Buckle up for empowerment: discussing plenary sessions and the core mission of the YES with the hosts Tulle & Erik
With exclusive access to the brilliant brains of our hosts Erik and Tulle, this blog article discusses empowerment and how it takes place at the YES. This will help you understand the core mission of the YES and what the plenary sessions are all about. In a podcast interview on the YES World Podcast the two hosts shared their experiences and views on the YES – and revealed their key advice for making the most out of the event.
First off, a few words about our hosts this year, who have a lot in common: not only are Tulle and Erik both astonishing Scandinavian blondes and beautiful people inside and out, but also YFU alumni and volunteers, with special expertise in youth leadership; Erik through his co-founding experience of the VALE, and Tulle through her army career and coaching experiences.
These two are the ones you will see on the plenary stage each morning and evening at the YES. “We get to honor a very unique role. Our role is to convey the theme and the message in a creative and engaging way. Moments like the plenaries are very special,” Tulle says. “We want to present this whole thing in .. maybe not in the most expected way, but bringing you on a journey that is very educational and engaging, with a satisfying conclusion,” Erik adds. He describes the plenaries as something almost ceremony-like; “Everyone is there, everyone is paying attention and it’s one of the truly shared moments between everyone at the event,” he explains.
The plenaries take us on an engaging journey that combines all the elements of the event. A lot of new approaches and ideas are planned for this year: “We can definitely say that we have changed a lot of things and are doing it in a way that has never been done before!” Tulle hints, leaving some mystery in the air – everything won’t be revealed just yet, you have to come and experience it!
But what do the two have to say about empowerment and how it’s approached at the YES? It’s a topic that sparks up something in both of them, resulting in beautiful descriptions of the purpose and meaning behind the YES: “Having gone on exchange gives you a true belief that you can do something similar again and overcome challenges. That is to me empowerment, it’s about the belief that I am capable, I can make a change in the world, whether it’s big or small or something within myself. And as volunteers at the YES that is exactly what we want to instill in every participant. We create a beautiful world somewhere with like-minded people who have experienced this similar thing, that you don’t know how to even hold in your hands yet because it’s still so fresh. And when coming back home, others cannot fully relate; they ask you how the exchange year was and expect it to be like a fun vacation, but we know it’s so much more.. It’s up and down, daily life, dating, heart breaks, school, sports… That’s unique about the YES; we want that to be the space where we reflect on that experience and give tools to build on that reflection; that you are capable and you can do what you want and reach your dreams if you work at it. These tools will make you feel like you can do this – and that is empowerment,” Tulle explains.
To broaden the perspective, Erik adds: “True empowerment doesn't happen only when YOU are empowered, but when you are given the conditions and get to the point where you want to pass that along to others: that’s fundamentally the YES, and one of the main purposes it fills since 36 years ago when it started.”
“We want to start to inspire you to elevate, and think that you have had this experience and can now translate it to something that has an impact on others. We want to plant a seed for going from ‘how does this experience affect me’ to ‘how can this affect others, and in YFU words; how can it affect the world around us’.”
Smart words, right? We can only wait and see what kind of wisdom they have in store for us in the plenaries. But how about the hosts’ advice for making the most out of this epic experience, also known as the YES?
“Many people come to the event in very different states of mind, having just left their host families and exchange life behind them… best advice I can give is to see the YES for what it is: it’s not your exchange, not yet home, but a space where you are surrounded by 400+ YFUers and you can swim in the quantity of these amazing connections, conversations, experiences… so that’s where this mindset comes in, and our target is to provide this space for starting those conversations. In the end it’s always up for each individual to make the most of it,” Erik says, and Tulle continues: “Use the YES for the special environment. Go ahead and meet all the new people; volunteers and students, share your experiences and thoughts, actively participate in discussions and in general; take it all in and engage with this.. You will regret if you didn’t. This is a unique opportunity, take the advantage of it. This is the safe space to try out things. So go out there and participate!”
If you want to hear the full discussion with the hosts, head over to the newest episode of The YES World podcast – available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.