[OPS Application] AIESEC USMA Fast Forward 2010

Name:

Alexandre Benavides

LC: Current Role:

NST Greece Webmaster OCP Ongoing EP Recruitment

OGX Promotion & Communication Coordinator

E-mail: Track :

OGX

alexandre.benavides@aiesec.net

Outgoing Preparation Seminar

Why are you interested in facilitating in this Seminar and why are you ideal for it?

INSPIRE EPs before they start their journey – They

will see the advantages of having this experience and I (and the OPS faci team) will motivate them by showing how to bring back everything home.

Make sure the delegates receive the message, by TRANSMITing it in an attractive way – Making inter-

esting activities and dinamics, as well as amazing visual presentation that will catch their attention (using Adobe Flash resources).

SHOW the EPs their role in the committee before,

during and after the internship

– I will explain the responsibilities, the opportunities and the next steps they can take inside the organization.

To MAKE them aware of all the organization values and competences – Introduce them to the AIESEC Way and

The Way We Do It, so we can turn the EP into a real AIESECer. This is the key to a quality exchange delivery.

PREPARE them to all the obstacles they will find while living in a new country – Sharing with them the cul-

tural shock I’ve lived and how I faced it. As well, show them examples of situations returnees lived and how they faced it.

What main message should the delegates (according to your selected track) take home/back to the LC and how do you make sure they do?

I want the delegates to fully understand how the association is working to make their experience fantastic. We want them to learn from this experience, understanding that people are working to assure that. AIESEC is a place to learn and explore your potential, not a tourism agency nor a job fair. Knowing that, delegates will get compromised with the program.

To make sure they do that, I wish to do an interesting self-assessment. At the beginning of the seminar, they will write down in a paper what they sincerely think the association it’s all about and will offer. At the end of it, they will write it again, and compare.

This is very important because they will see and understand the real importance of the OPS, justifying their assistance. At the end, OPS changed their way of thinking, we actually impacted in someone’s life. People don’t forget this. I think that if people don’t make a conclusion of something, they will never consider what just happened. When I was an assistant professor, I always valued the conclusion a student had after a class, and make they understand the importance of what he has just learned.

What are the 3 most important functions/responsibilities of a facilitator?

1. Effective communication - The facilitator must send effectively the information he’s handling. In order to do so, he needs to study the material, understand it and figure out the best way to display it.

He must have the ability to improvise, because during the sessions he must study the delegates and see their body language (to see if they are responding to the message).

2. Interact with delegates – We as the conference team, must approach to every single delegate and make sure they’re comfortable with the learning environment. It’s a good idea to change from a seminar formation to a discussion circle, so the delegates can interact with each other and not only with the facis.

3. Work with feedbacks – In order to deliver an excellent seminar, a faci must analyze his work and improve it. There is no better way to do this than receive feedbacks from the delegates.

What is the most important thing a faci should take in account while creating a session?

A faci must identify what the key points from a session are and prioritize it. What is the most relevant information? What is the most motivational? What can me dismiss? How long can a dynamic last? This is important because in AIESEC seminars, we must work against time and deliver quality sessions. This requires constant communication with the conference team and OC, show them all the presentations and receive feedbacks. In theory, the dynamics must be practiced so we can calculate how much time they will consume.

Take the key points and write down the purpose of each one. Show them to the other facis, to make sure we are not repeating the same thing.

Going to a different country is always a cultural shock. How do you prepare your delegates for the most extreme scenario, so that they´re prepared for almost everything? (OPS Only) After having finished our main sessions, put the delegates in a real cultural shock situation. This way, we will make sure that we prepare them well to face a situation like this. At the end of the experiment, make a discussion circle and hear everyone’s opinion and then make a statement. We are measuring their flexible thinking and how open minded they are. We can’t send an EP abroad if we don’t develop this competence.