LEAP - AIESEC Research Initiative to Palestine 2006-2008

I am sorry for not posting any news about what is going on here in Istanbul. The last days were less interesting than before.
We had sessions about AIESEC history.
It was organized like a talk show. Alumni sitting in the front, talking about their time in AIESEC. Later the former PAIs Dey and Pedro as well as AI Director Arthur told about their experience. It was nice to see this and definitely better than last year when 10 former PAIs were called on the phone from inside the plenary. But the sessions were long and people became tired.
The Learning Network Day yesterday was disappointing. The level of the sessions held by companies' and NGOs' representatives were relatively low, compared to the expectations I had. Thus I skipped the afternoon part and had a long talk about extending to the Middle East with a former AIESECer now working for Microsoft. I still have to assemble my thoughts about this talk...
Today started the last part of the conference which is about Go (Ready - Stead - Go). The different GNs presented themselves to each other so the countries might know better where to focus on. In my opinion that is more a topic for the beginning of the conference when people don't know each other yet.
Now it continues with the partner workshops. The partners organize workshops about topics or case studies they would like us to work on. We will see how it will be like. in the evening legislation will take place - this night we will know if the Iran initiative with Jonas from Cologne can continue their efforts. And then tomorrow the Official Dinner will be organized near a Bospurus bridge - and I will leave.
See you soon in Berlin :)

Today started very relaxed since we had a sleep-in. After the DHL presentation in the Morning Plenary the functional tracks started where the MCPs met with each other and all VPs with their colleagues as well. Kathrin and I had a free morning and sat down with Lara (MCP Germany last year) to chat about general stuff.
After lunch several sessions around the Global Focus Areas started. Before the IC I had signed in for tracks about Finance for Non-finance (#1), Finance Management Generating Revenue (#2) and Effective induction & Taking Responsibility (#3). Honestly I quit during the 2nd session since it was not at all interesting. Instead of this I decided to update this blog. Now the third round just started but I will relax and just sit here...
This evening legislation fair #2 will take place. The legislation itself will be on Tuesday, therefore the MCPs have the chance to inform themselves about the motions to be passed. Kathrin and I will probably be there as well and present an update about the current state of the Research Groups. I already look forward to continue with our work after the IC, e.g. of course the next steps until the IPM in Macedonia in February 2008 and planning the next year as hopefully being MC...

Yesterday was DLD (Developing Leaders Day) that was very exciting - at least for me. What was this about?
At every IC Cadbury Schweppes and ABN AMRO - big global AIESEC partners - organize a whole day about leadership skills. Most of the time this means that especially their own facilitators learn a lot through these kind of days since they have to prepare everything and don't know exactly what to expect from the AIESEC delegates. Thus the content is well known for at least the German delegates, e.g. the Belvin test or the simulation about landing on the moon. Our group (group 10;)) had very good facis, Alexey from Russia (calm, but experienced in leading teams) and Adrian from Canada (very energetic) who had been MCP canada for two years and is now active in the Africa & Middle East resort of Cadbury Schweppes so he got my business card; maybe he has some contacts he can share with us...
Even though I had heard about the content of "forming-storming-norming-performing" before it was very interesting since I didn't know that many of these simulations; or maybe it was because of the coffee I had.
One of the simulations was about constructing a statue or column for the Zin. Our group of around 36 was split into 6 smaller groups and each member of the groups got different cards we were not allowed to show to the others. All cards contained information about the Zin. The task was to find out the name of the day this statue was completed. We were very fast and were first in finding out the right answer. At the end we received a sheet with all the information and how to get to the right answer. Surprisingly "our" Zin was completed after 2 days, but the sheet said after 6 days. So obviously the information was passed incorrectly since the Zin had a width of about 50m while we had thought it was 15m. And then there must have been a second fault in collecting the information - at the end we told our facis the right name but were absolutely wrong in the way to get there. But we had a good time, had been finished 5-6 minutes earlier then the second group and were very thrilled.
After a nice day with a very energetic group the DLD was followed by a speech of a Cadbury Schweppes manager responsible for the Central East Europe region. The day closed with the Turkish Night. Around the party area several booths and tables informed us about Turkey and served free food; Turkish dances gave us an impression of Turkish culture. (Frankly, the Egyptian Night at the IPM and the Polish Night last IC were much better.)
This was yesterday, a very energetic day.

Yesterday the conference finally started with the first sessions. The day was focussed at “Achievement”. After watching the Electrolux presentation we started with a nice game that we shall definitely use for the introduction of the next generation of AIESECers. Talking about what achievement meant for us personally the delegates discussed what we would like to achieve and how we see our role in AIESEC.

The agenda continued with talks about how we see our own generation (generation Y) compared to former generations like that after the war and “baby boomers”. Gabitza then gave us a long plenary session about the AIESEC way, so about vision, values, the impact we will have and other elements like English as the sole official language. The proactive part was about comparing different organizations and which would be needed most. Cadbury Schweppes closed the plenary before we went out to dinner. Rob, the WENA GN director, presented us in a very basic way how to measure AIESEC’s success; the soccer team of Manchester United functioned as an example.

Since it was the first day it was easy to follow – mainly because it was very basic and easy. J

The interesting part took place in the evening. Hajo, Nadine, Kathrin, Jonas (who visits the conference), Neda and I had a meeting with the MENA MCPs and Tamer (GN director). It was the best meeting since last year that we had with the MENA countries about the extensions Germany would like to start.

Jonas and Neda talked about the current state in Iran; they will apply for Official Extension during this IC. A lot of questions followed their introduction. Kathrin was next in giving an update about the Ofek team and their journey they had at the end of July. I closed with an update about Palestine. The questions that were asked were mainly about which other students’ organization exist, how visa and NGO regulations look like as well as the economic situation. Especially the last one is very important since MENA is afraid that if we once will become official and full member we might have to close down in the future because of lack of support from the economy. Another important issue is the media approach. Being afraid the extension could somehow be misunderstood we are asked not to publish anything, even not as part of general information about our LC.

After that long day I went directly to bed. J

More information about the conference I will give you later; right now I am sitting in the morning plenary and try to wake up. So sorry for a more boring report of yesterday…

All the best from Istanbul

The IC 2007 in Istanbul is officially opened! - now step by step...
This morning started very early at 8:30h with Opening Plenary. Every country presented its role call in front of the all delegates - that took quite a while... The German role call (yes, I am part of the German delegation) was interrupted after ca. 40sec. and not like the others after 1min. Whatever, it was a nice but looong morning plenary, as expected.
Right after the plenary we were taken to the Global Village venue. It took place in the Feshane Convention Center. Much smaller than last year it was not that much of an atmosphere of a global village, but it was nice to see all the countries presenting themselves. And we had additional guests from Germany as well. Not only the You Can-delegates joined us but Tielko and Miri from Berlin visited the German table, too (we shared a table with France...).
The Global Village lasted until the early evening so we traveled directly to the venue of the Official Opening, near the Fenerbace soccer stadium. Good and average speeches were held by a young representative of HP, the mayor of Istanbul, the speaker of the BoA, and of course by Gabitza (PAI), the CCP and the MCP Turkey. In-between was a show of Fire of Anatolia, a dancing group that was dancing very fast and was nice to watch.
Since the whole day we only got the food from the global village and small, soft and dry subs without any water I am quite exhausted now (okay, it's late as well...)
Tomorrow the IC starts with the sessions - I will tell you more about it when it is over since I don't have any clue what the sessions in detail will be about. Good night :)

PS: Neda (middle) arrived today. She will represent Iran during the IC since Iran will apply for Official Extension!

Right before lunch all delegates were invited to visit the HP Café. HP provides the conference with an own internet café - so the people who did not bring a laptop can go there for their connection to the world...
The afternoon was quite nice since the MENA pre-meeting was not about figures and numbers and measurements of the countries but something very basically. Aras and Bettsy from AI presented the XP circle again and explained in a very detailed way how important every step is in terms of a proper induction and talent management (be careful, buzz words...).
Kathrin and I will attend the Extension group after dinner since they will get a session about how to present themselves as extension on the IC. This can be interesting for us as well. So I still have one hour to rest.

I uploaded some pictures you can find in flickr.

Salam!!

The day started with joining the WENA GN in their Morning Plenary. Every country presented its suggestion for a new WENA Role Call/shout.

Skipped the Good Case Practice and said good morning to the MENA countries that are working on several issues related to their realities. After lunch AIESEC University starts with topics around the “I am an AIESECer” campaign. And then the day will close with a session for extension countries (= delegates from the target countries) how to present on the IC.

Yesterday evening Kathrin and I joined some MENA delegates for a shisha in a bar near the campus. Besides a very good melon-banana taste I had talks with the MENA GN ER manager Monaem from Tunisia. He is very excited about our extension efforts (like everyone as usual) and even understands why AIESEC should expand to Palestine and Israel now and at the same time.

I had a long talk/discussion with Dafar from the Tunisian MC who is very skeptical about Palestine in general. He supports the country but does not see the relevance of going their now since there are so many countries left AIESEC is not present yet. Therefore in his opinion AIESEC should expand to countries like Syria, Libya, Yemen, or Saudi-Arabia first before tackling Palestine (and Israel). The Israel issue is still a big one. Member countries will face huge disadvantages and may even be closed down – no new conclusions but relevant for our research. To avoid this we need the support of the MENA MCs. Their task has to be to communicate what we are trying to do so we can get valid answers to the questions if and how AIESEC in Palestine and Israel would influence the network. Therefore we will have many meetings with the MENA countries.

More infos coming soon – hope Berlin is alright. :)

PS: You can find the Yeditepe University in Google Earth (40°58'19.32"N, 29° 9'13.44"O) or just look for it. :)

Hey Palestine (and everybody)

yesterday evening I arrived in Istanbul. After a nice flight with Turkish Airlines (booked of course through www.shop-and-donate.de :)) I arrived at the Atatürk airport and got into chats with AIESECers who were waiting for being picked up and to be brought to the IC venue.

I arrived at the venue, actually the Yeditepe University (www.yeditepe.edu.tr), and met with the German delegation. It was a very warm evening, not only in terms of weather but in terms of seeing people I knew from former conferences.

After a warm and very humid night the premeeting started for me as well today. I said hello to our friends from MENA and took part in a WENA game. Kathrin and I went through our general plans we have for the Research Groups. So now I am attending the current state of the MENA countries concerning exchange numbers with the several programs Bridging the Gap and Asiana.

Tomorrow will be the last day of the premeetings, and then on Tuesday the International Congress itself will start. So far it is nice being here at the largest AIESEC conference again. :)