MALAYSIA - Domeki, Mohd Zaidi and Mohd Faizal

Introducing our three Malaysian delegates - Domeki, Mohd Zaidi and Mohd Faizal.

These three young men are interested in Mechatronics an Mechanical Engineering - and will be working with a translator to have their personal experiences echoed through the Youth Forum.

They look forward to meeting you all in Melbourne :)

IRELAND - Meet Patricia and Ross

Two of our most recent Youth Forum delegates hail from Ireland.

Patricia Orpen and Ross Wasson are both 22 years old and competed in the 2005 International Competition in Helsinki.

Patricia is a Beauty Therapy expert and in her spare time enjoys Volleyball, Basketball and Socialising. Ross is an Automechanic by trade and enjoys Motorsports, Rallying and Soccer.

Drop them a line and say hi :)

NORWAY - Introducing Eirik

My name is Eirik Høyme Rogn, and I live in the small, yet wonderful, village
of Vang in the Norwegian mountains. I competed in the graphic design trade
for Norway in Helsinki 2005.

After the competition in Helsinki I've spent most of my time in the army,
besides working freelance with design jobs and running my own event-company.

I'm really honoured to be one of two Norwegians going to Melbourne, and I
can't wait to meet all of you! If any of you would like to get in touch
before we arrive down under, dont hesitate:
My MSN/E-mail: eirik@kreativstrek.no

Cheeeeerio everyone - see you in may! :-)

FRANCE: Welcome Auriane

Hi

I came back from Tunisie it was wonderful with my boyfriend we spend a very nice time.

This is a picture of me. I won the gold medal in Seoul in Hairdressing.

I'm 25 I have my own hairdressing salon and I have a lovely cat!!!!!!

Post me a comment and say hello!

Auriane :)

UK: Adele, Glen and Alex

Meet the UK team.

Adele is a hairdresser and lives in Sussex. Glen is into Landscaping and Alex is a cabinet maker.

The group will be enjoying 6 weeks in Australia - so be sure to say hello if you'll be around before or after the youth forum - you might be able to team up with these travellers.

:)

Cooking Night

Hi Everybody

As part of the great program we're pulling together for you all in Melbourne, we're including a 'cooking night' at one of Melbournes biggest and best TAFES. You'll be working in teams with professional chefs to make your very own banquet, that you will then enjoy with the rest of the group.

It's a really fun night, and to make it even better, we're letting you put in requests for your favourite meals to be on the menu. If there is a traditional meal from your country, or just something you love.... post the name (and recipe if you have it) and we'll let the chefs know!

We're especially hoping to hear from all of you pastry chefs out there!

Mikaeli : )

KOREA - Hongkyeong Kim and Younghoon Kim

Joining us at the Youth Forum from Korea we have special guests Hongkyeong Kim and Younghoon Kim.

Hongkyeong is a 22 year-old Dressmaking student who enjoys swimming and travel. Younghoon is 24 years of age, from Seoul (where some of you competed) and is a Pastry Chef.

Drop them both a note in the comments section and say 'hi'. : )

Visiting the competition arena - Viridis wants answers

Viridis would like to discuss visiting the competition arena.

I was thinking about how to better enable Visitors to relate to what the
respective trades are about during their visit to the competition arena.

I do believe that currently there are guided tours conducted for schools
and at regular intervals for visitors however I most of them cannot really
relate what is happening in each trade especially those Technology trades
(E.g CAD, IT etc) to how it affects them in their everyday lives.

Just to start of the discussion...as per Helsinki there was a LCD panel
setup for each trade to introduce the competitors and experts at each
trades booth. How about adding one or 2 computer stations where we can
have interactive flash display or games so that the visitors can
understand better each trades role in the industry or in everyday lives?

For example, for IT/PC network support we could have a short flash that
introduces how the internet, emails get to their homes? Coupled with an
interactive flash game for them to connect their virtual home to the
internet and see how they interact with the whole. If we can have 2
stations, we can somewhat put the 2 computers at 2 ends of the trade area.
At the end of the game the visitors can chat with each other, see each
other through webcam. During the process they will understand how their
video, data is sent through the internet; which IT/PC Network Support
trade people 'in between built' and see the end results.

Thanks and Regards
Viridis

Kian Ann wants to discuss an issue

Kian Ann has nominated the following topic for discussion, please add your comments / feedback or start your own discussion.... looking forward to hearing all of the bright ideas from this brilliant group!

Just to kick start a topic for discussion:

I was thinking, how can we make the WorldSkills competition better? Competitors for WorldSkills are very unique individuals - each are already champions of their own country! Some have already went through rounds and rounds of internal/national competitions and assessment before a decision was made to send them to WorldSkills.

One point that I personally feel that can be improved could be more time for the competitors in the same trade to network after competitions! It would be wonderful if these people can get to know each other better - imagine having a network of experts round the world to ask for advice! Maybe what could be done is to create a opt-in mailing list for every trade every time the competition is held?

Of course, this youth forum is also a great start! What do you all think?

FRANCE - Welcome Anthony Daviet

Candidate in SEOUL - Plumbing (n°15)
I am the Président of the Association of the old compétitors of France and i am 24 years old. I participated in SEOUL in 2001.

I work in my company, and I'm associated with my father. We work in plumbing, heating instalation, and renewable energy.

I have a lot of hobbies :
- I love firework display, and I have qualification to make.
- First aid. I am a volunteer for the French Red Cross.
- I love walking on the mountains.
- I'm one of the creators of the Association of the old champions of
Worldskills France, and I'm the Président.
- And I love worldskills and the life around worldskills.

See you, on the forum.

Bye Bye,
Anthony

English is'nt easy for me, but I am working my English 40 hours before the forum.
Good exercise. No !

The other facilitator - Ben Irwin

Hi, my name is Benjamin Irwin and I am 24 years old and i will also be facilitating the WorldSkills Youth Forum in Melbourne.

I have been working as a toolmaker for the past seven years at Bennett Precision Tooling in Sydney. I am currently heavily involved in tool design and detailed drafting.

In 2001 I competed in World Skills in Seoul, South Korea. I was a member of the MTC team which was fortunate enough to bring home the gold. It was an awesome experience and I look forward to the Youth Forum in Melbourne so we can better the experience of World Skills for all involved.

HONG KONG - Introducing Patrick

Hi , I am Patrick from Hong Kong.

I have participated in WorldSkills 2003 @ St. Gallen – IT/PC Network Support.

I am now working as a IT –system consultant . I am looking forward to seeing you in Australia soon.

And the winner is...

It's (...pretty much...) unanimous! This is the highly favoured and incredibly fashionable jumper that you'll be getting around Melbourne in. Now, so long as we don't make the printing tooooooo daggy, you can get lots of use out of it when you fly home from Melbourne!

Last (very important) vote for the 'Jumper Design Committee'... it comes in a range of colours, which would you like? Sorry Kian and Nick, it doesn't seem to come in orange (!!)

Beige, royal, pink, khaki, white, brown, sky, black, greymarl, navy, red ??? Decisions, decisions... post your comment below.

If you could also please email your size to mikaeli@dsf.org.au

Ladies - Size: 8 10 12 14

Men - Size: XS S M L XL XXL 3XL

FRANCE - Cedric Cotilleau

Cedric is 22 and enjoys spending his spare time listening to music and going to the cinema. He works in joinery and will be accompanied by fellow Frenchman, Anthony and Auriane in Melbourne.

Drop Cedric a note and say 'hi'! :-)

NORWAY - Hans and Eirik

Meet Norwegian folk, Hans and Eirik.

Hans works in mechatronics and competed in the St Gallen international competition. Back in Norway he maintains electrical equipment for an oil platform.

Both Hans and Eirik are looking forward to coming to Australia and would love to hear from you - so post a note to say hi!