Normally summer is a very quiet season for AEGEEans, but definitely not for AEGEE-Cagliari, more busy than ever in organizing the Agora. With the website of Autumn Agora Cagliari launched some days ago, the hype around the general assembly, the first one in Italy since 2006, couldn’t be higher. We spoke with some members of the Core Team, namely Simone Ruscica (Main Coordinator), Mattia Abis (Vice Coordinator), Damiano Deidda (President of AEGEE-Cagliari and Vice Incoming Responsible), Stefano Corsini (FR Responsible) and Enrico Caddeddu (PR Responsible) in order to see what they have instored for us.
The AEGEEan: In Agora Zaragoza everything took place in only one building, in Agora Patra participants were sleeping in one place, having plenaries in another one. What is the solution you chose for Agora Cagliari?
Simone: Actually, we booked the best touristic village by the seaside, it means we will have plenaries and parties on the beach [He laughs]. Trying to be serious, Agora Cagliari will take place in the Sardinia International Fair, in the very city center. We will be able to host around 900 participants. Sleeping place, plenaries and various rooms will be less then 100m from each other, so we won’t waste energy and time moving from place to place. We will move just for parties, and you will just have to wait see what parties we will prepare.
The AEGEEan: About HR, AEGEE-Cagliari is the biggest local in the Rainbow Area (Italian speaking locals, AEGEE-Valletta and Contact of AEGEE-Europe in Lugano ed.), but are you planning to issue an Open Call for helpers?
Simone: Good question with the right timing. We just issued the open call for Helpers “around the Rainbow” to give the possibility also to other locals to take part in the biggest and best event of the network. AEGEE-Cagliari will provide around 50 organizers, but we need some more for the best Agora ever.
The AEGEEan: We are currently facing an economic depression phase. Have you had any difficulties in finding sponsors and partners?
Stefano: The current economic depression generated skepticism and shyness, forcing companies to be more careful and cut their investments. Nevertheless, the Agora surely raised interest and curiosity because of its international nature, although sometimes it happed that companies looked at the event as too big or too small for their ranges and targets. About private sponsors, the only difficulties we had and still have is time running out and reaching directly managers or marketing responsible. About the support from public institutions, the candidature of Cagliari as European Capital of Culture 2019 certainly gives us more value and we indeed concluded very important partnerships with institutions and local governments, in particular with Sardinia Autonomous Region and Fondazione Banco di Sardegna that are strongly supporting our General Assembly.
The AEGEEan: Let’s speak about food. Sardinia is well know for the delicacies we can eat. Any spoiler about the menu yet?
Mattia: AEGEE-Cagliari gave me the responsibility regarding Agora meals since I am the most famous glutton in the city and this passion lead me to draft what we will eat around 4 months ago: I already have the complete menù of the Agora. If everything is fine with the budget, as we hope, every meal will will consist of two courses, a side dish plus some bread. Of course we are not going to eat porceddu or sa mrecca since we would have some logistical problems but we will have enough traditional food in the menu. Some spoilers? I will give you three: Millefoglie di Carasau con verdure e pecorino, Fregola Sarda con verdure and Maiale arrosto al profumo di mirto. If you don’t know what they are you can Google them [He laughs]. Maybe I am giving you too much info and now I am also scared that participants will kill me if food won’t be good enough.
The AEGEEan: It’s a constant that internet connection during Agoras creates a lot of problems for the Chair Team or the online voting process. Do you have any agreement to have separate lines for Chair Team and participants?
Simone: It will not be a problem during our Agora. The Sardinia International Fair is provided with a strong internet connection system. Surely we will create a dedicated line for the Chair Team and CD. Everybody will have the possibility to call parents, boyfriends and girlfriends, cats and dogs on Skype [He laughs]. Or just upload pictures and selfies during Agora Cagliari.
The AEGEEan: According to your website, among your partners you will have UnicaRadio, the student web radio. Apart from the live streaming, can we expect to be on air there?
Enrico: Live streaming will be implemented thanks to the help of Tiscali on Streamago-Tv, while Unica Radio, during the event, will likely have a desk from where they will broadcast their programs with a particular attention on the Agora.
The AEGEEan: Your T-shirt Keep calm and Say “Oliooo”! was worn during Agora Patra by a lot of people. Are you working on other merchandising items?
Enrico: Definitely yes! PR team is working to produce creative merchandising items, not only T-shirts. I don’t want to tell you too much in advance, but for sure we will print them aiming at the most famous things in Cagliari, like flamingos.
The AEGEEan: One of the most wanted events prior to the Agora are pre-events. Have you already been contacted by locals interested in hosting one?
Mattia: Well, we are trying to coordinate a bit the locals that crave to organize a pre-event for what concerns possible discounts or help them to reach Cagliari, and to give them visibility also through our channels. Next two weeks will be fundamental since we all would like to have them public on intranet by the end of July: until that moment I’m not going to give you any spoiler about locals that are trying or will organize them, it’s top secret. What I can tell you is that, at this very moment, there are six Italian locals, from north to south of our peninsula, trying to organize a pre-event: let’s see if all of them will finalize their intentions. We really hope they will!
The AEGEEan: Last Agora in Italy was organized in Napoli in 2006. Have you spoken with them?
Simone: We started to talk with them since we decided to run as hosting local for the Agora. They gave us a lot of advice and they supported us minute by minute. One week ago they also sent us a video and two letters telling us to be strong, never give up and that they were proud of us. What can I say, with AEGEE-Napoli people we are like brothers, that’s why we are also organizing the TSU together.
The AEGEEan: You will organize a TSU with AEGEE-Napoli. Was it difficult to organize those two events more or less at the same time?
Damiano: Actually we can say that we hadn’t particular difficulties. Before starting organizing both events, we divided ourselves in two different teams. The Agora preparations give us incredible energy and enthusiasm, and this is influencing also the Summer University organizers. In particular last months when the group of active members became for us a second “family”, a very strong group of enthusiastic and inspired people. This helps a lot to live months before every event in a positive way. Moreover, for us, the Summer University is also the perfect opportunity for team building and training for future Agora organizers, by giving to new active members tasks, responsibilities and the team awareness that the organization of international events needs. So, we can say that it is not difficult, but also helps a lot to build a great group that you will have pleasure to see during Agora Cagliari.
Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Venezia