My experience as a Delegate
“It is impressive how three days can change your life” it is one of the many expressions used by those who have been part of the SABF. I include myself particularly because I can relate to it extensively.
Everything started in the year 2011 when surfing the internet an ad referring the SABF showed up. The existence of this kind of events called my attention as they were unknown to me. I started to research more and to read all about what the forum implied. Regrettably, the applications for the seventh edition had ended a couple of days ago. Nevertheless my enthusiasm to be part of the SABF did not change; quite the contrary, it grew with every coming month in which the expectation for the eighth edition was daily.
The longed day had come, the applications for the eighth edition of the South American Business Forum had started. With a lot of excitement I commented within my group of friends all that I knew about the SABF, with the expectation to motivate the participation of those closely acquainted to me. As the days went by I dedicated to carefully complete my application not leaving any detail behind. A few weeks passed and a new academic cycle begun in Ecuador. It was then that I had the initiative to promote the event within my university, and require the permits to be able to carry out presentations of the SABF in every class in which at that moment I was inscribed. At the end of each presentation I realized that the reception was not what I expected. The questions were few and little curiosity about the forum was shown. Nevertheless I continued forward in the promotion of the event through the social networks.
Concluded the period of application for the eighth edition of the South American Business Forum, it was informed on behalf of the organizers that the results were to be informed during the first days of June; still I did not imagine it would be the first day of that month. It was Friday. It had been a really agitated day for me, and later during that day I arrived home and checked my mail box as usual and it was then that I knew that I was part of the 100 selected students to participate of the SABF. The joy overwhelmed me; it can not be expressed with words how accomplished I felt by being selected. Next I did all the pertinent paperwork so that my presence in the forum was made effective. In that way on August the 2nd I arrived to Buenos Aires and the 3rd, 4th and 5th were without doubt the most relevant days of my life. They were very intense days in which I was surrounded by exceptional people with whom I’m still acquainted, days that changed my life, days in which I powered my dreams. When the event came to an end and I came to know the SABF’s Delegates’ Program a little bit more, my interest to promote the event continued to grow and it was in this manner that after SABF 2013 “Rethinking the rules of the game” was launched I begun the formalities to become part of the Delegates’ Program, so that in this way I could motivate the young ones to become part of the event.
Within my institution I have offered three conferences named “Dare to dream” in which I make reference to all of what being part of the SABF implies and how those who have ideas and propositions to change adverse realities in our region can have a space to share and debate these ideas with a group of very distinguished people. In addition, I have offered informative talks about how to put yourself forward and be part of the South American Business Forum in its ninth edition. It is an enormous change to see the students’ reception and their enthusiasm to be part of the forum, and this is due to having been able to live the SABF experience which gave me the necessary means to approach people in a better way.
At the beginning of this post, I started mentioning how I ended up being part of the forum, and I believe that it is important, because I trust that a lot of participants will identify with wanting to promote the SABF even though they haven’t attended the event, so, in this way, I can conclude that** being a delegate of the SABF is being the delegate of the change; it is to break frontiers, it is to want a better world, it is to realize that we are not alone, and that there are many more than ourselves that want a positive change.**