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Last month I was asked by Nico, a good friend of mine to deliver a training at the Train the Trainers conference held in  a village near Pitesti. This is kinda’ sorta’ the first time ever since I’m an Alumnus to be an external at a national AIESEC conference, so I was quite surprised … in a good way :D.

I must say they did everything right in the way they handled me … a month in advance notice, numerous reminders and documents explaining the agenda, objectives, transportation, etc. I’m usually very hard to please regarding these things. Well believe me I could not say a bad word, not one, regarding the whole process from start to end. I quite honestly have never been better handled since I’ve became an Alumnus. It reminded me of an older similar experience.

I’ve had two things to prepare, a “Video’s in presentations” learning circle and a “Presentation skills” training. I knew I had to prepare these trainings as people from Dale Carnegie, real good trainers would be delivering there and I felt I had to live up to the expectations. It felt really good doing research and preparing my trainings, the Power Point actually Keynote^[1] presentation. It was reminding me of the old times :), nights spent preparing, the joy of delivering, the satisfaction of doing a good job.

Once arrived in Satic^[2], after a bumpy road via Pitesti, I was put aback of the huge expectations build by Nico and the other NTT^[3] members regarding the external trainers. It was a bit like: “Say hello to the training gurus … the externals!”. Trust me it takes a lot to shake my self confidence, and this almost made it. Fortunately I had the evening learning circle prepared and my training was scheduled for the next day. I’ve made a point of getting to know these guys (in my own special way of course). I’ve managed to get the idea of what my target audience was by observing them at the sessions and evening plenary. I say it again but it is AMAZING how AIESEC manages to bring so many good, young people in one place.

Meeting Andrei from Dale Carnegie was like going back in time. I’ve last seen him when he left AIESEC 2 years ago and he was unchanged. He’s been a great guy back then, helping me out a lot when I most needed it.

The evening learning circle was a blast … didn’t knew that people were not so into integrating videos in their presentations. Videos can be a very powerful way to get your own message trough. I’ve been doing this for 3-4 years an have a somewhat big collection that helped me a lot that evening.

The morning training went out great with a minor glitch at the end. Foreseeable tough. I will listen to my inner voice … you should do that too. Whenever you feel something is not right … well then act up on it! Don’t expect it to work out fine. I won’t :). I’ve managed to perform up to standards (mine at least), by being really passionate and getting into the right mood. I felt really good (sorry for repeating myself), to be a trainer again, to be in the middle of all those bright people. It is one the things I loved most in AIESEC. You can download the presentation here.

Getting to meet Dani^[4] again was another good reason for me being there. We did some catching up and he also came up with an original roll call^[5] we performed which helped a bit to lower our semi-gods statute there.

Overall it was an incredible experience just as in old times. I enjoyed it a lot. I love teaching young people, I like watching them grow, it is in my blood. This will most probably make me do a 180 degrees turn somewhere in the future.

Hopefully you reached this line. It’s a rather long post :)
The Lion.^[6]

1. This is the Power Point alternative on Mac OS. [»]
2. The location of the conference, somewhere on the road from Brasov to Sibiu. [»]
3. National Trainers Team. [»]
4. One of my friends that has won my consideration and respect a long time ago. [»]
5. An AIESEC specific thing. Don’t ask. [»]
6. The song to this post is: Maria Taylor – Song Beneath the Song. Open “Lion’s Radio” and scroll down to listen to it. [»]