I was a part of the Singapore delegation to Entrepreneurship & Youth – A Learning Network (EYLN) conference organized by AIESEC in Universiti Kebangsan Malaysia, held from the 15th to the 17th of May, 2009. I write this to acknowledge the great impact that was created by this conference on me and on the other delegates.

I joined AIESEC in Sri Lanka in 2007 and then moved to Singapore. I was the Vice President Outgoing Exchange of AIESEC in Nanyang Technological University for year 2008/09 and at the time of EYLN, I had nearly completed my executive board term. Before EYLN, I had attended two local conferences and one international conference, all held in Singapore, which made EYLN my first overseas conference experience.

The organizing committee did a tremendous job from the very beginning, the publicity level. The delegate mailers were of professional level and they helped me to prepare myself for the conference ahead. Particularly during the conference, the organizing committee took a brilliant effort to keep the delegates alive with the pace of the event, from setting ground rules not to use laptops during the sessions to encouraging the delegates to get used to AIESEC dances, to keep up the AIESEC spirit.

I myself had been in organizing committees (OCs) and I have experienced that the most important thing is to make the delegates attached to the theme of the conference, a job tha the EYLN OC did very well. The logistics planning and facilities were quite comfortable for us and most importantly the friendliness and helpfulness of the OC members is still a refreshing memory.

In terms of the agenda, I felt that it was masterpiece of careful thought and great planning, really enabling the delegates to stay with the theme as well as to awaken their passion in the field of entrepreneurship. The sessions were of extremely high quality, conducted by high-profile speakers and it was really empowering to be guided by local gurus in the field, such as Mr. George Ang and Mr. Jonathan Quek.

I am particularly thankful to EYLN for enabling me to identify the entrepreneur in me, as one of the sessions guided us to this discovery by matching the entrepreneurship with personality profiles.This was my best take-away from the three days. Last but not least, the most wonderful mission accomplished by EYLN was how it crafted the conference to the majority non-AIESEC crowd in the AIESEC way.

First, I was so surprised to see that the absolute majority of the audience were high-school and college students with no AIESEC background. As a person who had had two years of AIESEC experience, I was in doubt how could this conference cater to both ends of the crowd. It was a spectacular job at the end. EYLN took a big step forward to integrate non-AIESECers to our culture. I know that quite a number of them are active AIESECers now. In addition, it was really nice to see that incoming AIESEC trainees were also engaged in the conference management process, effectively.

As a summary, I shall note down the several good case practices(GCPs) that I learned at EYLN and happened to share with the members and leadership body of AIESEC in Singapore.
 The use of high-profile speakers in order to ensure the accurate delivery of the conference theme
 The smart approach to crafting the AIESEC message to non-AIESEC audiences
 The active engagement of incoming exchange participants (EPs) in local conferences

Since EYLN, I had the opportunity to attend many conferences including the recent International Congress (IC). When I look back, I feel that EYLN was the best conference in its own limits and its own unique way that did the ultimate justice to me, making a great impact on me. AIESEC has evolved to the present level due to the great people who had great dreams and I commend EYLN crew for being part of this great AIESEC generation. I wish every success in their future steps too.
I will be available at the undersign should you wish to clarify any of the above-mentioned statements.

The AIESEC (EYLN 2009) session was inspiring and enlightening for me in realising my dream. The activities enhance my entrepreneurial and leadership skills. I learnt not only theoretical knowledge but also practical knowledge which is based on real business life.

Many successful entrepreneurs shared their valuable experiences. In short, AIESEC (EYLN 2009) is a good opening for the young generation to fully develop and understand the power of their dreams. As Confucius said a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

There is no doubt that EYLN 2009's success was largely due to the Organizing Committee's passion and commitment in achieving the goals of this event. In fact, it was neither its contents nor objectives that first enticed the Sunway Group to support EYLN 2009. It was the young talents who were the driving force that won the Group over.

As a market leader in 9 core industries and being in over 40 locations worldwide, one of the Sunway Group’s mission is to continuously ATTRACT, RETAIN & DEVELOP competent Human Capital. We believe that our talents are our greatest assets.

Hence, Sunway will always be supportive of initiatives like EYLN which develop leadership in undergraduates, making them more competent and marketable. AIESEC's passion and effort in developing youth will create talent pipelines for employers like the Sunway Group, as we are constantly searching for talents locally and abroad. We all know that there will always be a war for talents, regardless of the economic situation.

We feel that Sharon and her Organising Committee have made tremendous sacrifices and efforts in making the EYLN 2009 a overwhelming success. Kudos to the Team!

EYLN 2009. A name that stand by its own. It was an absolute life changing experience to have participated in such a meaningful conference.

I had once have a very different mindset about EYLN. When I got to know about this conference, I was like "Alaaa, another boring conference. I don't like to speak up and be such sporting people lah. I stand nowhere in the crowd, very weird lah". I was not quite interested to sign myself up for the conference. But , one senior of mine keep bugging me to just give it a try. And well, during the last hour of the deadline to sign up for it, I decided to just drag myself there and treat it as an eye opener.

This mindset lasts just for a little while. Although I went in as a not-so-inspired individual, I came out as a fully inspired one! In EYLN we learned about leadership, business ventures, investment and etc soft skills which one will find it useful when you are out in the community. As true as the name says, it's a learning network. We are exposed to many successful individuals and really get inspired by them.

Not just that, we met participants from many other universities. I must say, I do learn from them too. Being in the crowd of very inspired individuals, YES! I do feel inspired too. I was once a very timid person.

Thanks to EYLN, I do find confidence to speak my mind and also to be up on stage. I went in with zero knowledge of entrepreneurship, but I came out with a denser brain and an aim to reach for. And yes! From passion to profession! I dare not to claim that I'm a good leader but through EYLN, I dare to say I'm a better leader. A truly fun yet knowledgeable conference to go for. Looking forward for EYLN 2010 and well done EYLN 2009! It's certainly worthwhile signing up just at the last minute! :)

(p/s please check my grammar lah...gosh....very tired after exam...haha!duno wat m i writing.and yes! english gone rusty since after entering ukm.every1 speaks mandarin =.=..thank u!)