every opportunity, and therefore validate the experience as positive. They knew how to be “mercenaries”, and make use of the time they spent there and the people they met. “There was room to do our work and also to take advantage of the access we had to the event and expand our contact network”, says the Aerospace Engineering student. Of the more than 10.000 young people who applied to the volunteering program, only two thousand were selected, 400 of them from Técnico. At the end of the event, some young people complained of excessive working hours, which left them with little or no time to enjoy the event. Tomás Pereira, a Mechanical Engineering student, cannot say the same. He applied because he “wanted to know what it was like to be on the inside this event”, and he was advised to do so, given his passion for entrepreneurship. He ended up with very simple tasks, and had plenty of time for himself. “I attended several talks that I wanted to, and I know I had access to some special parts, and I enjoyed several moments that I would not be able to if I
were an ordinary participant”, emphasises the Mechanical Engineering student. “I think that the balance of the volunteering experience depends a lot on the expectations one has”, he underlines. “If we think about the genesis of the event, on what we can learn, in the networking we are able to do, the organisational experience we gather, the balance is always positive”, adds Tomás. “I study at Técnico,having lunch and resting are not my priorities when there are better things to do and more interesting people to meet”, says Inês Terrucha, when we asked her about her free time. To those who inquire about her experience, she explains that it was “overwhelming”. She can see the less positive side of the event, but as an engineering student she cannot deny that she feels “filled with expectations and magic towards the world when the great leaders and drivers come on stage to tell us how they change it every day”. Because in those things we cannot help being who we are. •
VALORES PRÓPRIOS 21— 2017
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DÉBORA RODRIGUES / TÉCNICO
EN meet”, highlights Inês Terrucha, an Engineering Physics student. Patrícia Silva agrees: “It was a rewarding experience: to have the possibility to see how an event of this magnitude works, the opportunity to speak with people that otherwise would never be possible.” As ambassadors, their main mission was to make the guests feel welcome. Thus, in addition to accompanying the speakers to the stage, attending some lectures and taking notes, they were asked to create a good atmosphere, showing interest in the work of the people they accompanied. Easy tasks “when you are talking about people so relevant in the world of technology”, says Patrícia Silva. As Inês Terrucha summarises, they had to give a “personal touch to a virtual event.” Inês Terrucha states how striking it was to be able to talk in the “most informal and down-to-earth way possible with Chitra Dorai (IBM), Keyvan Peymani (Amazon) or Sumit Jamuar (Global Gene Corp) or any of the 50 peopleI I met during the event, and who are now part of my contact network.” They have seized