From 31st of October till 4th of November all AEGEE eyes will look to Budapest. For the third time after 1991 and 1995 the Agora will take place there. The Golden Times previously reported what you can expect from this spectacular event. Now we asked main organiser “Marci” Márton Demeter about the current state of the Agora organisation, just two months before this great event will take place in the Hungarian capital.

Golden Times: Marton, only two more months till the Agora. What kind of feedback do you get from the network? Are the AEGEE members excited?
Marton Demeter (smiles): Nine weeks left! As far as we experience it, everybody is really looking forward to Agora Budapest. The whole network is waiting for this to happen for a long, long time. We have almost 1000 likes on our Facebook page, the last couple of statutory events had only around 700 to 750 likes. Our members arriving back home from SUs are telling us that everybody is talking about Budapest… We have huge expectations to pass!

Main organiser Márton Demeter with the thank-you letter of the CD after the second Agora in Budapest in 1995.

Golden Times: How would you describe the atmosphere in your team?
Marton: Diverse. We have been working together on this Agora since the beginning of March 2012, but the job started last September. Like always there are good periods and bad periods. Everybody is getting more tired day by day, but thanks god we could relax a bit during this summer. Now we are re-starting our organising efforts full of energy. Next weekend we will have a four day long strategy planning weekend together with some chilling and team-building. Of course there is some stuff to change in the team to raise the level of efficiency and there are some fields we have to focus on a bit more, but I’m really proud of my team so far!

The Agora will take place in this building.

Golden Times: How do you keep the motivation in your team up?
Marton: It’s not easy to keep up motivation. There are three factors: reaching some kind of success, experiencing that the other team members are working hard and made a commitment for the Agora; and motivating the team with some tools. It’s not always easy.

Golden Times: What do you still have to focus more on in the next two months?
Marton: Fund-raising is quite challenging, but we are pushing it hard, so I expect some nice results in the next weeks. Also there is still some stuff to arrange with partners, but I think we are good. We might see the light at the end of the tunnel soon.

Golden Times: The plenary will take place in the same place in 1991 and 1995. What can you tell about it?
Marton (smiles): The main hall of the main building at the campus of Corvinus University of Budapest. It will be an exhausting job to place 700 seats and build up a stage, but there are many strong boys in the team. If everything goes well, there will be some additional decoration and info notes in the hall, but I shall not tell more about this surprise.

Golden Times: What kind of parties will there be? Any special locations or themes?
Marton: Have you ever experienced a bad hair party with 700 people? If not, then Budapest will be the place for that! The locations are under negotiations but for sure I can tell you that we are talking about the most popular places of Budapest.

Golden Times: How much Hungarian culture will the participants experience?
Marton (smiles): I hope everybody likes Pálinka and Tokaji. Otherwise I hope that during workshops, side events, the opening ceremony and the European Night the participants will learn about Budapest and Hungary.

Golden Times: Will there be thematic panels or discussions like in Enschede?
Marton: Most probably on the first day and also during the fairs. We will publish more details about this in a couple of weeks, but trust me it seems to be exciting.

Golden Times: Where will everybody sleep?
Marton (smiles): My advice is to sleep in your sleeping bag, or in someone else’s sleeping bag, but still in a sleeping bag. The gyms are located in a sports centre around 10 minutes by bus from the University. Of course we will transport the participants by private buses.

Golden Times: Can you tell us something concrete about pre-events and post-events?
Marton: Unfortunately we don’t know anything official yet. I hope that there will be couple of them, as Budapest is surrounded by many great and enthusiastic locals. There are gossips about Bratislava and Maribor.

Golden Times: Where can people get up-to-date information about the Agora?
Marton: In general all questions are warmly welcomed to write to info@agorabudapest.hu . About visa issues you can write to visa@agorabudapest.hu. I highly advise to check our webpage time to time: www.agorabudapest.hu. There you can find the latest news and also a FAQ page to provide information to the participants! If you missed our Facebook or Twitter pages it’s not too late to follow them!

Golden Times: You also made a promotion video recently. What can you tell us about that?
Marton: We have couple of promotion videos for the Agora. Two of them were released already. And still one is coming soon. Also we have a video which was awarded third prize on the official video contest of the European Economy and Social Commission. Our movies try to show how we, young European students, see Budapest. I’m really proud of my team and thankful for all the work they did about these movies. Very good job.

Here are the videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9593-0tpQEo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHL-xnLV5bY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92FCelNC9Ks

Links
Check the previous Gold Times article about Agora Budapest: http://www.central.aegee.org/~erth/goldentimes/?p=2200
The Agora Budapest website: : www.agorabudapest.hu
The Agora Budapest Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/AutumnAgoraBudapest2012
The Agora Budapest Twitter account: http://twitter.com/agora_budapest
Agora Budapest application site: http://www.zeus.aegee.org/statutory/ag1210/apply_front.php