You Know You Are An AIESEC Nerd When...

Hey hey~

I had to smile when Jon from UniSA sent me this photo of the marketing recruitment materials outside of their office ^__^

Yes, after many cups of coffee, far too many Christmas Santa jelly beans and several epic battles with Coral Draw I managed to put together a resource pack comprising of:

• 6 different types of pamphlets
• role descriptions
• case studies on AIESEC success stories
• html spam template

*phew*

Seriously though, it makes the work all worth it when you see how wonderful all the materials look printed out in colour. I remember at UNSW practically drooling over the laminated role descriptions when Nicky first showed them to me. Hehe, thank goodness they were laminated so any drool could be wiped right off (just kidding!)


*hugz*

MelMel

When The Going Gets Tough...

Hey hey~

It's great to know that even after 5 straight days of recruitment in the incredibly hot sun that a State Manager and their Regional MC Coach can still keep their sense of humour ^__^

Congrats UNSW for signing up 194 financial members and over 250 sign ups of interest and UTS for 20 financial members and 150 sign ups of interest! Thanks New South Wales for a wonderful week.

Next stop on the agenda: two weeks in BrisVegas! Bring it on!!

The search for 350 High Quality Members continues...

*hugz*

MelMel

The Search for 350 High Quality Members Begins...

AIESEC Australia 2007 - What's your contribution?

Another Episode of "The Edrick Show"

Hey hey~

I went to a farewell dinner for my best friend Edrick yesterday - he's heading home to America for good on Saturday.



Edrick thank you so much for your friendship, support and so many fantastic memories. I am always enternally grateful that I accidently met you and Oli - I am seriously one of the luckiest people in the world.

Here's to the Top 10 Edrick related memories I have:

• stupid tofu head
• 'Charles'
• clubbing until 7am, eating Maccas breakfast and stumbling back to Broadway to sleep
• "All you need is love..."
• Daffodil Day
• the Melbourne Trip
• your (mis)attempts at stardom
  
• my 21st birthday pumpkin pie (and those three failed protypes before it)
  
• living with you for 2 months after my house was broken into
  
• every Simpsons reference and injoke we have ever made

I'm going to miss you so much Edrick - but remember this is not a goodbye, the world is too small for that, this is simply a see you later - 3 years tops right? ^__^

*hugz*

MelMel

Happy Valentines Day

Australian AIESECers in the Global Network...

Hey hey~

So Ralph and Kate leave tonight for International Presidents Meeting in Egypt (funnily enough the conference agenda is based upon the book 'Presence' that I mentioned a while ago).

It's an incredibly exciting time for us here in the office because our beloved MCP is running for a position on AIESEC International!

This means we have at total of 3 Australian AIESEC-ers running (John Westgarth MCVPICX Australia 2005-06, MCVPX Bahrain 2006-07 and Natalie Poyhonen LCP QUT 2005, MCVPPD China 2006-07)!!

It seems to be a trend for us all to be separated at the moment, as the rest of the MC team here in Australia is about to embark on extended Service and Assistance LC visits over the next 3 weeks.

Don't worry Ralphy, AIESEC Australia shall be full of brand spankin' new members when you return!

In other news, congratulations to Alex for being selected as MCVPPD of Bahrain - top stuff!

*hugz*

MelMel

The AIESEC Mel Connection

Hey hey~

It's funny how popular a name can be. As of January Conference 2007 Opening Night we had (from the left):

Mel(issa) Walsh (OCC/OGX Director at Griffith 2007)
Mel(issa) Soh (MCVPPD AIESEC Australia 2007)
Mel(anie) Ho (Regional Events Coordinator Western Australia 2007)
Mel(issa) Au (State Manager Victoria 2006)

What a small world!

*hugz*

MelMel

The Moment

Hey hey~

So I've been missing from the blogging world for a little bit since I left Singapore as I have been busy with conference in Adelaide.

I've been back in the office for just over a week now and to be honest all of conference seems like a distant memory.

I think I've been in a pretty reflective mood coming out of Adelaide. Of course there is never a dull moment being back in the office and I am loving every moment of it ^__^

It was after my "Metacog-what?!" session that realised that was my last ever national conference session I would ever facilitate as MCVPD. I'm guessing that I've reached that point where it's finally dawned upon me that I'm already half way through my term and soon this amazing experience I have been fortunate enough to live is truly about to end.

Conference itself was quite a rollercoaster for me - in between elections and facilitating a challeging day of Recruitment, Induction and Selection sessions it was by far definitely the fastest conference that I have ever attended - I mean suddenly I woke up and woah it was Day 5 already!!

I wasn't prepared for Closing Plenary. Usually our team jokes about how we haven't been able to deliver a proper closing since our term started because the LCs always beat us to it. Enter the lovely Gabi Werner, our conference chair, who was able to deliver one of the most heartfelt sessions I've ever been in.

We were asked to take off our shoes before entering a dimly lit room with butchers paper covering the entire floor. There were three questions written on the ground and markers for us to write down our answers in response. It was an opportunity for everyone to walk around the room reading each others' thoughts. Each person was then given a lit candle and asked to place it next to something that had been written which they felt strongly about. The final part of the process revolved around people giving a candle to a person who had inspired them or had an impact on them during conference. By time the first person (it was Jakey I think) came to me with their candle I was a complete emotional mess.

I actually don't care if the rest of the delegation wasn't as touched by closing plenary as I was. As Ruthie said, "that was a moment for us", for us as a MC team who had worked so hard to try make conference a success, to give the country that shift in direction and confidence to acheive... to make a difference... to have an impact.

We did a team conference review the other night, and I really think we hit our objectives. Walking out of conference there is definitely something different in the air. AIESEC Australia is ready to make that shift, that necessary change, to ensure the necessary growth to have our impact.

I can just feel it.

"I believe that 6 days can change the hearts and minds of an entire national delegation. Imagine what a year will achieve."

So another milestone has been reached. Time to start focusing on my post MC plans....

*hugz*

MelMel