SITE’s IGNITE Young Leaders adds a new edition, this time turning northward
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La Espicha
Una espicha es una reunión festiva asturiana en la que se bebe sidra. Se celebra en un lagar (llagar en asturiano) con el objetivo de abrir o «espichar» un tonel o barrica de sidra.
A esta barrica se le llama pipa, un gran recipiente de unos quinientos litros donde el zumo de manzana fermenta durante dos o tres meses. La sidra es la excusa, lo importante de verdad es reunirse. En pie, para incentivar la conversación y ¿el networking?
Warming up the engines
Before arriving in Gijón, 40 students from the School of Hospitality and the Faculty of Tourism received an intensive 20-hour training on the MICE sector, combining technique, mindfulness, AI and purposeful event design. After this stage, 10 students were selected to join us, young professionals in the sector, forming a mixed group that would allow us to learn from each other: they from our “real world” experience and us from their fresh look on the destination.
To get to know ourselves better, we all took the Gallup test to identify our strengths. These would be used to create the work teams with which we would design a fictitious fam trip that we would present at the end of the experience.
We take off!
On Sunday we started with a visit to BIOPARC Aquarium Gijón, a space that allowed us to look at the sea from another angle. After a first welcome, we headed to Sidrerías Tierra Astur, where we discovered how to pour cider and the meaning of the word “espicha”, a concept that was actually “very much ours” without knowing it. Afterwards, we returned to the Abba Playa Hotel to try to digest everything we had tasted.
The second day began with a body activation and the official welcome by Ángela Pumariega, Deputy Mayoress, and Daniel Martínez, Director of Gijón Tourism / Convention Bureau. After this introduction to the destination, we went into the Learning Labs, working according to our strengths and designing, by teams, a complete fam trip, the Gijón Challenge. But we still had to get to know Gijón from a truly local perspective, and for this the “infiltrated” students guided us through a teambuilding activity with event design dynamics that took us around the city, including its wonderful rain.
Tuesday dawned with another gentle activation before heading to the Museo Pueblo de Asturias where we would discover Asturias from its traditional architecture. There, David and Javi immersed us in Asturian culture -even in bable- and showed us that everything can be an instrument if you know how to play it. Afterwards, Diamantina and Amador taught us how to play Asturian bowling, a traditional sport played in peñas. After a quick lunch, we headed to the ARTIEM Asturias Hotel, where their team welcomed us to show us around the space. The Elevator Pitch – Gijón Partners Spotlight took place there, with the participation of Tierra Astur, Eteria, El Môderne, Silken Ciudad Gijón and Hotel NH Gijón. The afternoon was dedicated to the last part of the challenge, before the cocktail and the final dinner.
Last hours, new approaches
The closing of the program included a final presentation of projects at the NH Gijón Hotel, in a meeting organized together with the Gijón Turismo team. After the coffee break, we shared learning, a farewell circle and a farewell brunch.
So far, it might seem like an almost typical fam trip… but this edition hid something deeper: the MICEfulness approach. In a sector as fast-paced as ours, talking about meditation seems almost a joke. But, as Elena Altemir, creator of the concept, explained, the real challenge is not to keep up the frenetic pace, but to find the balance to sustain it. IGNITE invited us to do just that: to be present, to listen to ourselves, to observe our surroundings with conscious attention, to discover that professional impact is also born of self-knowledge. In this way, through the activation dynamics of the mornings and the training from the approach of our strengths, the fam trip did not stop at trying to discover the environment, but also invited us to look inside.
The most formative dimension
As for the students who accompanied us, it was a pleasure to meet them and learn from them. Despite being young people, sometimes we lose track of what we were a few years ago and remembering it has been very enriching. They, for their part, have experienced the magic of events, that capacity they have to bring you closer to what you most desire, to add you and to be able to live a thousand lives that are not yours, but that can be. There has been a lot of talk about luck, their luck to have this opportunity that many of us did not have, but the truth is that they knew how to make the most of it.
And maybe that’s when we understood that luck is nothing more than the confluence of opportunity and preparation. This lapidary phrase had haunted me all my life through sugar sachets, Facebook posts and even my mother’s own voice, however, I have realized that, until now, I had never really understood what it contains. Like the one who hears without listening or the one who sees without observing, the importance of predisposition to grow and nurture yourself with what life offers you is crucial to have that which some call luck, but which in reality has much more to do with preparation.
If you want to know more about the last edition, visit our article.
