Marieliz E.

Collazo
Candidate CC Teamster Special Events
AIESEC International Congress 2011, Kenya

Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.

-Henry Ford
 1. General Information

First name Marieliz

Surname Collazo
Function Your choice
Nationality American
External Relations
Date and Place of January 7, 1989 in Puerto
birth
Logistics  2
Rico
Delegate Servicing
Permanent address Urb. Riverside park c-7/F-29,
Bayamón, PR 00961 Communications

Finance
Permanent telephone 1+787-372-2543
and Mobile no. Information Systems
Primary E-Mail marieliz.collazo@aiesec.net .
Special Events  1
Skype/gchat marieliz.collazo

2. Give a SWOT analysis of your personality and working style

3. Tell us about your biggest success
Academic background in Production Just english and spanish
and Marketing of Special Events Weakness in finance
and what helped you achieve it,
Vast experience in event Sometimes I keep to myself a lot of as well as your worst failure and
managment opinions about something or
Strong leadership experience inside someone when I could say it as a
you reacted to it (can be non-
and outside AIESEC feedback AIESEC related).
Proactive learner
Balance of hard work and fun Biggest Success: I can say my biggest success has
Strong time managment
skills
been to have a full spread in the first puertorrican
newspaper about the movement I created with a
Multi tasking
SWOT friend to make
awareness of the reality
of homeless people
Graduating in June which represent Economic situation
that I'll have time to make my To not understand the local language called SOMOS CALLE.
internship after IC and be an X+L!
Take this experience to enhance my
Adaptability to food Knowing that the team
CV for my professional career. of the newspaper
To implement strategies and GCPs of
ILC which was hosted in my country wanted to highlight our
just 1 month ago. work instead of using
that space for some client
who pays the publicity has been one of the biggest satisfactions for me. I
was entirely devoted to this project, spending my free time on it, in order to
achieve the desire impact. It was not easy, but what help me to
achieve it was the passion, perseverance and commitment that I had
towards this cause. Definitely hard work pays off.

Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.

-Henry Ford
 Worst Failure:

When I was searching the company to do my university internship I

applied to the first choice on my list, the one I wanted for a very long
time. I went to the interview very confident but at the end they
didn’t choose me. For me that was a big failure because I’m always
used to get everything I want. At first I was a little upset trying to
think what I did wrong but at the end I decided not to be because
everything happens for a reason. And actually it did, after they
rejected me I got two job opportunities that opened a lot of doors for
me.

4. What is your vision for the portfolio (Delegate Servicing/ External Relations/ Communications/
Finance/ Logistics/ Information Systems /Special Events) that is your first preference? Describe how you
are best suited for this role.

Quality
Synergy Event
Advanced
between Experience
Preparation
teams for
everyone

The portfolio I vision for the area of Special Event is one that as a result can give a Quality Event
Experience for Everyone. By this I don’t mean only the delegates, but the partners, sponsors, special
guests, FACIs, CC, staff and general public. I’m going to work in order to provide quality experiences to
each one of these groups in all special events in IC. Is very important to think in everyone not just in the
delegates. If we can deliver such experiences then the Special Event Team will have succeed. To achieve
this goal we will have to create an excellent synergy between the teams (in Special Events, Logistics &
ER) because we need them to help us in different details of the events. The second key factor to achieve
Quality Experiences is advanced preparation. The Special Event Team MUST be ready with at least Plan
B and Plan C in case something goes wrong. We will need to be prepared for the worst case scenario,
that way our team will be ready to act fast in any situation.

Why I’m best suited for this role? Academic Background: I’m going to graduate in
May of Production and Marketing of Special
Work
Events with a minor in Public Relations which
Experience in provide me the academic knowledge in this area.
Event
Academic Managment Work Experience: My work experience in the
background in Special Events field has taught me how to deal
AIESEC
Production of
Experience with different situations. I have the complete
Special Events and
Public Relations outlook of each part of an event.

ME AIESEC Experience: As LCP I’ve had to work a lot

with account delivery, managing clients and
leading a team. Because of this I’m capable to
understand the necessities and interests of
different
Coming together is a beginning. Keeping groups.
together is progress. Working together is success.
-Henry Ford
 5. Write about relevant past experience for
the position (first preference) that you are
applying for.

I can say that I’ve had a lot of experience in

the field of special events. I’ve work in music
concerts, awards ceremonies, forums,
conventions, college tours, plays and
festivals. Some of my roles have been stage
coordinator, concierge, event manager,
project manager, master of ceremonies, VIP
Production Assistant
Service conference coordinator, logistics leader, staff
College Tour 2009
and runner.
*For more information you can see my CV in the package*

Project/Event Manager in 6. Write about your past experience in project/event management.

SOMOS CALLE 09|10
I’ve had a compelling experience in project/event management. To mention one example, since 2009
I’m working as project manager of a volunteer movement called SOMOS CALLE. This movement has the
objective to make innovative events in order to create awareness about the reality of the homeless
people in our island. Here I had to do strategic planning to develop the whole concept of the movement,
coordinate meetings and interviews, ensure all the documents were update and manage human
resources as: staff, volunteers, talents and sponsors, among others. This was a project that we started
from scratch so I was in every aspect of it, from the creation of the vision and mission of the project to
the election of the artist’s songs.

Special Events

1. Describe a situation where you were able to multi-task, work under extreme pressure and a
tight deadline and you still achieved your results. Relate the experience to how
best you think you fit in this role.

I’m always multitasking since I have a lot of things running around at the same
time, but the last time I was really with a tight deadline, a lot of things to do
and extreme pressure was during the two weeks of ILC in Puerto Rico.
Although I wasn’t in the CC, as LCP I had to work basically as one. The
weekend of the study tour I was helping (in logistics, housing and budgeting)
the OCP, at the same time I had to work in my regular job all the weekend
and the two days after all that I was having a very important university exam
after a whole one week and a half missing classes…and one day later I was
going to be stage manager of a jazz festival in the conservatory of music of
Puerto Rico, which required to meet with every musicians to coordinate the
stage setting and instruments. So, how I achieved all this things? It was very
hard because literally I didn’t sleep for two days, but my commitment to be
part of all this things gave me the inner strength to do it. Definitely the time
management was (and is) a key factor. As a result I pass my test with A+ and receive a
congratulation letter of all the team of the jazz festival.

Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.

-Henry Ford
2. Prepare an execution plan of Day 0 events (Opening Ceremony, Global Youth Forum and Global
Village) illustrating the order of the events and the agenda flow of all the events. Assume that
Opening Ceremony and Global Youth Forum will be in one venue and Global Village will be in
another venue about 10 km away.

Day 0 is always pretty stressful for agenda managers and logistics. In ILC Puerto Rico we lived it,
actually it had the same events that this case. With this execution plan we have some margin of
error in the agenda when the transportation is happening to manage time. It is very important
to highlight the part of responsible teams because we need to work together with synergy and
communication, which will be the key success factor for this day. In the execution details are
specified important aspects to have in mind during the activities. These details are going to be
more specific by the time we confirm sponsors, special guests, press and delegates.

Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.

-Henry Ford
3. It's August 2011 and IC 2011 is about to start. One day before IC we are told the suppliers had double
booked the venue for Global Village for another organization. Explain in detail what you would do in this
situation. (Use past event management experiences to answer this question).

Plan A Plan B
I'll talk to the person in
charge of the
reservations to see if it
is possible to have
another venue option
with them.
To defend our spot I
would look for the
contracts and show
them that the venue
made an agreement
with us which they had
to fulfill.
Start to look fast for another venue that doesn’t hurt our budget. The
first option will be the closest university around. If it is a university
with an AIESEC Committee much better. This happen to me in real
life with the Youth to Business Forum of ILC 2011 in Puerto Rico. The
venue for this event was cancel less than a week before and I work
with the CCP to move all the contacts in my university. We were
committed to find another place for free because we didn’t want to
hurt the conference budget just for this crisis that we knew we could
manage. In just two days I got all the venues needed, it was pretty
intense. I even wait the President in his office all morning, until he
got there, to talk to him because I knew the only way to found all the
things we needed in so little time was to get to the top authority. As
a result my university hosted the event. They gave us all the chairs,
tables, placemats, sound equipment and promotion material for free.

Then I'll talk with the

other organization and
IT’S TIME
explain them the
importance of our
event to see if they are
willing to gave us their
space.
FOR AFRICA!
If you have any questions or suggestions regarding this application
contact me at: marieliz.collazo@aiesec.net

Hope to see you soon in Kenya!

Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.

-Henry Ford