aiesec baruch spring 2013 retreat report
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AIESEC BARUCH RETREAT SPRING 2013
EVENT REPORT
~Past, Present, Future~
AIESEC Baruch, Together as One!
February 15-‐17,2013
Ocean City, New Jersey
PURPOSE OF THE EVENT:
Every year, around mid-‐February AIESEC Baruch comes together and continues a tradition known as retreat. The retreat brings the Local Committee (LC) together, instills knowledge about AIESEC, allows team bonding to occur and lets its members get to be acquainted with each other. In the long run, it promotes better teamwork in day-‐to-‐day operations.
AIESEC Baruch experienced a series of sessions focused on finding inspiration, gaining knowledge, team bonding, visionary and other activities such as collaboration. Local Committee President (LCP) Dylan Bustillo and the Executive Board led these sessions.
LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT:
Hey AIESEC, AIESEC Baruch’s retreat happens semi-annually at the beginning of each semester. The purpose of this is to get the LC motivated for the semester before we induct our new members. It consists of a full weekend of sessions delivered by the executive board with the goal being to promote bonding between members while providing AIESEC knowledge. The reason we take a whole weekend to do this as an LC is because it creates and solidifies a bond within the LC so that we are able to work together effectively throughout the semester and create meaningful friendships along the way. As the Local Committee President of AIESEC Baruch some of the challenges I faced were trying to find a house, manage the retreat agenda, and ensure that the right mood was being set for each session. With the aid of the executive board to work through these challenges was essential to the success of retreat. I assigned each of them tasks to guarantee the logistics would be taken care of on top of the sessions each of them were required to complete. One new thing I want to highlight on is letting members give sessions at retreat. One of our members gave a session on feedback that he received at Winter National Conference. Not only was a way for him to develop his facilitation skills, but also the members enjoyed the session and were more motivated do sessions. Overall the experience of planning retreat was a positive one for the executive board to go through. Since it was one of the first events of the term to plan as a team it was a good bonding experience for the team. The one thing that I would improve for future retreats would be to plan out sessions at least a week in advance to be able to run through the complete flow. AIESECly, Dylan Bustillo AISEC BARUCH LCP 2013
NUMBER IN ATTENDANCE:
There were a total of 38 active members in attendance. This retreat was only open to active members.
Key
Inspirational
Knowledge
Bonding
Visionary
Activity
Break
AGENDA Run-‐Thru:
Retreat Spring 2013 was an event that AIESEC Baruch members attended to learn more about AIESEC culture, AIESEC history, and AIESEC goals and objectives for the future. Sessions were held during the three-‐day period where members were able to enhance their AIESEC skills and knowledge. These sessions helped members become stronger leaders, effective communicators, and dynamic members in their respective teams. Winter Retreat 2013 also provided bonding sessions so that AIESEC Baruch members can build trust with each other, and unite as a strong Local Committee.
DAY 1:
LCP, Dylan led opening plenary where he introduced the theme, objectives, and agenda of retreat. This helped establish a thorough understanding and purpose of retreat for newer LC members. AIESEC Baruch also conducted its traditional “Midnight Session” as a way to build trust and reliance with one another.
DAY 2:
LC members participated in an interactive morning plenary. Day 2 allowed members to set membership criteria and general member expectations for the upcoming semester. The next session provided an interactive presentation that informed members to understand AIESEC on an international, national, and local level. Members were able to learn more about AIESEC Baruch history and AIESEC 2015 goals. In order to enhance and hone in on technical function skills, members participated in functional knowledge sessions. This allowed each VP to rotate and talk about their teams in groups of 5-‐6. To reinforce AIESEC knowledge learned through the sessions, members played a game of AIESEC Jeopardy in divided teams. Members later participated in a Bonding activity, in which they learned more about how they impacted one another during the String Session (Picture Below). TMP and TLP sessions prepared LC members to become developed leaders within their teams in order to achieve team goals and expectations for the semester. A feedback session was conducted to emphasize the importance of communication and feedback in the LC. To wrap up Day 2, Dylan delivered a motivating session that outlined the future goals, expectations, and strategies of 2013 for AIESEC Baruch.
Day 3:
Retreat Spring 2013 concluded with a closing plenary that allowed members to reflect on the weekend and share feedback as an LC.
INVESTMENT:
Money Invested:
House rented for the weekend: $900
Assorted supplies and food purchased: $600
Return on Investment: The funds invested serve to continue a tradition of the Baruch LC and allow its members to come together for a weekend retreat, renew their motivation and purpose for the semester and above all form bonds and relationships with each other. Although there is no tangible Return on Investment (ROI), there is substantial gain in the form of integration of new members, launch of a semester long LC strategy and the opportunity to set goals and expectations. From prior experience several, members have been highly motivated by a past retreat and credit it as the reason they stayed involved in the community, went on exchange in the summer and availed leadership opportunities.
EVENT HIGHLIGHTS:
The retreat has two main purposes: to allow members to get together and form deeper connections with each other as well as the LC as a whole. Therefore the retreat is structured to ensure that these two aims are prioritized.
Friday: Members arrive at different times throughout the day while COBALT arrives early to set up, prepare the house and get ready for the weekend. Most of the evening is reserved for informal introductions while members get to talk to each other, renew acquaintances and simply have a good time. Once all the members are present, a short opening plenary formally kicks off the event and lays out the agenda for the weekend. Dinner is served and then at 12.00 am “Midnight Session” takes place. This is a bonding exercise meant to bring members closer and foster a sense of belonging and togetherness.
Saturday: The main part of the retreat starts early in the morning usually around 9 am. The entire day is filled with a variety of sessions that deal with introducing members to the status of AIESEC International and AIESEC US while also bringing them up to speed about recent events such as national conferences. Further sessions are held to provide an in depth knowledge of the functions of the various teams as well as a chance to do a little cross-functional bonding and learning. After that a major part of the retreat is to break up the LC into team leaders and team members and present sessions focused on the needs and capabilities of those two groups. Different sessions can also be held that foster team building and require group participation and the overall purpose is to learn about AIESEC and individual roles and have fun doing so as a team. Team building exercises can include creating a freestanding project together as a group, passing around yarn to members and explaining their individual importance, feedback sessions, doing yoga together etc The entire day is filled with activities and sessions that have the dual purpose of keeping the members engaged with each other as well as creating a learning atmosphere.
Sunday: Once again the day starts early with a session winding up the retreat and reiterating the goals and aims of the semester. A group picture is taken to cement the memories of a weekend well spent, closing
plenary is held to formally end the retreat and members clean up the house and take care of any last minute matters. After that everyone heads out back into the hum drum of everyday life, tired from a strenuous weekend but hopefully motivated to do and learn more.
ORGANIZING COMMITTEE AND CHALLENGES FACED:
As for developing the retreat, it was organized by the Executive Board: Dylan Bustillo, Ellora Islam, Thomas Kulesza, Ehsan Zaman, Jimmy Ngo and Natalya Fatkhiyev. The Executive Board devoted countless hours organizing the retreat. Nonetheless, several issues arose. The biggest concern revolved around the housing situation. Finding a place to spend the weekend in had several challenges: age requirements, distance, price range and maximum people limit. Other challenges that arose included conflicts with the sessions; it was difficult to decide what to instill.
Contact Information:
• Dylan Butillo : [email protected] • Natalya Fatkhiyev: [email protected] • Thomas Kulesza: [email protected] • Ellora Islam: [email protected] • Jimmy Ngo: [email protected] • Ehsan Zaman: [email protected]
POINTERS:
• Use the website vacationrentals.com o House must be a minimum 5 rooms and or enough floor space for 30-‐45
people. If the house says at least 15-‐20 people we can usually make it work. • Take into account seasonal pricing and location
o Jersey houses are usually cheaper for spring retreat • Try to find flexible owners, who won’t be coming to the property during the event • Try to find a neighborhood is relatively empty, at the time the event occurs • Be mindful of the amount of food bought, only buy what is necessary
o Look for sales and deals before hand o Use a Costco or BJ’s membership card
House used this time:
861 2nd Street B (2nd & 3rd Floor)
Ocean City, NJ 08226
Contact: Ed Cameron à (610) 633-‐4430
