AIESEC (Part 4 of 12) - The Conferences
One of the highlights of my AIESEC experience has been conferences at both local (chapter-level and nationwide) and international level (in other countries).
AIESEC’s conferences are organized by AIESEC members themselves, which usually set it apart from any other conferences. In addition, the agenda is also managed and mostly facilitated by AIESEC members and AIESEC alums.
There are “several” kinds of AIESEC conferences but I will cover just two of them. In addition, I will briefly mention the features of an AIESEC conference which will intrigue you, most likely.
Project Based Conferences
In AIESEC, the local and national chapters would run projects on a regular basis and each project would, usually, carry different themes. It could be about HIV/AID awareness, about social entrepreneurship, about environment and the list goes on. The recent updates which I received mentioned more than 10 themes which AIESEC Members are trying to cover all over the world.
Conference would usually culminate at the end of a series of projects. Well, it is not common to do so in many countries though. I had the chance to attend a few in Malaysia, one in Hong Kong and one in South Korea.
The theme of a project based conferences, again, differs. What’s interesting is the audience. Here, the chances of inviting non-AIESEC members are higher and thus, increasing the impact/exposure which a conference in AIESEC might have on the population, of young people.
Leadership Conferences
In AIESEC, the vision is to fulfill humankind’s potential. To progress towards the vision, AIESEC became a leadership development platform, enabling youth from all over the world to walk together towards this common vision.
Thus we have leadership conferences for new members as well as senior members. Leadership conferences usually allow local and national chapters to review, celebrate and plan or replan their strategies for the future. The conferences would also be an opportunity to gather to learn from each other, that is, each chapter could learn from each other.
Culture
AIESEC is run by students for students. Hence, we do have a lot of things in common.
For example, we have parties. A party can range from mild to wild. It depends. It is relative to where you are, with whom you are and what you have in hand.
Other not-so-common cultural aspect of AIESEC conferences, there are dances. Yes, dance. AIESEC dance and dance a lot during conferences. It is a form of energizer and fun.
AIESEC conferences, as mentioned earlier, have agenda which are run and facilitated by AIESEC members themselves. I think this is a not so common cultural aspect conferences too.
Lessons from AIESEC Conferences
I want to share 3 key lessons:
Enjoying participation because life is short and those moments lived with so many youths from all walks of life, will never happen again.
Stage Fright No More. Ok, I do feel a bit anxious each time I have to stand in front of a crowd - no matter how big it is - but without the AIESEC conference experiences, I would have probably taken many more years to reduce stage fright.
Rethinking education. I became more aware of myself and my learning capabilities. AIESEC conferences in AIESEC helped me to See that learning could take different forms. One of them is experiential learning, such as team building activities, simulation games and group-discussion/brainstorming.
Yes,
AIESEC Conferences have contributed a lot to whom I am today. I am forever grateful.