A busload of chattering AIESECers began their 4 hour journey to Ipoh on 20th March 2009. Fresh new faces were all aboard the bus as this was the Local Leadership Development Seminar (LLDS) 1 organised for the new AIESEC members. After the long, tiring journey we arrived at our destination, La Salle Centre, Ipoh at 7pm.

30 members trudged their way into the building dragging along their heavy bag packs packed for this 3Day 2Night event. Our dedicated Organising Committee and Team 09’ were all ready and waiting for us.
La Salle Centre“Food will be served shortly,” that was good enough to get our spirits up again as we rushed to our rooms and rushed back down to the cafeteria to wait in line for our dinner. After dinner, we had our first official AIESEC event!
Facilitators + Quarter of Team '09
The plenary
Welcoming LLDS (1) Delegates
Delegates
The FACIs!Up to the plenary we went and we began with....“SQUARE DANCING”. After that little work out, we went on to ice breaking games. Delegates now donned their name tags given during the bus ride and everyone was to write down the first impressions on 10 random new friends. Comments such as “handsome, cute, loud, gay, etc.” were flying all over each others’ backs (that was where we were supposed to write them). Next, we all had to set our expectations and goals for this 3-day event. This concluded the first night...or did it? Some delegates continued on to a much later hour in the night getting to know more about each other and playing rather interesting games. Team 09’ was also up and about planning more for the rest of us for the next day.
Group One Roll Call
Group Two Roll Call
Group Three Roll Call
Group Four Roll Call
Team '09 Roll Call
Delegates writing Expectations
Sugar Cubes
Expectations!
Square dance
Ice Breaking Session
Mee Kuan was 'excited'?The mornings were less than peaceful with our faithful “alarm clocks” beating down the doors. Hats off to the OCs who enthusiastically woke up the entire fleet of delegates. After a hearty meal of Nasi Lemak we were ready for our first agenda - Walking through AIESEC. In our teams, we had 4 pit stops to make and it was the AIESEC version of The Amazing Race. Delegates were running up and down the stairs, solving word puzzles, building towers, making videos and drawing posters. You could see the determined faces of the delegates, the fanciful yet seemingly dangerous tower structures, and the hype all at 9am that morning!
Another highlight of that morning was the interesting punishments set. Sharing toothbrushes after Nasi Lemak in the morning was perhaps one of the grossest things one would need to endure. Those who suffered this sentiment were applauded for their bravery and sportsmanship.
Head of Faci, Ka Wei got punished!
Same goes with DanielNext was “discovering yourself” and learning more about leadership. We learned the many different leadership styles one could adopt. It was conducted by Eric, one of our facilitators. “Discovering yourself” made delegates identify themselves to one core value out of a list of 30 values. This may sound easy but to cross out all other values and find one that is close to heart is a lot harder than it looks. This little activity had participants thinking deeply on who they are and what they expect in their lives. A simple activity yet it brings so much meaning to each individual and puts them in deep in thought on issues they never would have normally sat down to think about.
Acid River and Toxic Waste games were next on the list. Delegates had to strategise on crossing the “acid river” using only chairs without falling into the river at any point. What made it more interesting was the time limit given to complete this task. For some teams, who didn’t make it on the first try, the second time was a success. In fact, these teams learnt not to give up and to reshuffle their strategy and performed excellently in their second try.
Toxic waste was a task to carry a bucket full of “toxic waste” using only a few raffia strings and a hook. Again this involved great strategising and communication within team members. A 45 minute time limit was reduced to less than 30 minutes as all delegates were able to complete the task in no time! Team spirit and individual characteristics shone its way through in these two activities.
AIESEC emphasizes heavily on reflection on learning. The games and activities conducted weren’t merely for fun. Learning experiences was fully present in each game. Teams learnt how they could improve themselves in each game and what they observed whilst playing the game. They analysed their own performance in working within a team and the presence of a leader in the team.
A 30 minute tea break of biscuits, chips and crackers was next. Hungry delegates munched their way through bags and bags of junk food shared with one another. “Ahhhh...how caring and close have we become in only 2days.”
KTM was next. What is that you say? It was a short skit performed by each team on their take on implementing a better train system. The performances had us all laughing their heads off. Seems like our fellow AIESECers were potential comedians of the future.
After dinner, our friendly OCs conducted more fun games for us which had us enjoying ourselves for the next hour after a long, long, day. Of course, there was another round of square dancing that night.
Next was sculling, a drinking competition conducted by Facilitators . Fancy a round of drinks concocted specially by Facis? Perhaps not. Unless, soft drinks blended with bitter gourd and other unidentifiable items are to your liking. It was a neck-to-neck competition with Team One and Team 09. The champion of which was Team UNO! Sorry Team 09, a rematch soon?
Sculling demo
Sculling!
Well, you will have to drink EVERYTHING in the cup!
"Thumbs on the table, chin on the table, eyes on the cup, SCULL!"
Group pic Day 2More importantly was the sharing session which involved delegates in sharing their experiences so far throughout this event. Although it has only been two days, delegates began to feel more connected with AIESEC and their purpose of being here. They understood themselves better and learnt many new experiences which put themselves to the test. What was even better was that some expectations set on the first day were met that night.
Bazly
Ju-Hann
Jasmin
Simone
GraceOn the third and final day, delegates were looking forward to another round of Square Dancing in the morning. Then, AIESECers were identifying themselves to specific leadership styles and learning how to work together with one of a different style with Ren-Chang, another facilitator. This was an important task as one may always face another individual or a group of people with different personalities and thoughts. What was crucial here was to learn cohesiveness and being willing to accept different people and capitalise on such differences especially when working together.
MBTI session by Ren Chang
Delegates are concentrating
Taking the questionnaire
Kai Ling exlaining along with U-tze
Hui Xian explaining along with her teammateA “live” interview was then conducted by Ka Wei and Ke Vin with three important AIESECers – Eric, Ren-Chang and Vincent – on their experiences as an AIESEC member and their journey so far. Great insights were gained from this interview. Following this was the photo session and then back to the buses as we headed back to where we came from.
Ka Wei and Ke Vin interviewing Ren Chang, Eric and Vincent
RenChang, Eric and Vincent The bus journey back had more chattering and games. Everyone was reading their Sugar Cubes - a simple yet powerful task whereby everyone wrote something nice for another and placed it in their envelopes for them to read when the event ended.
Grp 1
Grp 2
Grp 3
Grp 4
Team '09
Facilitators

All AIESECers bonded really well after this 3 day event. Not only that, but everyone gained something from it. LLDS 1 was indeed a highly successful event. With this, we shall be looking forward to LLDS 2 now. ;)
LLDS 1!!!