Seven Amazing Events: The Success of the Night of the Seven Antennae

The Night of the Seven Antennae was maybe AEGEE’s highlight of the year. Seven parallel 30^th anniversary events took place in Aachen, Bergamo, Catania, Eskişehir, Kyiv, Leiden and Sofia. The Golden Times asked all organisers for their impressions. Read in this first part why AEGEE-Catania’s main organiser Alfio Bonaccorsi and Suzan Dilara Tokaç from AEGEE-Eskişehir think it was so spectacular.

N7A in AEGEE-Catania: Funny live streaming and excursion to the Etna

GT: Are you satisfied with your “Night of the seven antennae” event?
Alfio Bonaccorsi: Absolutely yes, we had a great time. I have to say that me and the organizers of the other antennae were pretty afraid during the Agora, since the organization of this event was not so good from above, but fortunately we managed to take control of the situation and everybody seems to be very satisfied now.

GT: What were the three programme highlights?
Alfio: We extended our programme by one day with the same fee – so it started on the 16^th and ended on the 19^th. We used the extra day for giving a participant a free trip to Etna and Taormina, rolling from the top of the Volcano to the beautiful waters of Isola Bella in a few hours. Then the gastronomy course is always a great hit, and finally the live streaming was way funnier than we expected!

GT: How many participants did you have – and how many did you want to have?
Alfio: We wanted up to 50 people, but considering the length of the event and that no one knew each other, having 33 participants from 14 different countries was a perfect mix.

GT: How was the livestream? Did your participants like it?
Alfio: Absolutely yes, we all thought it was going to be serious, sitting and watching a screen, but it was actually very interactive and entertaining. We are very satisfied, because we think we had a good mix between the speech from Antonija and Caroline from the Association des Amis de Franck Biancheri (AAFB), and a funny part with a lot of noise and the magic candles joke!

GT: Was the livestream difficult to arrange or expensive?
Alfio: Not at all, we had a knowledge transfer with Peppe Colicchia, who arranged a similar streaming for our Network Meeting in March in the same structure, so it was pretty easy, and the place, the start-up incubator WCAP is a technology temple, so we had everything we needed.

GT: AEGEE doesn’t make too many thematic conferences anymore. After your experience with this one, would you like to make one again soon?
Alfio: Yes, we are working on two thematics we really care about in our territory, which are immigration and youth unemployment, we really hope to make an event like this, with a consistent thematic part, and a lot of fun in between.

GT: How was the anniversary cake?
Alfio: I think it was good, I just had some taste of the cream they smashed on my face!

 

N7A in AEGEE-Eskişehir:  “The taste of chocolate, chestnut, joy and euphoria”

GT: Are you satisfied with your “Night of the seven antennae” event?
Suzan Dilara Tokaç: We are more than satisfied! It was a great and unforgettable experience for all of us. We had a lot of difficulties and bad luck before the event, however it was one of the smoothest and most perfect events in AEGEE-Eskisehir history. We received a lot of compliments from our participants, members and friends. During our weekly meeting a lot of people burst into tears –literally!

GT: What were the three programme highlights?
Suzan: Cutting the cake and champagne popping during our gala night. It was amazing and very classy. A video is coming about it shortly and we are sure that you will share our excitement while you will be watching. The second one was when we had an unexpected surprise for our participants thanks to our extraordinary fundraising. The last one was of course the Tunak Tunak Tun dance that we did with our Mascot Masagor. All participants, members, the other six antennae and everyone else was watching us, joined in!

GT: How many participants did you have – and how many did you want to have?
Suzan: We started with a hundred places, as our region is quite big and crowded. Also, we have a lot of alumni members who would like to participate. Due to all cancellations and misfortunes our applicants had, we had 31 participants in the end. Plus many alumni members and friends from other locals joined us. During our gala night 115 people were present.

GT: How was the livestream? Did your participants like it?
Suzan: There is no word to describe our honor, excitement and happiness. It was filled with dance, music and smiles. Due to some technical issues we were asked to extend our livestream so we danced for seven or eight more minutes! The participants were also surprised and they just went with the flow and enjoyed the beat.

GT: Was the livestream difficult to arrange or expensive?
Suzan: Thanks to Eric from AEGEE-Aachen, we coordinated with the other organizers from the other antennae and arranged the livestream all together. It was a live Youtube show done through Google Hangout. We purchased an HD-webcam and asked our university for an extra LAN cable for better Internet connection, as we were streaming live from our university.

GT: AEGEE doesn’t make too many thematic conferences anymore. After your experience with this one, would you like to make one again soon?
Suzan: As AEGEE-Eskisehir members we feel the lack of educative and thematic events. We are trying to organize some for our members, however it would be really nice to be part of more international and thematic events and conferences in the near future. Who knows, maybe we can resume the tradition with the support and cooperation of other enthusiastic bodies and locals.

GT: How was the anniversary cake?
Suzan: The taste of chocolate and chestnut was mixed with joy and euphoria. Read the faces of people to guess it!

GT: Anything you would like to add?
Suzan: We are very glad to be a part of this amazing event and thankful to ones who make it possible, especially to my local organizer friends, our main coordinator Ozan Isgor, coordinators of the other six antennae for their great effort, the Anniversary Team and the AAFB for supporting us and everyone else who believed in us and shared our enthusiasm and happiness. We are sure we are a part of AEGEE history now!