So after I said in my post about 5 years in AIESEC that I do not have any active position in AIESEC anymore this held true. Yet there are some occasional opportunities still coming up – like training and chairing conferences!

So I was asked to be Chair of a national conference in Denmark. But so

What does a chair actually do?

A chair of a conference (at least in AIESEC) is responsible for the overall mood of a conference, the coordination of the facilitators (like trainers, but rather than teaching content from the front they make sure the participants get the points also through reflection and other learning experiences), teambuilding of the conference team and then improvisation when things just go different than everybody expected – like an African wedding dance where girls and guys have to compete for the loudest voice – thereby also learning about different cultures ! 🙂

Usually the national board has a strategy, goals and ideas that they want to achieve with the country in the upcoming term. The job of the chair is to complement these facts and numbers by inspiration and challenges, rather on a personal level. For this he often cites from his personal experience that people can relate to.

What did I do?

So I shared some experiences from my internship in Brazil but also from building up new things in AIESEC in 5 years without having been in an executive board or a particular postion that would be required to turn ideas into action – every single member can have an impact and change the organisation for the better! Even more so in AIESEC, where the entire executive body changes once every year! People leave the organisation just when they finally know how to REALLY do it. In AIESEC you have a professional experience yet also a playground where mishaps do not destroy your entire future. But most of all you have a group of passionate people striving for “peace and fulfillment of Humankind’s potential” as the AIESEC Mission Statements shows.

Have a look on the presentation I was giving on Sunday morning:
(for clarity: IC = International Congress, LC = Local Committee, MC = Member Committee (National Executive Board), @XP = AIESEC Experience, Exchange = Internship delivered through AIESEC)

Amazing AIESEC Experience in Brazil on Prezi

So what was in it for me?

So as I said it was a new challenge for me. Why? – You have to feel the mood and energy of an entire crowd (180 people), not single people. In this case they were so motivated, that they stayed active and engaged in the plenary and sessions although they were physically exhausted (obviously at a student organization  you also have good parties ;)). Every once in a while you have to energize them again and improvise.

The next thing is to make your messages so clear that they are easy to understand and take away, but also provide the bigger picture that they relate to (100% growth in internships delivery from last year). Eventually the biggest challenge is to inspire and challenge them on a personal level at which they can still relate their own situation to yours. Even more so in an international environment – although it was a Danish conference, about 45% of the students and participants where not natives Danes! A lot of them came from Lithuania, Estonia, but also Spain, Germany, … also the conference team was as diverse as from India and Mexico / USA!

Sometimes you have to go for unconventional methods – such as dropping your suit pants during the official dinner – just to unveil an African Sunday suit which just shows that not everything has to be seen only one way – challenge the status quo and your worldview! The only limit is your imagination! Come up with an idea, inspire others by showing them how it relates to and supports the big vision and eventually you can change things big time!

Never doubt that a small group of committed
people can change the world. Indeed, it's the
only thing it ever has. ~Margaret Mead

It all depends on your mindset …

Btw: obviously you also have fun doing it and enjoy new friendships! 🙂

So much for my experience so far! Another one like this will follow in 2 weeks time. If you have any questions or remarks – let me know in the comments! 🙂