CyberFootprint

International trainers convened on April 25th, in Prague to give free lectures to students and young professionals. The event was dedicated to skills development and networking among the students and trainers alike. ITD was made possible because of AIESEC, whose diligent members organized the whole event.

Personal Branding – morning training

Right after the check-in and introductory presentation, participants were to attend the first training session, according to their preference. The morning training was lead by the AIESEC trainers. I have chosen a lecture on personal branding, since I wanted to improve my skills and increase my knowledge of the subject.

Overall, the training went quite well. The members managed to skillfully network among each other, and paid attention to the speakers. In terms of the content, the trainers used Rampersad’s model of personal branding. It gave me a new perspective, but did not provide me with any revolutionary information. What set this presentation apart was trainers’ overt enthusiasm for the subject. They loved what they tried to teach us, they felt psyched up about it, and the positive energy was contagious.

What I disliked was the cliche-rich promotion of AIESEC at the beginning and during the course of the trainings. The trainers were students, so some of the listeners did not perceive them as credible enough to lecture. Even though the structure was a bit messy, the presenters managed to get through everything smoothly.

The greatest drawback of the session were the exercises and tasks given to the audience. We were supposed to write down our weaknesses, goals, USPs, etc. Unless the candidate has already pre-conceived ideas about himself and his personal brand, it is very difficult to come up with them right on spot. Since most of the audience did not have an idea about that, they were put under enormous pressure. This caused some friction during the training and raised the level of stress, so the participants’ capacity to learn was slightly impaired.

Strategies for success – afternoon training

After a very nutritious lunch at the school canteen, the participants set out to absorb even more knowledge. This time, the trainings were led by the professional trainers. Dan Vlad, a professional trainer from Ziglar corporation talked to us about strategizing and setting goals for achieving success. He was very pleasant, professional, and approachable.

The audience felt that the speaker was slighly tired, and that made the presentation slightly less interactive than the previous one. I attribute his fatigue to the food he had for lunch. On the other hand, Dan did not have to struggle with lack of credibility, like the student trainers in the morning did. Everybody knew he was a professional who knew what he was doing.

The trainer walked us through affirmations, goal categorization and Steve Jobs’s Stanford speech. All in all, the afternoon session was much more robust and structured than the enthusiasm-packed charge at personal branding.

In conclusion

The greatest benefit of the event was the already mentioned networking with other young people. I met and started relationships with fellow colleagues from Taiwan, Austria, Poland, and many other countries. In case you get a chance to attend an event like that, take a stab at it. You can only gain from it.

Bonus

For those of you who haven’t seen it already, here is Steve Jobs giving speech to Stanford graduates. It’s truly inspirational. Enjoy!

Image credit: ITD banner