Just Listen to Each Other!

Last night was a long night to say the least. I am FACI-ing (Facilitating) AIESEC Egypt’s last National Conference of the year, MIS. Part of being a FACI is sitting through preparation meetings to be sure that everyone has done their share and approve all the sessions that have been allocated. Maybe elsewhere in the world this meeting would take no more than lets say 2 hours from start to finish. But in Egypt…not so much. The meeting was to begin at 6pm, it started at 6:45, which is pretty good since the one last week started 90 minutes late. We did not leave the AIESEC office until 11pm. Ouch. The constant talking back, interrupting, yelling, disrespect, and talking in circles drove me insane. I was so disappointed in the lack of order and inefficiency of the meeting. I understand that there are cultural differences in the way that meetings are handled, but that was just ridiculous and upsetting. This kind of interactive behavior is something that I have been aware of since the day I arrived. Yelling and interrupting is a lot more commonplace than in the States But regardless of the country, there is no reason for incoming and outgoing MC (National Committee) members along with the 5 FACI’s to disrespect each other’s opinions and feedback, we are too experienced and mature for such things. If there is anything that I can leave as a positive mark on AIESEC in Egypt it’s respecting your team members and leaders. I hate to be so negative about an AIESEC team that has been so welcoming and wonderful to me, but this is just out of order.