Friday September 16th to Sunday September 18th 2022
You ‘re probably wondering what is happening with the National Convention “Sweet Desserts”. Below you can find a first taste of our chocolate chip cookies, with many more in the oven!
The program
You can now book your Saturday program for the National Convention of JCI Belgium 2022!
The program consists of a few choices you have to make.
The first question is: are you coming to the GAP on Friday? We are having croques in De Bevoorrading and want to make sure to have enough food for everyone.
On Saturday, we have some exciting content for you! everything will either take place in the school DVM Basisschool or in a location at about 2 minutes walking distance.
Saturday starts at 8am with breakfast. We are providing pastries and we will get coffee for everyone.
At 9am, we start with the first block of content. You can choose from the next items:
- GA Belgium
- GA Foundation and GA Senate
- Create your own Pralines
You learn how to make chocolate bonbons and you get 25 pralines and a lollypop with you as well! Lots of yummie fun 🤤
This workshop is in Dutch and is provided by PraNils - Training Public Speaking
Learn how to speak in front of a crowd and get your point acros effectively. This training has lots of hands-on experience so a great start if you haven’t done so very often, or a fantastic refresher if you forgot during lockdown.
This training is in Dutch and is taught by Wouter Danckaert - BEEP
The Business Experience Exchange Platform is a great way to learn from your peers. An issue you are struggling on within your business, may not be unique. Maybe someone in the group has some useful insights on how to work your way out of it!
This workshop is in French and is guided by Fanny Hogge - Company Visit Utopia
Utopia has been the pretties library of Flanders twice already and serves the city for multiple purposes. It has been the home-base for the International Games Day for a few years already as well
This company visit is in Dutch.
At 12:30pm, we are heading to the playing yard of the school for pizza’s and drinks. Hope that helps rejuvenate you all for the second part of the day.
Starting 1:30pm, you can choose what to do and where to go again. Check the following list for something you want to do or see:
- Keynotes
- AI for dummies
Have you ever wondered if and how Artificial Intelligence will impact the world, but you don’t want to go in too much detail? This is great! Geert Vromman is specialized in everything AI and has done lots of projects in different sectors of industry.
This keynote will be in English - KETO-cakes
The KETO-diet has been very popular the past few years. But how can you combine KETO and cake? This talk has everything: great dietary advise and a business story in one! Uncle Patrick is going to explain everything.
This keynote will be in Dutch - Convincing Companies Compass
Wouter Danckaert poured all his insights and knowledge into practical models, which in turn are part of the Convincing Company Compass. In ‘The Convincing Company Compass’, you will go on a journey through the Aspiration Mountains, the Approach Business Park, the Arguments Lab and Attitude City, with the help of a whole bunch of tips and user-friendly worksheets. These four perspectives help you look at your business in a different way and contain something for every entrepreneur.
this keynote will be in English - Surprise
A fourth keynote might be revealed shortly!
- AI for dummies
- Create your own Pralines
You learn how to make chocolate bonbons and you get 25 pralines and a lollypop with you as well! Lots of yummie fun 🤤
This workshop is in French and Dutch and is provided by PraNils - Training Debating
Have you ever tried to argue with someone and it didn’t go too well? This is the training you are looking for. Sylvie an Tim will teach you how to respond to new information during a debating session and will show you the rules of competitive debating within and outside of JCI. You will have the chance to form a debating-team and try out different setups.
This training is in Dutch - Lâcher-prise pour mieux grandir
Le lâcher-prise est une compétence clé dans le développement personnel. Cette compétence est source de sérénité : elle permet de prioritiser, déléguer, prendre la responsabilité de ses choix et de responsabiliser les équipes. Le lâcher-prise est aussi essentiel pour apprendre à s’écouter et déterminer ses pensées limitantes. Une vraie compétence de leadership pour soi et pour les autres. Cette formation définira le lâcher-prise, ses bénéfices ainsi que les façons de l’appliquer. Le tout agrémenté d’échanges, de partages personnels et exemples
This training is presented by our very own National President, Laurence Schuurman and will be in French - Company Visit Utopia
Utopia has been the pretties library of Flanders twice already and serves the city for multiple purposes. It has been the home-base for the International Games Day for a few years already as well
This company visit is in French.
In the evening, we have a great gala with amazing food for you to end the convention with.
Please let us know if you are attending so we can keep track of number of plates and allergies.
The hotels
We advice everyone to book a room at the Tower Hotel, as this is the one we have designated as our “HQ hotel” (although we won’t have any activities over there). If you want a little more “chique”, we advise the Royal Astrid.
Both the Royal Astrid and the Tower Hotel are in the city center and are in walking distance of the main locations for Friday and Saturday.
Lastly, if you would like to be (almost) next to the gala-location, we can recommendHostellerie De Biek. This is about 2 minutes walking from the gala-location.
- Tower Hotel: https://www.towerhotelaalst.com/nl/
- Royal Astrid: https://royalastridaalst.be/hotel
- De Biek: https://www.hostelleriedebiek.be/nl/kamers
The cookie dough
We have had lots of deep water to swim to get here.
Our story starts in Mechelen. Because of lots of delayed weddings, we couldn’t, for the life of us, find a location for our gala-dinner.
Later, we moved to a congress center in Edegem, Ter Elst. After a very long negotiation, we felt obliged, for the financial stability of JCI Belgium, to move again.
So, we are moving to Aalst. Third time’s the charm.
De Snip is a location near the city center but still within the green. This move means we have a bigger budget available for the program, because we have been neglecting that. We know.
We’ll start Friday off with a get together and get re-acquainted party. We are still thinking of ways to make it more informative, but a party should be the first thing on the Friyay-evening. We’ll make sure there is food.
Saturday will be a more traditional convention day with a GA for the presidents and boards, trainings, workshops and company visits. We still plan on making it a public speaking academy (light), and have already booked some workshops so you can make your own pralines.
More about our Saturday program later.
The toppings
We offer you one fee of 169 euros. No expensive late fees to deal with.
The pudding
To conclude: one fee of 169 euros for the entire convention. This will get you the following:
- An all in fee to the entire weekend
- GAP on Friyay
- Entry to the GA
- Trainings
- Company vitis
- Debating and public speaking competitions (moderated by experts)
- Gala
- A lot of fun
Are you excited yet? Register below!
The bakery
Say hello to Ine Lepage, Kjell Spruyt, Pepijn Palmans and Simon Meurs. We will be your bakery of service.
Of course, we can’t do this alone. We are getting help from various people of JCI Mechelen for location scouting, partners,… and some others have indicated to join the team as well.
If you are a fun person, contact us to see if you would like to be a part of the bakery as well. Lot’s of cream is still to be whipped.
Helping with putting everything in the oven and getting the cookies ready for you, is Annelies Vijncke of JCI Gent Artevelde. If you don’t know who she is, shame on you.
We have been joined by Tom Staelens out of JCI Aalst as well. Passionate about communication, he is helping us to communicate more. You won’t mind that, I guess.
And not to forget! Tim Dehaes of JCI Leuven is the man who is making sure we don’t complete lose it with the Excels and such.