NLD and National Conference of AIESEC in Finland 2007

In this posting I will tell you about one of the most unforgettable week of my life. I will tell you about a week in Finland when I first attended the National Leadership Days and then the National Conference of AIESEC in Finland. I will also tell you how I got selected as Vice President of External Relations of AIESEC in Finland for the term 2007-2008.

But before I start describing that week more in details, I go back in time and tell you first how I decided to apply to the MC. Well… It all started when I first time attended to the National Conference of AIESEC in Finland. That happened in 2005. In that conference I saw the MC selection process for the first time. The process seemed interesting and the people I knew from the current MC were really cool. It was possible to see from them that they really enjoyed their work and that they also really got something out of it. The new people who were selected for the new MC looked also very happy. All that made me think that, maybe one day it would cool to apply also myself. After that first national conference my idea, the picture of one day applying to the MC has crossed my mind every now and then. The next national conference when my dear friend Jani decided to run for MC and also got selected as MC Director I thought that definitely I want to be there also one day.

Some two months back from this day I traveled to National Leadership seminar of AIESEC in Germany where I started heavily thinking about my own life and future. I have already described that earlier in my blog. After NALDS I also got myself a mentor: Sandra with whom I was talking about the next steps in my life. Finally I decided that MC term would really be contributing to my personal vision, my personal learning and now it would be the right time to go for that challenge. Furthermore I wanted to contribute to the part of the organization i.e. AIESEC in Finland that had been giving me so much. So I decided to send my application as MCP of AIESEC in Finland.

So I flew on Wednesday 17.1 to Helsinki with AirBerlin (sponsored by;) ). It really felt strange to be back in Finland as I had just been there during the Christmas. NLD and the National Conference were organized in Jyväskylä where I traveled with train. Funnily in Jyväskylä I was dying because it was so cold! It was the first time during this winter when I actually faced a cold weather. Arriving to the NLD place was really nice as there were so many familiar faces. It felt almost like going home. It was also nice to meet those MC candidates I hadn’t met before.

During the NLD we were speaking about the new planning cycle of AIESEC in Finland and the national focus areas for the next year. Eventually we didn’t create a year plan but decided that it would be confirmed later. However the conversations in NLD were really fruitful especially for me as I hadn’t been in Finland during the current term. During the NLD I was also trying to write my speech which all the candidates were supposed to give in the national conference. I realized two things: first of all I need to practice giving speeches and secondly 5 minutes is a really short time to give a speech. It was really difficult for me to decide what to say in those 5 minutes.

After NLD on Friday I started the MC selection process with the other MCP candidates with personal and AIESEC interviews. I was quite nervous about those interviews but I think they went eventually well and I was quite happy about how I did them. After the interviews I was still thinking what to say in my speech. The excitement started already to rise. The conference was about to start and all of us candidates knew that the result of the conference would point the next year of our lives.

Candidate Agenda in National Conference

On Friday we had actually a lot of time to wait which was actually quite nice. During that time when getting to know all the candidates a bit better, I realized that we would have a really tough competition as there were 13 MC candidates: 6 for MCP and 7 for MCD. However it was quite a happy situation as I realized that I would be happy to work with any of those people. They were all really nice people and I could imagine being in the same team with any of them. The selection working group was going to have a really difficult decision to do…

The MC candidates were (from left to right):
1st row: Yan/Cindy (Tampere trainee from China) MCD
2nd row: Olga Kuznetsova (Ukraina) MCD, Anna-Riikka Kärnä (Jyväskylä) MCD, me MCP, Jennifer Fors (Turku) MCP
3rd row: Valtteri Melkko (Lappeenranta) MCP, Michaela Ståhlberg MCD, Janne Korhonen (Helsinki) MCP, Ari Hautala (Jyväskylä) MCP
4th row: Maria Papina (Lappeenranta, Russia) MCD, Keijo Heikkilä (Helsinki) MCP, Helena Rebane (Estonia) MCD

On Friday evening we had then the speeches. That was quite a tough experience as somehow I felt that I wasn’t really able to put my thoughts into words. I felt that my speech was unfinished and not good and that’s not nice feeling before you are going to give it:) Therefore I was really excited before starting to give my speech. Now when thinking back I think that my speech was quite ok but I also feel that I could done it a lot better also. But on the other hand I think that it’s always so. However it was a cool experience to do it, to give the speech. I actually liked it:)

After the speeches there was the LC Question&Answer time. That meant that we MC candidates went from one LC room to another in pairs and the LCs hit us with questions. I actually liked that. After the LC Q&A we candidates basically could only wait till the evening when the confidence votes and the new MCP were going to be announced. That was really exiting time. I think I never felt so nervous in my life:) Imagine that in few hours you were supposed to know first of all whether the people trust in you and your capabilities and then whether you were going to lead the organization of 250 people for the next year.

I got confidence vote for MCP position which felt of course really good. The feeling that the LCs trusted me felt really great! After the confidence votes we still needed to wait before they finally announced the new MCP. Ari Hautala was selected. I wasn’t surprised at all. Quite the opposite, I was quite sure that Ari would actually be selected as MCP. My feelings were quite strange when Ari was selected. At the same time I was disappointed and relieved. I knew that I wasn’t selected for something I really wanted to have, but on the other hand I knew that the decision made was a really good one and I wouldn’t need to worry about the responsibilities the position was going to bring.


Ari got wet :)

After the MCP announcement I wasn’t actually sure what to do. I wasn’t 100% sure if would like to work as MC Director. That thought was quite a funny one, as in the beginning I actually thought to apply only as MC Director. Well however in the evening after I had a 4 hour conversation with Jani (thanks for your support Jani!) I decided to continue in the process to run for MC VP. That night I didn’t slept too well:) Tired in the morning went to the last interview in which I was basically asked if continue and which position I would like to have if I would be selected. After that morning interview I was just waiting for the whole day for the official dinner. I didn’t felt like taking part to the session as I wasn’t sure of what would happened. All the other MCP candidates except Janne Korhonen decided actually to continue in the process. Too bad that Janne didn’t want continue as I think he could have also really contributed to AIESEC in Finland because as he had so many ideas.

On Saturday we candidates we again waiting… The MCD candidates had their interviews and I didn’t felt like taking part to the sessions because I think I couldn’t have concentrated anyway. I didn’t really like that waiting either because the future felt unclear. On the other hand the waiting time was also very nice as we had quite a lot of fun with the other candidates. Eventually in the evening after all the candidates had their interviews we decided to go for a beer with the other candidates while waiting for the official dinner. In the bar while we were having our beers Aksu got a phone call from the chair of the conference who was saying that the selection working group was about to reach a decision and we needed to go back for the announcement. When we heard that in the bar, half of us were about to choke on our beers:) Suddenly we didn’t need to wait till Sunday but we were going to here the decision in few moments!

Having the beer with the MCD candidates


The MCD candidates once more

Eventually as you already know I was selected as the MC VP-ER. The feeling with the water flowing over me was somehow unbelievable. I had of course already thought in my mind how it would feel and what it would mean. However when it took place, it felt like jumping into another world. It felt suddenly like I was pushed out of my ERASMUS student life and I was put into another life with totally different role and totally different responsibilities. It felt like my life changed significantly in those few seconds (well, it actually also did).


My turn to get wet :)

After me they announced the selection of Helena Rebane as MC VP-HR/D and Anna-Riikka Kärnä as MC VP-Exchange. The new MC was selected!

Helena's turn :)


And finally Aksu's turn :)

Hugging all the people and hearing so many congratulations felt really great. I suddenly knew what I was going to do for the next year and with whom. That felt so cool! On the other seeing all the other candidates, with whom we got so close felt bad. I didn’t know what to say to them as honestly speaking any of them could have been in my shoes. I really thought that now as I was so privileged to I got selected, I would work really my ass of to show that I was worth of that decision.

After all those hugs, all those congratulations we already had to ran to change our clothes for the official dinner. Before the dinner we still met with the MC alumni to have a drink with them. It was really cool to hear and to see that we had the support from all the MC people before us. There had been a lot of people in our shoes and they had managed and were now supporting us. That felt great!

The official dinner was cool! It was organized in a boat which provided a really warm and cozy atmosphere. It was one of the best official dinners where I have ever been. Now it was also special as I was in a different role than always before…


Tampere LC, my home LC


The current and the elected MC teams
From left to right: Annika, Erica , Jani, Shreya, Aksu, Helena, me, Ari

On Sunday, after surviving the official dinner there didn’t happened too much for us, for the selected MC. Somehow I felt really empty. I had the need to get a bit of my own room to think about what just had happened and what it would mean for my life. In the end of the seminar it felt really sad to say good bye to all those people, especially the ones from Tampere, my home LC. It was also sad to say good byes for the other candidates with whom I had spent the last few days and with whom I had went through that life-changing selection-process experience.

After the conference we traveled together with the new and the old MC team to Helsinki to the MC apartment where we were supposed to have a meeting together. Then on Monday we had a really deep-going get-to-know-each-other-session. That was a really good start for team building. I am sure that we will have a great team and a really cool, fun, and successful term full of learning. I am looking forward to work with my new team!


Our team :)

In the end of the conference we needed to create a name and a role-call for our team. That creation session was A LOT OF FUN and eventually we came up with the following:

Our team name is TEAM SUPREME

And our team role-call (shaped from the song “Biggest&The Best” from the Clawfinger):

“There is nothing wrong in being self-possessed,
Nobody is gona to settle for the second best.
We have the gift and we know that we are the best.
The biggest, the best, better than the rest, better than the rest
WE, THE TEAM SUPREME!”

P.S. I hope you know what irony means when you read our role-call:)