AIM
From JBPedia
AIM stands for Annual International Meeting, which is held every year at the beginning of August. This year's AIM will be held in Berlin, Germany – to read more about it, check out the official AIM 2010 page.
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What is AIM?
AIM stands for Annual International Meeting, and it is a gathering of a large number of people from all over the organisation who work to evaluate the previous year, make plans for the coming year, make decisions and get trained.
This meeting is also used to pass official motions which make changes within the whole of CISV International – however, this takes only one session in the four-day duration of the meeting. It is also a time where International Committees design and have their year-long committee plans approved. Every year there are several workshops and sessions on important issues relevant to CISV. Also, programmes that will be hosted are defined and invitations are given out, and many other "operational tasks" like this one are carried out.
Who attends AIM?
AIM is a meeting for everyone who is interested in participating actively within the organisation – whether as those who go in an "delegation" in order to develop their NA, as a Committee member or as a person who is new to this whole scenario and is interested in getting involved.
The International Board is present at AIM, and they attend plenary sessions throughout the day. During these, they voice their opinions, have discussions and get informed on issues that concern our organisation. The International Board includes the following people:
- National Association Trustees
- IJRs
- International Committee Chairs
- International Executive Committee
- Secretary General
- Honorary Councellors
Everyone is welcome to attend the plenary sessions, and it is always a good idea to sit near to your Trustee or the chair of the committee you're working in – so that if you want to tell them an idea you have that is related to the discussion, you can do it and they will be able to voice it in the plenary. The IJRs usually have several engaged juniors sitting near them who they consult during the sessions!
AIM happenings - how to get around?
"Observer Agenda"
You should definitely carry one of these around with you! You can download it at Resources under the AIM Documents folder. A complete must-have, it will guide you by listing the times and places of the following events:
Plenary Sessions
The plenary is not always in a full-scale debate, check your Agenda to see if there is an activity, a presentation or a discussion on a topic that you're interested in. Also all Committees report on what they did last year and present the coming year's plan, there is the famous decision-making session called AGM (Annual General Meeting) and the other "classic" moments such as the Opening and Circle of Nations.
Workshops
While the plenary hosts all of these happenings, there are parallel workshops taking place around the site. Check your agenda and the AIM News for more info on these.
Excursions
Did you sign up for an excursion with your registration? The time for the parallel excursions is on the Agenda, and if you're not going on any it's always a good opportunity to relax, work or find something new and exciting to do outside of the AIM routine.
AIM News
There is a group of dedicated people within the AIM Staff that put together an issue of AIM News every day. Find it at breakfast and check out what is happening where each day! Also you'll find some random news from around the world, short articles written by AIM participants and other funny stuff.
IJBC Live! Coverage
In 2008 there was an initiative to cover IJBC through a blog. The coverage then ran into AIM, and it turned out to be a very good informative resource both for people reading from their computers at home and for people at AIM wanting to find out what was rolling that day!
Post-IJBC Sessions
There are a number of sessions ran by juniors and for juniors once IJBC ends and AIM starts. Usually you can find out when and where they take place through emails to the IJBC participants and through posters being hung around the site.
A little bit of history
AIM was previously called IBM (International Board Meeting). In 2001, the name was changed due to the fact that it could sound confusing, given that a big company already had the name IBM!
Here is a list of past AIM host countries. If you can think of things that happened there, fun stories, decisions that were made or anything related to them, don't be shy and add it to this AIM's page.
- AIM 2012 - France
- AIM 2011 - Indonesia
- AIM 2010 - Germany
- AIM 2009 - Guatemala
- AIM 2008 - Italy
- AIM 2007 - Colombia & Canada
- AIM 2006 - Sweden
- AIM 2005 - Thailand
- AIM 2004 - Israel
- AIM 2003 - Costa Rica
- AIM 2002 - Finland
- AIM 2001 - USA
- IBM 2000 - Austria
- IBM 1999 - Brazil
- IBM 1998 - Denmark
- IBM 1997 - Australia
- IBM 1996 - Turkey & Norway
- IBM 1995 - Canada
- IBM 1994 - Netherlands
- IBM 1993 - England
- IBM 1992 - Japan
- IBM 1991 - Mexico
- IBM 1990 - France
This is a list of the coming AIMs:
- AIM 2010 - Germany
- AIM 2011 - Indonesia
- AIM 2012 - France
- AIM 2013 - Brazil?? To be decided next year!
Criticism
Many, many people criticise the structure, usefulness and cost-effectiveness of AIMs. A comprehensive analysis on AIM Structure was produced by Nick Trautmann in 2006 and evaluates the current format of AIM. Out of this report came the idea of the Square AIM, presented on the CISV Devils Website, and discussed by an IJB Taskforce in 2006.
Other proposals include moving the AIM to another time of the year and having it only bi-annually, while having EEC Meetings more often during the year.
