Did you miss the Public Relations European School (PRES) event which took place last year between 23rd and 30th November in Poznań? Read this article and find out more insights about the project from the training manager, Zsófia Komáromi. We also talked to her about her overall impression of PRES, how it was like to be in the position of training manager as well as her future plans, personal hobbies and life outside AEGEE. 

 The AEGEEan: As the training manager, what was your overall impression of PRES? 

Zsófia: I am very happy about the outcomes of PRES. We had 25 great participants whose contribution made the event a success. I am also incredibly thankful to the trainers’ team (Inez, Ksenia, Mayri, Bálint and Gerar) and the organisers from Poznań. We worked well together as a team, and were able to develop a program for PRES that was challenging, but at the same time leaving room for creativity. We were focusing on topics where the knowledge gained by participants would be beneficial for their locals, as well as later on in their professional life. Just to highlight a few areas we covered: we dealt with social media, online marketing, presentation skills, media relations and video editing.

The event was also a good example of cooperation between NGOs, as we had several participants from other non-profit youth organisations. I have been part of two more PRES events (PRES2 Novi Sad in 2011 as a participant and PRES Nova Gorica in 2012 as a trainer), and can say that this one was the best so far – though I am probably very much biased. [she laughes]

Did you encounter any problems during the event? Which one did you consider to be the biggest challenge?

We had the usual challenges that many events face: last minute cancellations, difficulties in finding good training rooms etc. The biggest challenge for us trainers was to decide on which topics and sessions to include and which ones to leave out. One week might seem like a long time but once you start planning, you soon see that it is not nearly enough to accommodate all the topics you want to cover. We actually felt that the field of communications and PR would merit several individual events, and even had the idea of creating an Online Marketing European School – let’s see what the future holds for this.

How was the position of training manager? Do you intend to apply again for this position in the upcoming events?

It was a great experience! With our trainers’ team we have become good friends and we keep in touch even now, several months after PRES. I think that managing a European School is a very important step in the development of every trainer. It’s the next step after planning individual training sessions, and you can learn and experience how to design an impact-full one-week training course where all the pieces of the puzzle fit together. It has been also extremely rewarding, as I received a lot of positive feedback from participants. Several of them have even become the PR responsible of locals and projects – it’s great to see that all the work we did has had an impact. So the answer is a yes, I would consider applying again for the position of training manager.

 What piece of advice would you give to a training manager? 

Dream big! We had high hopes for PRES, and if during the process we realised that not everything can be implemented as we initially imagined, our goals still motivated and inspired us through the whole preparation phase and the event as well.
On a more practical level, I think it’s important to find out what each of your team members do best, and support them in pursuing those fields, because that’s how you will end up with great quality training sessions.

 What other things did you do in AEGEE that are worth mentioning?

I have been active in AEGEE since 2009, I was a board member in my local, AEGEE-Budapest, Speaker of the Public Relations Committee (did you know I was one of the founders of The AEGEEan?), communications responsible of the first edition of Europe on Track, and CD assistant in 2012. These days I deliver training session as a member of the Academy, in the fields of PR, project management and teamwork.

What are your future plans in/out of AEGEE?

I am now working in the field of marketing for an airline, and communications is a field I am very passionate about, so I would like to keep pursuing that in the future. I am very happy to continue delivering training sessions to AEGEE members through the Academy and in Budapest, as I have learned and developed so much in this organisation, and it’s a great feeling to give back.

How is your life outside AEGEE? What are your hobbies? 

Coming from an AEGEE member it will sound like a cliché, but I do love traveling! When I’m not traveling, working, reading a book, or spending time with my friends, I like to think about starting my own company. One important thing that I have gained through the years is entrepreneurial spirit, and I can’t wait to put it to use!

Written by Gabriela Geană, AEGEE-București

Do speaking in public, leading presentations and creating successful PR campaigns seem like pure magic to you? Or do you feel insecure about promoting your own organisation without spending too much money? Well then, PRES is just for you!

This year the 19th edition of AEGEE’s PR European School took place in Poznań, Poland. Hosted by the local antenna, all participants were taken care of with great compassion and consideration. Participants were hosted throughout the week in a hostel in the city centre, where everything was within a 15 minute walk. A three course meal was offered every day and the participants had the possibility to explore traditional Polish cuisine.

The most significant part of the weekly program was of course the training itself.  For six days in a row the participants had the possibility to be engaged in campaign development and to study in detail the components of success.

The workshops were divided into themes: day one consisted of a general introduction into the topics of PR and branding, lead by the lovely Zsofia Komaromi (AEGEE-Budapest), Mayri Tiido (Projects and Communications director) and Ksenia Lupanova (AEGEE-Moskva). The following day was especially dedicated to analytics – how to analyse the media you use, your competitors and how to manage your organisation’s profile on social media moderated by Bálint Tóth (AEGEE-Budapest) and Zsofia.

But what is all that worth when you’re unable to present your organisation the right way? Paulina Inez Wenta (AEGEE-Toruń), Mayri and Bálint dedicated their time to making presentation pros out of the trainees. The session included improvisation and short presentations, prepared by the participants themselves. By that point, everybody knew where their NGO stood in the social media pecking order and possessed the ability to make themselves noticeable. But what do we actually present? What are our tools to show the world who we are?

The answer was given by Ksenia and Gerardo García Díaz (AEGEE-Oviedo) – video materials, posters and logos: a full two days training in Photoshop, CorelDraw and Adobe Premiere with the possibility to put what was learnt into practice. Branding and marketing were also vital points for this session – well-known brands were analysed and their strategies were modified for NGOs.

The participants were given the chance to express themselves also in a non-formal environment. Every evening case studies took place. The trainees were divided into working groups, developing their own projects throughout the whole week. One of the groups was given the special task of creating a working PR strategy for AEGEE-Poznań as a way of thanking the organisers for the effort they put into making PRES happen. The KEY studies allowed all the participants to put to use the knowledge they had gained – to see in real life situations how they can apply the theory of PR.

Through this a wonderful campaign was born – the so called “Banana Project”. Max Reitmeyer (AEGEE-Dresden), Folckert van der Molen (AEGEE-Utrecht), Anna Bortoletto (AEGEE-Udine) and Aivar Yorick (AEGEE-Tallinn) put their creative minds into a wonderful long term project to present Poznań with the help of bananas. The idea enchanted everyone and the bananas became the mascot of PRES 2014.

The participants also had the task to maintain the social media profile of PRES – another way to be interactive and creative. Many good ideas were born in the process, for example an interview with the president of AEGEE-Poznań Ola Domejko.

Of course, as all of you know AEGEE is never only about work. The social program was at its peak every night. Trips to clubs and bars were organised for the participants, allowing them to blend in with the locals and experience the Poznań nightlife first hand. The cultural aspect was not missing either. An interactive Poznań tour was arranged for the trainees so they explored the old and new part of town.

By the end of the programme, when the time came to go our separate ways once more, one could not see more sad faces in one place. The people that arrived a week ago as strangers were now friends. The insecure participants were now standing straight up with confidence in their eyes. PRES was not only a training course in PR, it was an event that allowed people to feel more secure in their social and cultural interactions, to enrich their point of view and see how colourful the world is. And once you are part of that, you can never go back.

Written by Lilia Georgieva, AEGEE-Berlin

Every year the Academy, in cooperation with the Public Relations Committee, organises a one week training: the Public Relations European School (PRES). This event is an unique opportunity to develop skills in terms of PR strategy and in particular in the fields of corporate identity, presentation techniques and development of PR materials. This year, PRES will take place in Poznań, Poland (23/11/2014 – 30/11/2014): The AEGEEan met Zsofia Komaromi (AEGEE-Budapest), manager of this upcoming event, in order to understand what we should expect of the next edition of PRES.

The AEGEEan: Zsofia, can you tell us what we should expect from the next PRES in Poznań?

Zsofia: We have a great team of trainers working on the program of PRES right now, so participants should expect a week packed with exciting training sessions and workshops as well as invited guest speakers from the corporate sector. Thanks to the organizers in Poznań, a social program in the evenings and a sightseeing tour will complement these sessions.

Which are the main topics of this upcoming event?

In each element of PRES, we focus on giving participants practical knowledge and providing them with an opportunity to explore and develop their skills. The main aim of PRES is to support participants in taking a strategic view on PR and communications and help them explore the various tools, channels and best practices that they can use in order to drive the success of their antenna or European level project. Within this framework, we will cover the topics of branding, online communication, social media and media relations. Another important element of PRES is using creative messages and communication tools in order to get the message of AEGEE across and stand out from the crowd of an increasing amount of youth organisations.

What can you tell us about the trainers and the training methods?

We have a team of six trainers (you can get to know them here) who have a lot of experience in PR in NGOs, as well in the corporate sector. Many of the trainers are also members of the Public Relations Committee and Mayri Tiido, Projects and Communications Director, will also be joining us for the event.

As for the training methods, we would like to make PRES as interactive as possible, and thus allow participants to learn by doing and learning from the experiences of each other. Real-life case studies will also be an essential part of PRES, allowing participants to put their knowledge into practice, while contributing to AEGEE’s projects too.

According to you, who are the ideal participants of Public Relations European School?
We are looking for participants who would like to work in the field of PR in their local or on the European level of AEGEE. They should be enthusiastic to learn and develop their skills while exploring their creative side.

In which terms do you think that the upcoming PRES may influence a member or local’s activity?

I think that PRES provides a great opportunity to learn from the best practices of other locals and come up with new and improved ways for doing PR after the event. As for the members, we hope that PRES will motivate them to contribute to the work of AEGEE on the local or the European level.

Why shouldAEGEEans apply for this event?

They should apply because PRES is a great opportunity for them to learn from experts as well as their peers and at the same time get inspiration or figure out what could be the next step for them in their AEGEE career.

So what are you waiting for? Join PRES this autumn!

For further information visit the official website and follow PRES on facebook.

Written by Larisa Smajlagic, AEGEE-Verona

Ever since its establishment in 1999, the AEGEE Academy has been working hard to develop and strengthen the human resources of AEGEE and to stimulate the motivation of its members, by providing them with non-formal learning experiences. Last April the new board of the Academy was elected, starting their term on the 1^st of June after their Knowledge Transfer. Next to this, the Academy also signed the Convention d’Adhesion during Spring Agora Patra. The AEGEEan spoke to the board of the Academy to find out more about their achievements and plans for the future.

Currently, the board of the Academy consists of eight members, namely: Speaker/PR Responsible Andra Berila (AEGEE-Bucuresti), Treasurer Patrick Scholz (AEGEE-Aachen), Secretary John Eikosidekas (AEGEE-Patra), HR Manager and External Relations responsible Urša Svetelj (AEGEE-Ljubljana), Database Manager Michele Minuti (AEGEE-Brescia), IT Responsible and Board Assistant Costas Deltouzos (AEGEE-Patra), Alumni Coordinator, Network Communication Assistant and Board Assistant Maartje Natrop (AEGEE-Utrecht) and Mentorship Program Responsible and Board Assistant Lyda Michopoulou (AEGEE-Leuven).

Although only active for a few weeks now, the new board already has great plans upcoming, like the European School of Entrepeneurship (ESE), organised together with Youth unEmployment this September in Gran Canaria, the Fundraising European School (FRES) hosted by AEGEE-Barcelona in October, the Public Relations European School (PRES) hosted by AEGEE-Poznan in November and the Summer University Project School (SUPS) hosted by AEGEE-Cluj-Napoca in December. Besides these great events, plans already have been made for Spring 2015 too. As Andra tells us: “We are planning to organise a Self-Development European School (SES), Training for Trainers (T4T), Human Resources European School (HRES) and European School 2 (ES2).”

However, it’s not only the new board that is new. The Academy itself also got a new status, signing the Convention d’Adhesion at Spring Agora Patra. As Maartje explains: “Since we signed the Convention d’Adhesion, we are no longer a working group. It was a strange place to be in, as we have never really been a working group and therefore couldn’t comply with the requirements. Now we are officially an independent partner organisation of AEGEE, but serving the network remains our main priority. In practice you will not really feel or see the changes, it is just paperwork, but we will keep on rocking as always.”

And rocking is what the Academy has been doing lately. Thanks to the hard work of the former board, the Academy managed to “make the Academy rise from the ashes like a phoenix”, as Antonija Parat said before. “We have had an amazing board term.”, Maartje says, which also shows in the achievements made during the past half year. “We built a new website including an interactive map of trainers and a trainer database, a big online materials database, a new HR booklet, new HR strategy with different levels for trainers (candidate, trainer, senior, alumni), new PR strategy including a new Facebook page and small recruitment movie and we have been rocking a lot of European Schools, Training for Trainers and trainings at the Agora. We did a lot of work behind the scenes as well, like standardizing templates for presentations, Open Calls and creating knowledge transfer manuals for the future boards.”

The database for training materials is a never ending but very thankful job, according to Michele. “Brick by brick we build a house. I am collecting materials of trainers and especially of Academy events and some Network Meetings. At the moment we have the materials, but we have to update them and increase the quality. The best part of my job is that there is no end. My motto is: ‘To collect data is a step for knowledge, but to share is a step for community.’” Another important job is the website, which got updated in January. “The previous website of the Academy had an old fashioned design and its content was rather outdated, so when we launched the new one all of our trainers were excited about it”, Costas says. “The new website’s design is fresh and modern, the content is better structured and easy to find and we have some new features. The main addition that made everyone happy was the trainers’ database. Now it’s easy for everyone to see a list of our trainers and alumni with details about them and where they are located.”
Although the Training for Trainers that took place in April in Budapest already resulted in twenty new trainers, the Academy is always open to new applications. This can be done by applying on the website through a form, or by attending the next Training for Trainers in Spring 2015. Want to find out more about the Academy? Take a look at their website!

Written by Svenja van der Tol, AEGEE-Nijmegen

Recently, a competition took place on the Events Committee’s Facebook page in order to find the best AEGEE event picture of 2012. One of the people who took part in the competition was Balázs Kovács from AEGEE-Debrecen. His efforts in this competition were rewarded by a second place for the head picture of this article. Therefore, The AEGEEan took the opportunity to interview Balázs about the competition.

The AEGEEan: Congratulations for getting the second place, why did you take part in the competition?

Balázs: Thank you. Since the eligibility criteria made the competition available only for a quite limited audience, I thought it was an excellent opportunity to win easily and to thereby promote the past event, the Events’ Committee and AEGEE European Schools in general.  The process of collecting “likes” also shed quite some light on such trainings among our active local members in AEGEE-Debrecen. Last but definitely not least, it also provided the organising antennae with a little bit more publicity.

What do you think about European Level bodies creating competitions in order to increase their visibility? Do you like it?

I think such initiatives are very much needed to build a larger group of (constantly-engaged) followers online.

Concerning the fact that only six photos were able to generate a bit more than 500 “likes” in 10 days, I believe that similar publicity stunts will presumably be able to increase the number of individual followers of the respective bodies to a more remarkable extent in future. The “blue” social networking website is the necessary asset if it is used accordingly.

What was special about the PRES event? Why was it a good event for you?

In terms of its content, our trainers (Pavel Zbornik, Zsófia Komaromi, Mayri Tiido, Katre-Helena Käppa and Eleni Baltatzi) were doing their best to equip us with the most of useful theoretical and practical knowledge related to creative writing, communication skills, public speaking, media relations, handling social media, website building, PR strategy and crisis management.

The beautiful town with the cozy hostel, the sunny October, yet spring-like, weather, the indestructible enthusiasm of the participants and the captivating workshops at the university also all resulted in bringing together AEGEEans from 13 nations through countless memorable moments.

On top of it, the organisers from AEGEE Nova Gorica / Gorizia and helpers from AEGEE Maribor arranged a variety of different social programs from sightseeing and wine tasting all the way to late night parties, European Night and a meeting with an ambitious impersonator.

Take a closer look at the true AEGEE Spirit the whole event was dominated by here.

(…or in some countries rather here.)

It has been a while since PRES ended, do you still keep in touch and work on PR things with the other participants?

Luckily many of us stayed active in AEGEE thus I have already had the chance to meet with many of them again for multiple times. We try to keep in touch online and we regularly help one another with the promotion of each other’s international events.

How has the experience you gained in PRES affected your involvement in AEGEE?

Although I think I have already been quite active beforehand, it was highly-motivating to become more active in the organisation.

If you were to encourage others to take part in a European School event, what would you tell them?

You are an AEGEEan. The simple fact that you are among the 13,000 European youngsters who have had the chance to discover and benefit from some of AEGEE’s non-formal learning opportunities is a privilege. Yet, only a small group of these young people embarks on the intense journey of participating in European Schools. The ones who do so, they literally go for a continent-wide brainstorming with fellow-volunteers, from all over Europe.

It is almost like a global fair of brains for free. The diversity of the individual participants based on their different cultural and personal backgrounds offer an incredibly precious insight into different realities and coping techniques with the discussed tasks. The difference between formal and non-formal education is that during the latter one, the trainers and the participants are all there for learning from each other by contributing to the common good.

During European Schools everyone gets inspired and even more motivated. They have an indescribably unique atmosphere, one can only understand once (s)he has already attended one. Skipping these events will leave you never realize what you have been missing out on. If you participate though, you will wish for more ESs so make sure to do yourself a favor, go grab the opportunity and apply for an upcoming ES.

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-København