Past Athens WING events 2009

Saturday, February 7th

It was with great pleasure that we could show the beautiful Athens WING logo.
Eleni Kondilatou and Jeanette Choisi designers of the logo, earned a free 2009 membership.

Our guest speaker was Agnes van Dijk. She works as a translator at the Dutch embassy in Athens. She is co-author of the book "Charged heritage", which will be released this spring and deals with contemporary Greece. She spoke about  The Background and Causes of the Current Social Unrest in Greece and How it Affects Us. She explained the events of last December and analyzed the economical situation that many young people in Greece have to cope with these days. She had many questions to answer. The sympathetic environment of the library of the Netherlands Institute in Athens was a good place for discussion.

After the break we split up in small groups to discuss and share our experiences with the present situation in Greece and how it does or doesn’t affect us personally.


Saturday, March 21st
 
This event took place at the Danish Institute of Athens. We had two speakers who talked to Athens Wing members on how to go about finding the right job and highlighted specific characteristics of the Greek job market.

The speakers were Dimitra Karatolou, owner of HR Passport and Irini Chaviara, Talent Mgt & Org. Development Manager of Novartis.


Tuesday, May 5th

The theme of this event, which took place at the Netherlands Institute Athens, was Less Stress, More Life - How to manage easier, cope with uncertainties and change, face life-work challenges with inner strength and calmess. 

Steven Berryman a Time Therapist and the co-founder of Less Stress, More Life spoke to AthensWing members. Mr Berryman together with his partner Christiane Pohl, provides coaching, seminars and talks offering a series of compelling insights that bring clarity to issues like stress management, leadership and effective communication.


Wednesday, May 20th

We had our first Social Gathering. It was a "women only" event organized to give AthensWing members the opportunity to meet socially over wine and mezedakia.Fifteen ladies between members and friends attended. 

The event took place at Palia Athena, a traditional Greek taverna just off Syntagma square.


Thursday, June 25th

For this event we had Mrs Efterpi Mitsi come and talk to us about
women and their writing about Greece over the last three centuries. 

Mrs Mitsi is Assistant Professor in English Literature at the University of Athens. Together with Vassiliki Kolokotroni she co-wrote the book "Women Writing Greece: Essays on Hellenism, Orientalism and Travel", which she presented to the AthensWing audience during her talk.

"Women Writing Greece explores images of modern Greece by women who experienced the country as travellers, writers, and scholars, or who journeyed there through the imagination. The essays assembled consider women's travel narratives, memoirs and novels, ranging from the eighteenth to the late twentieth century, focusing on the role of gender in travel and challenging stereotypical views of 'the Greek journey'. This collection aims to cast new light on women's participation in the discourses of Hellenism and Orientalism."

The event took place at the Danish Institute in Plaka.


Wednesday, September 16th

Our first event after the summer break, and we started with renewed enthusiasm! The theme of the event was Green Business in Pink.

The star of the evening was Victoria Alexandratou, a real star, charming, well dressed and full of energy. She is an engineer, who grew up in Germany. After finishing her studies there she came back to Greece where she started her own successful company.

Victoria’s story was really touching. First, she said, you have to raise money and go round lots of banks asking for a loan. There they told her: "This is no business for a woman. Why don’t you open a nice shoe shop in Kolonaki". Then you have to find the land where you can build the wind farms. In that case you have to cope with the well-known corruption and envy of Greek landowners and public servants.

We all knew that Greece is not an easy country to start your own business. But Victoria’s example was really breath taking, not least because of the humor she put in her stories. And her advice, "Don’t do this, ever", was not so convincing.

One thing is certain, we learned a lot about green energy in Greece.

After the lecture there were so many questions that we had to continue the discussion with a glass of wine in the romantic little garden of the charming Danish Institute. 


Saturday, October 24th

This time we organized a Networking Market. Almost twenty women had prepared a nice and attractive table to show their activities. You could find: consultancy for your business, "green" water filters, beautiful handcraft, a portrait photographer, acoustic massage, tourism, language courses etc etc. 

It was an excellent opportunity to meet with other women and exchange experiences. Many visitors expressed their enthusiasm about this event and thanked Athens Wing for the good and warm atmosphere we had offered.


Saturday, November 14th

On this beautiful sunny Saturday we gathered on the Acropolis of Athens. Our guide was Georgina Heilig, a Dutch archeologist and authorized guide. She told us many interesting things about the classical and Roman period. For us it was really an eye opener to hear about the mysteries of the architecture of the temple and about the way Athens was governed in a real democratic way. Did you know for example that Athena’s temple had a window in the roof, made of transparent marble from Paros?

Because it was a bright day we had a very good view on the Ancient Agora where you can see very clearly the remains of a large variety of activities in ancient Athens.

As soon as possible we will organize a visit to the new Acropolis Museum. Georgina promised already to be our guide again.


Saturday, December 12th

This was the last of nine events in 2009. 

It has been a good year for Athens WING. We are still going strong with already 300 regular e-mail contacts with women who want to be informed about us, and with a lot of reactions on our website.

During this event we focused on communicative skills. Skills you need as a woman in business.

Irena Grammatopoulos is a psychologist and associated NLP coach. She told us a lot about the importance of body language and showing emotions when you are in contact with someone. She demonstrated that through exercises we did with our neighbors in the audience. That created a lot of questions and discussion.

After a coffee break Simone Wiegand gave a very clear and practical lecture on how you can stimulate genuine interest from your listeners. She especially focused on how you can advance your personal speaking skills in the business world. 

In business there are many different communication situations where you need a skilful talk to get what you want. Simone offered us a large variety of those situations to think about and to learn from. 

This was really a very inspiring morning in the sympathetic atmosphere of the Dutch Institute.