Some trips are holidays. Others come with an agenda, speakers and a lot of last-minute decisions.
ERAC 2026 took me to Wrocław, Poland, for another gathering of AIESEC alumni from across Europe. As always at ERAC, I was the agenda manager, which meant designing the conference agenda and finding and coordinating most of our speakers.
Pierogi and dwarf hunting before ERAC
I arrived on Wednesday evening, while ERAC itself only started at 5 pm on Thursday. That gave us some time before conference mode really began.
The first evening, I met the AIESEC Alumni Europe board for dinner. Being in Poland, pierogi were the obvious choice.
Afterwards, we went for a walk through Wrocław—and started hunting dwarfs.
Once you spot the first little bronze figure, it becomes difficult to stop looking for them. They sit on pavements, climb things, work, read and represent all kinds of professions and activities.
But the dwarfs have a more serious history. They go back to the Orange Alternative, an anti-communist protest movement that used humour and absurdity to challenge the authorities in the 1980s. Dwarf graffiti appeared where the authorities had painted over anti-government slogans, and the dwarf became a playful symbol of resistance. Today, hundreds of little bronze dwarfs are scattered around Wrocław and have become one of the city's trademarks.
Close to our hotel, I discovered another unusual piece of Wrocław street art: the Anonymous Pedestrians. Life-size figures gradually disappear into the pavement on one side of the street and emerge again on the other. The installation is connected to Poland's communist past and the martial-law period, symbolising people and opposition activity being forced underground and later re-emerging. Together with Wrocław's dwarfs, it was another reminder that some of the city's most unusual public art has a much more serious story behind it.
Watching the agenda come alive
On Thursday at 5 pm, it was finally time for ERAC to start.
There is something very satisfying about watching an agenda happen that, for months, has mainly existed in spreadsheets, emails and calls.
We had brought together speakers and sessions on topics ranging from leadership and mentoring to storytelling, mindfulness and decision making. And being agenda manager meant that I wasn't simply sitting back and enjoying them. There were speakers to welcome, timings to watch and the inevitable adjustments and decisions that come with a live conference.
Polish Night
Thursday evening was Polish Night, giving our hosts the opportunity to introduce us to a little more of the country we were visiting.
First, we got to test how much we actually knew about Poland with a Kahoot quiz. Afterwards, the evening became more active, with dances from different regions of the country.
A very AIESEC way to start a European conference: learn something about the host country, add a bit of competition and then get everyone moving.
Can you pitch it in 90 seconds?
One format I particularly enjoy is our Marketplace, where alumni pitch their offers and services to the other participants.
In 2025, presenters had three minutes. This year, I decided to challenge them: 90 seconds.
Half the time, same task.
It worked. The shorter pitches brought energy to the Marketplace and forced everyone to concentrate on what they really wanted people to remember.
20 slides, 20 seconds – in theory
We also introduced PechaKucha as a new format: 20 slides with 20 seconds for each slide, making a complete presentation exactly 6 minutes and 40 seconds long. At least, that was the idea.
Some presenters mastered the timing and moved through their 20 slides at exactly 20 seconds each.
Others respected the overall time limit but took a somewhat more creative approach to how those 6 minutes and 40 seconds were distributed across the individual slides.
Either way, it was fast, different and certainly kept the audience—and the agenda manager—awake.
Gala Night
ERAC wasn't only about managing the agenda. As President of AIESEC Alumni Europe, I also had the honour of leading through our Gala Night.
One of the highlights was presenting awards to individuals and countries from across our alumni community. After spending much of the conference concentrating on speakers, sessions and timings, it was a chance to celebrate the people and national alumni associations behind everything we do.
ERAC and Wrocław
Between sessions, dinners, the Gala Night and conversations, there was still time to reconnect with old friends, meet new alumni—and occasionally look down to see which dwarf was hiding nearby.
Agenda organised, speakers delivered, awards presented, pierogi eaten and dwarfs found. Another ERAC done.
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