Introduction

This document serves as a reference sheet for people who are interested in starting a branch in a new region. It includes details about how ACIT is structured, how new branch managers can start and grow their branch, and some general recommendations given by other ACIT branch founders.

Global Team Structure

The Association for Critical and Interdisciplinary Thinking (ACIT) is a global organization founded and led by Benjamin Bargetzi. It has branches in Belgium, Switzerland, Canada, China, and Germany. ACIT is organized into three core departments:

• ✍️ Content Creation: This department focuses on keeping ACIT lively with activity. As the name indicates, they create and manage ACIT’s think-tank content such as discussion posts, articles, podcasts, videos, etc. This also includes event management, such as conferences and seminars.
• ⚙️ HR & Operations: This department plays an important role in ensuring that ACIT has the internal resources needed to function. They create documentation, recruit new executive members, maintain team communication, etc.
• 📢 Marketing, Partnerships, and Legal (MPL): This department is essential for ACIT’s communication with its stakeholders. They connect with members, manage ACIT’s social media, maintain ACIT’s partnerships, promote content, etc.

Hosting Events

Your key goal as a branch manager is to build a passionate, interdisciplinary community of critical thinkers in your area. You’ll generate more interest in ACIT, so people sign up to become members or even apply for the Career Starter Program. You can do this by hosting ACIT events, so you can create engaging ways for people to connect with each other and learn new things!

One of the key values of hosting events through ACIT is consistency. You don’t need to always make your events fancy and elaborate, otherwise it may slow down the frequency of your events. In other words, it is much easier and effective to host 6 small events throughout the year instead of 1 large annual event that takes months of planning.

You can look at ACIT’s event archive to see some of our past events for inspiration. However, please don’t feel restricted by these previous event formats! If you have an event idea that ACIT hasn’t done before, we encourage you to share it with the ACIT team, as it may be an excellent new way for ACIT to engage its members in other regions too.

Please make sure to inform the global team of any new events you plan to host, so our Marketing department can help promote it on our social media channels!

Building Your Team

As you start hosting more events in your community, you may find yourself needing more help. To get more support, you can also recruit people from your community to become Event Managers for your region!

Each regional branch has its own group of Event Managers. You will be responsible for leading them when you need their help for specific projects, and you can make your team as small or as large as you’d like.

Recruitment is managed by ACIT’s HR and Operations department. If you’d like to add new people to your regional team, you can reach out to the Head of HR and Operations to get things started.

Meetings & Reporting

In addition to ACIT’s monthly Global Team Meetings, you will be responsible for leading your regional team meetings as well. These regional team meetings are only required if you recruit managers to become part of your regional team.

We encourage you to meet with your team either virtually or in-person at least once a month, to keep them engaged and maintain momentum. However, you have complete freedom over how your meetings are conducted, so you can tailor the frequency, style, and format of your meetings in any way you like. As time goes on, you’ll be able to figure out what works best for your team!

Please make sure to be mindful of your team’s schedule when planning your meetings, as they will also have other ACIT meetings they need to attend, such as the monthly Global Team Meetings and their Department Team Meetings.