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

Pick a topic; any topic, occupation, skill or subject and you will find a multitude of how-to guides in stores or online. Grossing over 1800 guides the For Dummies guides might be the very first of these to come to mind. However, until recently there wasn’t a guide yet that could tell you how to deal with the various aspects any member of AEGEE might encounter during his or her membership.

Go online, then go to the Members Portal and you will find a collection of eight, of which three still upcoming, how-to manuals, which are called toolkits. As the name suggests, these toolkits could prove to be very convenient whenever in a stressful situation. After all, a helpful tool could already do half the work for anyone. 

Back to our past

The first of the five already published toolkits is on the most fundamental of mankind’s philosophical questions and rightwing parties’ most vocally expressed standpoint: Identity. Much like the Bohemian artists in Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge the identity of AEGEE and its members could be summed up in four pillars; vision, mission, means and statement of principles. While they might not seem as interesting to a reader as the exclamations of ‘beauty’, ‘truth’, ‘freedom’ and ‘love’, these four pillars do contain a bit of those four bohemian ones in them. Vision is to strive for a democratic, diverse, borderless and integrated Europe, in which there is an esteemed place for young people’s participation. It is in short, an aspiration of the generally youthful members of AEGEE for all to be able to enjoy and shape the different cultural flavours, which are in such a rich abundance on the European continent.

How to achieve this mission? Every European themed activity attended by every member of AEGEE had in fact paved the way for this vision. The international themes of these activities were not merely a decoration, but to either a greater or lesser extend something that made members more aware of the interconnections of the various cultures and likeminded communities throughout Europe. This in its proper terms gets summed up in the statement of principles, using keywords to describe the vision, mission and means: diversity, cooperation, freedom, a strong Europe and progress.

As any child is formed by his or her upbringing from an early age onward, a community is also defined by its history. Generally a student association’s history goes as far back as its longest existing member, except for AEGEE. Using the History Toolkit any member can dig up some fun facts about their association using the smart timeline. AEGEE for instance is not very old, however, it does exist longer than the age of most of its individual members. It has been established even before the fall of the Berlin Wall, in the middle of the nineteen eighties at the height of the Reganite anti-communist offense during the Cold War.

In 1985 EGEE, as it was called then, was founded in Paris by representatives from six cities from each a different country. Although it was inspired by an earlier 1950’s student protest for a more integrated Europe in Strasbourg, the name was based on neither its foundation nor its inspiration. The name EGEE (États Généraux des Étudiants de l’Europe) is in fact an onomatopoeia of the Aegean, a sea whose costal shores are one of the contenders for the oldest democratic political system on earth. More specifically the Greek colony of Patras on the north-western most part of the Peloponnesos. Furthermore, the choice of referring to itself as an ‘États Généraux’ or an Estates General is a conscious one. In many European countries the Estates General or the ‘Commons’ is a political body where representatives who are not of nobility or clergy can take a seat in. Like the Estates General, AEGEE consists of common members representing the general population of their respective country or antenna or to put it differently, direct democratic representation: no elitism. To cut a long story short, next time someone says he or she is a member of AEGEE they are referring to an organisation, which values both proponents of classical and modern democracy.

Fundraising, Public Relations and Human Resources Cycle

Fundraising manual is a helpful tool, which shows that fundraising can occur in a number of ways. From public to private funding of either money or goods, it shows that fundraising thrives on a mutual gain. How do you get these mutually beneficial donations? Check out the toolkit. So next time, when an antenna organizes a barbecue, there might be a chance that the meat is free and fresh, funded from the local butcher.

When members go on a Summer University they might have noticed that in their home country AEGEE is viewed as an association, whereas abroad it is a forum or a union. As languages differ, so do the concepts their words try to articulate. So, when something is called an ‘association’ in French the word ‘forum’ might cover the concept of AEGEE best in English. Spanning thirty-five languages, there is a name for AEGEE in each and every one of them. For more interesting notes on how to promote an antenna, check out the Public Relations toolkit.

Finally there is the Human Resources Cycle, which could be seen as the Book of the Living combined with the Book of the Dead, but AEGEE style. From a member’s introduction to their entry into alumni-hood, there is one manual to help them all the way. This guide could be seen as the mother of all toolkits, since it combines bits of all the other published toolkits. It has parts of the four pillars of AEGEE, to which each member is subtlety introduced to from their introduction onwards. It shows how to promote AEGEE and deals a bit with AEGEE’s history and its fundraising. However, above all it gives aspiring mentors some convenient tips on how to excel at an introduction. Being a mentor or parent is never easy and sometimes people might wish there was a guide. However, as an aspiring mentor of an introduction, how could you resist a toolkit that refers to you as “angels”?

Written by Willem Laurentzen, AEGEE-Nijmegen

When I accepted the position of PR responsible in my local, I only had a vague idea of what it means to promote a non-governmental organisation. So I was lucky that only few months later AEGEE-Nova Gorica / Gorizia organised Public Relation European School 1 in October 2012 in Slovenia.

And there we were: 35 people and 12 nations, with 35 different attitudes and backgrounds.

This is what can come together when an antenna sends an open call. This is who can live together in the city centre of beautiful little Koper at the Mediterranean Sea. This is who can even work together to gain new knowledge about public relations. And this is who can have tons of fun together during the sessions and, of course, in the evening.

Those AEGEEans, including me, from all over Europe decided a while ago to take up the challenge of a European School and travel to Slovenia, to Koper. The first obstacle we met on our way was to find out, where Slovenia can be located. Soon we learnt it is not between Finland and Sweden and it is also not to be confused with Slovakia, but actually it is the only country in the world in which name you can find “Love”. And therefore arriving at the seaside, where the sun was shining, welcomed by our dear organisers, warmed our hearts.

The following days were filled with workshops such as Media Relations, Communication Skills, PR Crisis Management, Teamwork, Branding and PR Strategy and lots of others.

Each different workshop was of special interest to at least one of us. Everyone was able to tell stories of their own local antenna about non-working PR strategies, a crisis they had to handle or their troubles to get in touch with the local media. And even though all of us were convinced of their broad knowledge of social media…well, we also had to accept that there are lots of things we did not know about Facebook, Twitter and Co.

Before the work day ended, we sat together in our case study groups where we were handling issues of our fictive antennae and also discussing issues of our cultural differences. The trainers did quite a good job to mix us up according to our cultural stereotypes. How could they, for example, put a Portuguese, a Spanish, an Italian, a Slovenian and a German together in one group? Well, they did not have any creeps to do so and lucky we have been. It was great to work together and we created some good solutions to our fictive problems. In the end, we all share one common idea and in AEGEE you soon start to feel comfortable in an international environment.

Those mixed groups were an important aspect of our training course in order to work on certain tasks. Once we had to create a short video to answer the question “Why AEGEE?” One group came up with a short story about a guy whose life was enlightened as soon as he discovered AEGEE, another group answered the question with an emotional video featuring values like friendship.

Of course, the program also allowed us to visit the city and enjoy the sea breeze. In the evenings we relaxed with bowling, playing pool and dancing or we were just talking and gossiping in our hostel rooms.

And in the end?

In the end we had so much to bring home – so many new things that we can share with others. It is not only about the knowledge or the new friends or the connections. It is about the energy that comes together at a place like this. The input, the power, the motivation, that each one of us has inside and that shows its full potential in places like this.

What we learnt at this European Schools is not only how, but also, that we can conquer the world if we want to.

And personally? Well, my board co-members are showing some good nerves at the moment listening to all the ideas I brought back.

Written by Andrea Schmelz, AEGEE-Passau

This project has been funded with support from the European Union. This publication/communication reflects the views only of the author, and the European Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of information contained therein.