AIESEC in The Netherlands had a national conference, on Tuesday and Wednesday, in Amsterdam. AIESECers from all of the local committees, along with their trainees, were invited. There must have been close to 200 delegates in total - about 20 from Tilburg, including me and Ben.
I had missed the national conference held towards the end of last year, so I wanted to experience this one. I was interested in seeing how a Dutch AIESEC conference compares to one in New Zealand.
Ben and I met the Tilburg AIESECers at the station just before 7:30am. I was surprised when I saw Ben wearing a suit. Apparently, everyone was supposed to be dressed formally for conference. Ben had been told about this the previous night, at the Monday drinks, but this was after I had already gone home. So, I was wearing my usual casual clothes - what I would normally wear if I were going to a conference in New Zealand. While I stood out from most people at the conference venue, it wasn't too bad. I actually wasn't the only one to be dressed non-formally and at least I was comfortable during the sessions.
The conference was well sponsored, so no delegate's fee was charged. The only costs were the transport to and from Amsterdam and whatever drinks you bought at the party.
I was surprised by how short the conference was - two days. This was probably necessary as the conference had been organised for a time when university lectures were still running. The AIESECers that I talked with said that people were generally too busy in the university holidays for the conference to be scheduled for then. I think it was seen more as a "business event", whereas the New Zealand AIESECer would see his/her national conference as something more fun.
The opening plenary began with roll calls from all of the local committees and then the trainees as a group. Most of them had written songs which they performed to the music of well-known songs. I was impressed. The member committee just did the Ojos Asi line dance (Shakira). In a New Zealand conference, most people would have flooded the stage to join in. But here, everyone sat and watched.
One of the sessions was a presentation by Geert Hofstede - a professor who has done a lot of research about culture. Even I have heard of him, so I thought we were fortunate to have him at the conference to present his theory. He examines a group's culture in terms of five dimensions (power distance, individualism, masculinity/femininity, uncertainty avoidance, short-term/long-term orientation). Due to cultural differences, it is usually inappropriate to apply a management practice that works in one country, to another country. The theory also explains why there is often conflict when people from different cultures interact.
On the whole, I agree with his theory. But, I am wary that culture is a generalised concept.
Everyone had the opportunity to ask questions afterwards. Some people asked Hofstede about another person who had researched culture, that he obviously has some type of rivalry with. It was funny when he launched into how the other researcher had done nothing original and how he was more of a "clever salesperson" than an real academic.
Later, the AIESECers had sessions in smaller groups and, as trainees, we had our own session. We talked about our traineeship experiences and advice that we would give to future trainees. It was very general and I found it only mildly interesting.
The party was held at the hotel where the AIESECers were staying. I had fun dancing but the music stopped at 1am. The plan was for the trainees to sleep at the apartment building where almost all of the Amsterdam trainees live. I ended up sharing a taxi back to Reg's place - to the east of Central Amsterdam.
I had to work the next day, but I decided to steal a sleep-in. I didn't leave Amsterdam until 9am, so I arrived at work at around 10:30am.
posted by James 7:15 pm
I just had a very nice weekend.
Agnieszka, Marton and I had dinner at the flat, on Saturday night, with Ben - the new AIESEC trainee, from Australia. Agnieszka and I walked to the station to meet him at 7pm. The weather was miserable. Constant drizzle and the wind was as strong as I have ever experienced in Tilburg. After finally meeting Ben (he had caught the bus from his place), we walked to the supermarket to buy the ingredients for dinner. We ended up cooking the same as the last time we had a joint dinner - so much pasta with a tomato/meat sauce. Marton contributed a cappucino ice-cream dessert.
Ben has already spent a year in The Netherlands. He studied in Maastricht during 2002. So, his culture shock hasn't been as strong as that of the usual freshly-arrived trainee. He is relaxed and easy to get along with. Maybe I have this impression because the cultures of our countries are relatively similar.
I walked him to the bus stop, around the block, just after 11pm. After I returned home, Agnieszka, Marton and I all did the washing up. I actually felt like I was having fun doing the dishes!
Sunday's weather was much better than Saturday's. So much better, that I even went for a run - a good 45-minuter.
In the evening, I met Marina in town, then we walked back to her place to watch a movie. It was called "The irony of fate", a movie which is based around the idea that in The Soviet Union, many cities had identical buildings and street names. On New Year's Eve, one of the main characters gets drunk and is mistakenly put on a flight from Moscow to Leningrad (really, his friend was supposed to take the flight). He finds himself outside Leningrad airport, where he hails a taxi and tells the driver his address (the one in Moscow). There is a street of the same name in Leningrad and even the apartment building looks the same. Incredibly, when he tries his key on the door of "his apartment", it works! He stumbles inside and falls asleep on "his bed". The woman who is the true apartment occupant arrives home shortly thereafter. An unlikely love story unfolds.
This movie is almost 30 years old and it is shown each New Year's Eve.
posted by James 8:48 am