Back from my Marketing Projects in Spain

Since last week I’m back from 11 intense days, consisting of 2 marketing / media projects and experiencing Spanish culture.

The first project took place in Barcelona where we (around 30 marketing and media students & practitioners) discussed the role of new media, marketing and public relations and how to integrate it into future projects and NGO work. Since the day temperature Barcelona was around 22 degrees, we had a quite good time there.

The second project had the name YANG Debate, was hosted by the Fundación Galicia Europa in Santiago de Compostella and had over 90 students and professionals as participants. I was mostly involved in discussing ideas and plans on how to improve the communication policies of the European Parliament and how to use “Mass Media” and other PR-Tools in order to spread subjects like European values and identities into different communities (no matter which field – Business or Politics, effective communication is the key if you want to reach people minds).

Here is the description of the Yang Project:

The YANG project is organized within the framework of the
European program "Europe for Citizens", in order to obtain the contribution of young Europeans on the nature and form that the European Union should adopt, in a moment in which Europe must redefine itself to confront the challenges of a more and more interconnected world.

The accomplishment of this project, that will be developed through a simulation of an European Parliament, precise of young motivated people interested in the European subjects and policies.

Follow-Up Network Meeting Mainz

I just came back from the Network Meeting organized by AEGEE Mainz-Wiesbaden. This time we were around 40 people mostly from Germany, Austria and Switzerland – having a great time and discussing about the Future of AEGEE and how to make it more efficient.

During the Network Meeting our workshops covered topics like:

• Project Management for AEGEE Projects
• Developing and using an HR Strategy to recruit and motivate new (and old) members
• Improvement of PR and introducing new strategies to make AEGEE PR more efficient
• Fundraising for NGOs
• Doing and using publications for the Promotion of AEGEE (also using publications like Image Brochures for PR Purposes and Fundraising – this also a thing that every company should have)
• Hitchhiking through Europe ;->
• ….

All in All it was a very good event. Let’s see, what comes out in the Future.

Follow UP Diplomatic Seminar & Intercultural Dialogue

I’m just back from my 2 weeks Seminar Travel through Turkey (Ankara and Istanbul) and Romania / Sibiu (cultural capital 2007).

In Ankara I attended a very interesting 8 day Seminar about Diplomacy and Negotiation. Our speakers and trainers consisted of high rank international Diplomats (such as the Norwegian ambassador in turkey or the former Turkish ambassador in the United States), Government Speakers, Journalists and University Professors (we had a video conference in the US Embassy with Prof. Dr. Daniel Druckman who wrote several books on the topic of Negotiation and Mediation).

The topics covered the themes of:
- Psychology of Conflict and Negotiations
- Lobbying Strategies
- Manners and Elements of Protocol
- The role of the media and how to use it for Communication
- Public Communication in Diplomacy
- Transatlantic Relations and Networking

After the Diplomatic Seminar I went to a Seminar on Intercultural Communication in Sibiu / Romania. We had a very good time, did a lot of things for future Networking and worked on subjects like:

- New ways and means of Communication
- Intercultural Awareness
- Cultural and self cultural awareness

All in all very interesting and productive.

Diplomatic Seminar in Ankara

I will be in Ankara for the next week, participating at the Diplomatic Seminar hosted by AEGEE Ankara and the AEGEE International Politics Working Group.

The seminar will be very interesting – we will have excellent speaker and trainers, like:
- Faruk Loğoğlu - Member of Turkish Foreign Ministry
- Cecilie Landsverk - Norwegian Ambassador in Ankara or
- Egemen Bagış - Advisory Board Chairman, Istanbul

The seminar will include workshops and trainings about:
- Dynamics of Diplomacy
- Manners and Elements of Protocol
- Role of Media
- Psychology of Conflict and Negotiations
- ....

After the Diplomatic Seminar, I will go to Sibiu – which is the Cultural capital 2007 (at least they told us that ;->) and will attend a training on Intercultural communication, which also sounds very interesting and enhancing.

6th European Summer Academy on Bioethics 2007

For the next 2 weeks I will be at the 6th European Summer Academy on Bioethics in and around Ludwigshafen / Germany. Although Bioethics is not quite my topic – I’m very impressed by the level and quality of the speakers for this Summer Academy. There will be over 20 different high level professors and practitioners from 16 different countries (from Isreal, USA to UK) teaching us (50 participants from all over the world) all what is important to know about Bioethics, Biotechnology and the newest trends in this area.

From the Business perspective it is interesting to see how the question of ethics in our society and in companies is being discussed by big group of international people. From my perspective it is a necessary question. Since we have entered the age of globalisation, companies and the media play a very important role in most western societies. The search for ethics and the right standards for communication, doing business and building relationships play a vital part in our lives. This Academy contributes to it.

Back from Romania

I’m just back from my 2 weeks trip through Romania. This time it was more like leisure travel – we spent some days in Bucharest, which is really not a nice city (for those of you who dirty streets, traffic jams and 45 degrees in the shadow – it is the perfect city) and then went into some other areas of Romania. All in all we had a good time, cause the group was very good.

Romania 2007

I will be in Bucharest / Romania for the next 2 weeks - look forward to discover the country and see what special things it has to offer.

Media, PR and Citizenship Seminar in Ireland

I will go to a "Media, PR & Networking" Seminar in Ireland for 12 Days. I`m sure that this seminar will be very interesting - provide a lot of knowledge, fun and new experiences.
Since I have never been in Ireland so far - I’m very curious about the country, its people and look forward to the training.

Follow Up Negotiation Days in Poznan

I`m just back from my exiting trip through Poland. I visited the 4th edition of the Negoation Days, they provided me a lot of insights into myself and other people. For me it was especially interesting to combine my existing knowledge about NLP, Coaching and Negotiation with the knowledge of the trainers and participants and to work in international and diverse teams (as usual I was the only German / international participant at the workshops)

During the 3 days I attended the workshops about effective Teambuilding, Coaching and applied Negotiation Strategies, run by the trainers Clay Lowe, Peter Feeth and Chris Walker.
Also very interesting was the opening lecture which was run by the CEO of the Negotiation Academy Europe about “Strategies and Personality Types in Negotiation”.

There are also an interesting videos about the Leadership Seminar of Peter and Clay.

Follow UP Mediation Training and Conflict Management Seminar

What I really liked about this seminar was the diversity of the participants and trainers. We were again around 30 young Europeans from UK to Azerbaijan and had a really great and interesting time while learning about European Identity, Mediation in Conflict Situations and Negotiation Techniques.

The main topic of the seminar was „All different – all equal“ – which was perfect, cause if you have 30 people from different countries you expect some conflicts, headed discussions and an exchange of a lot of ideas. I really liked it and can recommend it to everybody who wants to learn more about applied psychology, intercultural communication and team building. Let`s use the skills for the future.

You can visit the website at: http://www.mt.u2.pl/

Here is a short description of the seminar:
In the past years people in Europe had to experience that also in Europe conflicts can escalate and that Human Rights are not equally treated in every country. This seminar aims at bringing together young Europeans with different perspectives on conflicts and to educate them in mediating conflicts in order to strengthen a “peace network” that crosses religious, ethnic, and geographic boundaries. Thus they shall be able to take an active stand in defending human rights and contributing to a Europe that fulfils the slogan “united in diversity”.

Movie Making in the Netherlands

Right now I am at the AEGEE TV Media School in the Netherlands.

Here is the description of the event:
.......................................................
Well, if you ever wanted to learn how to make movies, then we have good news for you! AEGEE-Eindhoven in collaboration with AEGEE.tv organizes the next Media School!

We will teach you all the basics of movie-making - from script writing to camera handling and editing. We will provide you with all the necessary equipment as well.

After the training weekend you will spend another five days making your own movies during the biggest European student event in Europe, the European Week Eindhoven, where hundreds of European students (including YOU!) will have the time of their life.
.......................................................

Take a look at http://www.aegee.tue.nl/ms2007/ to see what we are doing there.

The Movies will be soon online at http://www.aegee.tv/.

Public Relations European School II - PRESS 2 in Pecs

I just came back from the AEGEE Public Relations School in Pecs (Hungary).

All in All I have to say it was a great event, the local organizers from AEGEE Pecs did a great job as well as the trainers of AEGEE Academy.

The Training was a combination of theory lectures (I will put the PowerPoint slides with short explanations in my next Blog entry), workshops and case studies in international teams. My team, which worked on a detailed PR Strategy for the European Day of Languages, consisted of Ivan from Praha, Raluca from Bucharest and Maria from Kiev. Thanks to the team, it was great and efficient to work with you, let`s do it again.

Especially valuable for me were also the practical lessons we had:

- organizing and holding a Pressconferenz
- Dealing and networking with representatives of the media
- Visiting TV and radio stations to get an insight how they work
- Fundraising Negotiations with MOL – the biggest Hungarian Oil company
- Presentation of AEGEE in a School in Pecs
- Lobbying Night – approaching and networking with “VIPs” and “celebrities”
- The PR Café – where we talked about, how to combine our PR / Marketing knowledge with AEGEE
- Mentoring and Feedback from our high skilled trainers

I will follow up this Blog with some of my ideas on how to improve AEGEE (with Change Management and Brand Management strategies) and what we can do, to bring it to the next level.