EuExpro
update: made error in company mention. it was LoginSystems, not InfosysAnother great weekend! Kire and I went to Struga this weekend to participate in the EuExpro conference for their potential SNs. We facilitated sessions for AIESEC University, and for the rest of the time, we listened to CEOs and Ambassadors speak about the EU and Macedonia’s path towards it. It was very educational and very relaxing. To be in a conference in my own country and not be conference manager! Hehe, very interesting experience.
We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The conference was held in Hotel Biser, the same site that Expros was held last year. Wonderful hotel at the edge of Lake Ohrid. Needless to say, we had a great time on the balcony basking in the sun when we weren’t in sessions. So much fun that we have come back to Skopje nice and red (ouch! Silly sun burns).
Fouere, the Ambassador for Macedonia in the EU, was speaking in the conference, and this is the second time that I have seen him speak. I always enjoy hearing him speak and listening to his viewpoint of the politics of the country as well as his international viewpoint of the Macedonians. I can definitely connect with the words he says as I am experiencing quite a bit of it here. And he has such an open policy to reaching out into the Macedonian public. He arrived without body guards, without red tape, without a heavy agenda. He arrived simply to speak to AIESEC. During the day, apart from his session, he had a tour of the area around the hotel. At night, he watched as we partied and spoke to the other externals who also stayed to see the young’ns party. Interesting seeing the externals grouped together (ambassador, representatives from government ministries and director of LoginSystems), sipping on their beer and watching the AIESEC dances on the dance floor.
Kara also facilitated a session, her first faci experience in a conference. Congratulations!! We had loads of fun on the drive there and back with Kara and Bib. Those two are simply too crazy. And there are loads of pictures, and I believe videos, to prove this.
So, back to Skopje, where it is just as hot. This Canadian Filipina just doesn’t do heat. And with the temperature increasing everyday, I foresee myself dying of heat. Need to buy more summer wear. Skirts galore!
Transition
It’s begun! … wait, no exclamation mark, more of a :(, but there is no mark to indicate sadness in typing is there? Point being, transition has started.
This is both a happy and sad time for MC 05/06. Happy that we are passing on the legacy that we have continued to develop this year to a team that is highly motivated and talented; sad that out term is coming to a close.
What started transition period? Maja Mozer, incoming VPPD, my successor, arrived on May 5th to start transition with yours truly. So immediately after MILDS, both incoming and outgoing MC teams were busy with intense knowledge experience transfers, sharing both the ups and downs, preparing the incoming team for the ride of their life. The days were filled with vision creation, team bonding, cross functional sharing and plain general fun.
Highlights from transition
- cleaning the flat! :) hehe, after MILDS, it really needed it. What a perfect way to get the teams to bond!
- feedback sessions to expand our arena of the Johari
- international talks: exclusive only to the internationals of the team, top secret! shh!
- ... and stuff like that ;)
So for the next two months, there will be 9 people in the MC team (both incoming and outgoing teams) who will be planning and achieving and continuing off the leap into the future. DOUBLE TIME!
Ooh! It’s hot in here, there must be MACE in the atmosphere!
MILDS 2006 - LEAP INTO THE FUTURE
:D Nice big smile. I don’t know how else to express how I feel about MILDS 2006. I feel very very satisfied. The delegates were amazingly energetic, the facilitators were tremendously committed, the externals were highly impressed, the chair was incredibly fantastic … what else could make a conference manager happy? How about people from the conference still communicating with each other after the fact because they had a great time, companies approaching us saying that they enjoyed themselves and want to be invited back to the next AIESEC event, an OC that is highly motivated and participating in other OCs … happy happy.
Ok, want to hear more tangible talk and less fluff about MILDS 2006?
It all started on a cloudy and cold day in Struga. The facis barely touched their lunch because they were so pumped and so busy preparing for a big entrance for the delegates. The delegates entered the plenary to clapping, cheering, music and general high energy … an energy that remained high throughout the entire 4 days.
Many of the first sessions were about the new strategies that AIESEC will be implementing in the coming months for AIESEC 2010. Many curious faces and inquisitive questions about how it will really work in MACE. Great! The delegates really wanted to know and take ownership of it.
Then on to AIESEC University where delegates were able to take part in discussions and working groups about higher level material such as grants strategy, financial planning, h4tf, sales, etc. With comments like “we love the facis!”, “I learned so much today!” and “I loved every minute of AIESEC uni!” … we are on the right track to fulfilling our conference objectives.
Then external day … big BIG smile. This is the first time that external day has happened in an AIESEC Macedonia conference in this manner. 7 companies arrived to facilitate sessions on leadership and our proposed focus areas (IT, entrepreneurship, finance, EU, etc). The day went flawlessly (I can say this now after all the crisis management that happened in the conference, haha … Toni, my crisis management buddy!). Throughout the day, I would sit and chat with company representatives as they waited for their sessions to start, and they would make comments such as “Did you train them all to behave this well? I haven’t heard a single mobile ring and they are so proactive!”. Hehehe. Yup, those are our AIESECers.
The day ended with a final banquet and awards given to very deserving individuals and an LC. Congratulations again to the following:
Most Progressive Award: LC Ohrid
Greatest Personal Development: Jasna Andonovska
Most Proactive Delegate: Stefan Pfeuffer
The last sessions were the beginnings of implementing the AIESEC scorecard with the traffic light assessment and a deeper understandings of what it means to improve our KPIs (an acronym that we now all know and love).
The conference ended with touching powerpoints, moving words and a lot of MACE love. Fishie (or Ripche, not sure which) even made the leap from the bowl into the trophy!
Words cannot express how I feel about MILDS. I laughed, I cried, and I “oh kale kale”d. ;) Thank you for a brilliant conference!! Thank you for your perseverance throughout the year to achieve your best, your undying commitment to take your personal development to new heights, and to your desire to make an even larger leap in the coming year. Thank you MACE!!! (and international delegates of course … there were so many of you!)
LEAP INTO THE FUTURE!!
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shameless plug for AIESEC work
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You want to keep the MILDS energy alive? Participate in the forum! Share your thoughts, your learning points, and so much more with the other delegates from MILDS.
You want to revisit the moments? Check out the photos from MILDS here! You can leave comments and share stories about the photos.
You want to remind yourself on the learning points? Stay tuned to the file storage as the conference output will be published in a week's time.
MILDS is here!
OMG! It's here! And it's happening!!!
80 people, 9 countries (if you don't count canada, poland and india from the mc)... ah! What a place!
We will have many stories to share with you all about this conference. It's only day one and we are all having a blast!
