Our superhero, LC member Kim Alberts worked as OCP (Ogranizing committee president) for SUCCESS 2014, a national conference held 14.-16.3.2014 in Jyväskylä. She shared some of her thoughts about her AIESEC career, how she ended up working as an OCP in a national conference, what it was like and if SUCCESS 2014 was a success or not.
SUCCESS 2014
It’s
good
To be
It’s
good to be an OCP
 |
| Kim during SUCCESS 2014 |
A few
weeks after I joined AIESEC, I attended a national conference where I learned
about the history, values and goals of this enormous network. It was then that
I saw what great variety of opportunities was offered within the organization,
and what we could offer students from all over the world. On the way back home
from this conference, my new friend Jose suggested that I should organize such
a conference one day. ‘Yeah right’, is what I thought, realizing that I was
only just introduced to this whole new world of opportunities. ‘Well’, I said
more joking than anything else, ‘I even might consider it, if you come back to
Finland to help me.’ Of course he said he would, but honestly who would take
this seriously… Barely two months later, I was honored to be asked to apply for
Organizing Committee President for the upcoming conference in Jyväskylä:
SUCCESS 2014. After considering this opportunity (because of course I would
like to lead a team to achieve such a challenge, but I was just a newbie
without any AIESEC experience) and after the not too subtle suggesting and
pushing of our EB, I decided to give it a shot and apply. And thank god (in
this case Anna, Talvikki and Piia) that I did!
 |
| OC team introduced at the conference |
The
first task was to form a team around me with whom I would organize the
conference. Since I had been team member of several organizations for
activities and events, I had some idea of what I thought was important in a
team in preparation for an end result. Different people with different knowledge
skills are needed, because obviously I could not do this by myself. However,
the most important assets that any team member should have (and keep!) are
motivation and fun. So I decided to invite anyone within our local committee
and also some friends outside of AIESEC who I thought might be interested. I
figured that the people who would apply, would already have the motivation to
help. The only thing I demanded from them was to tell me what they wanted to
do, and keep me updated on how they felt things were going (the most important
item on the agenda of each meeting was ‘happiness of the OC’). Luckily I was
proven to be right, and with a total of 19 members our team was the hardest
working and happiest team I have ever had the pleasure working with. And
obviously I had not forgotten what Jose promised a couple of months earlier, so
I invited him and he was the 20th awesome member of our OC.
Obviously
the organization of an event cannot go without challenges (future OCs: double
check that you are organizing the conference for the correct date!), but
everything that our team got to face, we faced with a smile and a determination
to make it work. It is amazing to see how many big and small things should be
taken care of to organize a weekend for 100 awesome AIESECers, and I felt
privileged to be the one to supervise all the hard work that was needed to make
it happen. I mostly enjoyed watching all team members cooperate, challenging
themselves and each other, learning new skills, and while doing all this
enjoying themselves as well.
.JPG) |
| OC team's morning meetup |
Then,
after 5 short weeks of preparation, SUCCESS 2014 was finally there. At Thursday
the Faci team arrived in Jyväskylä, and after a brief bonding activity with OC
and Faci, and a short night sleep, we were ready to get to work. We had booked
a great venue, and all the ad hoc preparations ran smoothly. Ok, I have to be
honest and the stress level was a little higher than normal at some points, but
with the great spirit of the team we could receive the delegates with open arms
and a smile. Now, I know that I should probably tell you how the organization
of the weekend itself went, but to be honest it is all one big blur in my
memory. I remember my hurting feet from walking back and forward to help here
and there, but mostly I remember my hurting cheeks from smiling the whole
weekend. I think I can speak for the whole team that it was the great spirit
from everyone in the venue that kept us going, big thanks to the delegates, the
Faci and chair for that. But most importantly, I could not have been more proud
of all the members of my team, who were so independent yet coherent, so
exhausted yet active so busy yet positive. Thank you Anna, Daniela, Amy, Piia,
Marianne, Thao, Jose, Emmi, Flora, Amy, Johannes, Fiona, Hien, Anna, Iida, Tin,
Lotta, Joanna, Otso, Linnea, Mika, Talvikki and Tsuri.
I
think it is very difficult to describe the memories that I got from this
experience, but I think the following will describe my feeling best: EVERYTHING
WAS AWESOME!"
