Western Regional Conference

It finally came! And everything came together awesomely. The venue was perfect, the OC was on top of everything, the faci team was immensely entertaining and informative, the chair was inspiring, and the delegates had spirit like I had never seen before.

We danced. We cheered. We networked and connected with other students from all over Western Canada. We thought critically over the different challenges and obstacles we and others have had to face. The new members had a great introduction to AIESEC while us more experienced members got more advanced training. We exchanged ideas as a region. We celebrated over a lovely banquet. We wrote sugar cubes. We said our goodbyes and so long's until the next conference.

Sounds like your typical AIESEC conference, but it wasn't this time. At least not for me…

Never have I felt so present and so energetic at a conference before. 12 conferences in my 2 years in AIESEC and one would think that I would be sick of conferences by now. So far from the truth.

There is something so special about hosting a conference. There's nothing like getting to open your arms and say "welcome to our beautiful city" to over 140 people coming from as far south as Seattle and as far East as Winnipeg. Actually we had one faci from Toronto and two MC members from Toronto as well. It is also fantastic not having to travel to get to a conference.

There was so much work put into this conference, but it was so worth it. While I wasn't part of the organizing committee, I had an unofficial position of project management trainer/OCP (Organizing Committee President) coach/ cheerleader /delivery girl. We always talk about how hard the OC works to plan and run a conference, but I had no idea until this year. Their hard work has paid off exponentially. Not only did everyone have a great time and learned lots but I can already see the difference in our local committee. And I'm sure the conference experience has helped the other LC's (local committees) that attended as well. We have so many motivated, capable and bright new leaders to pass the torch on to now. I'm so excited to see our LC grow. Out of all the hard decisions I have had to make as an LCP, bidding on this conference was most likely the best decision we have made!

We got a second shot of motivation right after the conference with an LC visit from our MC coach. It was super-fast but we now have loads of fantastic advice to bring up our performance. And that visit just made my job a lot easier. Now to sit back and relax, coach and connect with my executive team and do some succession planning (which hosting WRC has also made easier). I hope lots of LC's bid on next year's regional conferences. The only risk is wanting to host another one!