has the motivation to continue her term. She derives her motivation from all that she has learned during the last term, granting her new ideas and inspiration.

Dominique Lenssen (AEGEE-Leiden) thought it was time for a new challenge after being in the Network Commission for six months, therefore she applied as vice-speaker of. Similarly to Antonija was Dominique is interested in is apply the knowledge and experience that she has gained during the last half year and dedicate even more passion for the Network commission.

Lastly, the newly-elected Network Commissioner Pauline Létard’s (AEGEE-Toulouse) fascination and believe in the Network Commission made her join as a vice-speaker as well. This is a way to learn even more, together with two experienced Netcommies and she has lots of energy as well as motivation for the position.

NWM’s and Subcommies

When the interview took place all three ladies were all very busy. Pauline is still in the Knowledge Transfer period and just finished organising a Network Meeting (NWM) in Santander. Antonija was preparing for a NWM in Vienna, in collaboration with fellow NetCom Anna Móricz (AEGEE-Pécs). This is interesting because during the last term, one of the ideas to enhance the cooperation within the NetCom team was to organise NWM’s together. So when AEGEE-Wien applied for as hosting local for an Autumn NWM, it was the perfect opportunity to involve Anna’s part Network, which is geographically very close and the cooperation is going really well.

Dominique talking with the antennae she is representative for

One of the last Network Meetings this Autumn will take place in Utrecht and Dominique and her team are finalizing the program: contacting speakers about their sessions, involving the appointed member of the Comité Directeur (CD) Anna Gots, and Dominique even visited the organisers in Utrecht to ensure it will be a great NWM.

All three work with a team of subcommissioners to ensure the best communication with the antennae. The help of subcommies is crucial to every Netcommie and in particular to the Speaker team. What all three point out is that the subcommies are very enthusiastic and bring lots of new ideas for development. It is not only about having contact with the locals but also outsorce some of the work to ensure the antennae are developing their potential.

Dominique lights up when talking about her team members helping the 13 antennae she has the responsibility for: “My subcommies and I are lucky to live pretty close to one other, so we do not only email and Skype a lot, but we can meet up regulary. We do not just stay in contact with each other about NetCom related things, but we also became friends, which makes them even more valuable to me.”

Cooperation with the CD

Another important cooperation is the one the NetCom has with the Comité Directeur. Among other things, NetCom serves as a link between the CD and locals, so it’s important to have a good communication between the two bodies. By communicating efficiently with the CD, the NetCom can present the CD’s initiatives to the Network in a clear way, and through the NetCom the CD can get feedback from locals.  Antonija explains: “We started a common mailing list in the previous team, and I think so far it has been functioning really well. It helps us understand each other’s work better, and helps us decide together on how to develop our association in the Network’s best interest. As of this term, we will include the CD even more in our work, so that the whole CD is working with NetCom and gaining more insight into the situation in different parts of the Network”. That means that in stead of “just” working together with Beata Matuzska the Network Commission will now also work together with another Comité Directeur member for example Poline will work together with Lucille Rieux, Dominique will work closely together with Anna Gots and Antonija will be working even closer together with Beata.

This cooperation was developed even more as the Network Commission had a meeting in the CD house in the beginning of December. Before the meeting The AEGEEan talked with the girls and they were looking very much forward to it. Dominique describes the meeting as particularly important for the NetCom to bond, work on team spirit and establish a good basis for cooperation for the rest of the term. She is excited to see the rest of the Netcommies in the Belgian capital soon “As we have very few moments were we see and speak to each other in real life, the NetCom meeting is very important and there are a lot of things to discussed.” Antonija agrees to that and adds “Our last NetCom meeting was really good, and the importance of this event for teambuilding is absolutely crucial. So I am looking forward to getting to know the new team, to develop our plan for this term, and just to see everybody again!” There will be an article in The AEGEEan about the NetCom meeting and the NetCom prepares a NetCom telegram every month and it is certain that you can hear more about their time in Brussels in the next edition in January.

Work of the NetCom

What the speaker team really wants to improve, is the image of the Network Commission. Antonija focuses on improving the understanding of the NetCom in the Network. She wants to offer the Network more insight into the work of the NetCom and hopefully that will help locals understand in which way they can best work together.

Pauline is particularly interested in showing the Network that the NetCom is not a bureaucratic machine that is here to bother and annoy antennae. When asked about her plans Pauline says: “There are two things I really would like to see our team to achieve: (1) redefining the concept of the NWM and make it more coherent, and (2) developing a solid basis for knowledge management and knowledge transfer”. Dominique will also focus on improving the image of the NetCom and on the NetCom website in particular. This because the content is not up to date and with the transfer from intranet to the new Members Portal, it is important that the NetCom has a good visibility online.

It is great to see how working in a team like the speaker team of the Network Commission can help personal development. When asked about how the experience has been so far Antonija says: ”At first I was a bit nervous, because I was ‘jumping into’ this role as a NetCom newbie, but it has been very good so far. It has been an enormous learning opportunity, and looking back on where I started, I notice how I have changed and developed not only as NetCom Speaker, but also as a person. I can see that now I am more confident about my leadership skills, and that my way of working is more structured. Although this task requires a lot of dedication, I am definitely enjoying it.” 

So there are quite some projects in progress: renovating the website, getting the CD and the NetCom closer, renovating the concept of the Network Meeting. Besides this the NetCom is also working on getting ACT (Action Agenda Coordination Team) and the NetCom closer in order to better implement the Strategic Plan. It will definitely be interesting to see how the Network Commission keeps developing with all these promising ideas.

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-København