In praise of collaboration

It all began three years ago with an intuition, that of Reynaldo Perrone, who planted a seed of an idea in the minds of his friends in Latin America and Europe…
A meeting was arranged with two presidents, Umberta Telfener (EFTA) and Marcélo Cébério (RELATES).
With a touch of madness, we build monuments and make dreams come true.
The dream of bringing two continents together!

For a long time now, inventive and curious minds have been crossing oceans and bringing continents together, gathering men, women, and children, and connecting worlds.

The intuition gave rise to an idea. It was only the beginning, the first step toward unity: The EFTA RELATES 2025 Congress!
The idea took shape, combined with organized data, dealing with reality, eliminating, synthesizing… under the gaze of the curious, the fearful, the brave, the meticulous, the hardworking, the dreamers, the courageous…

And that’s where it all began; link by link, the idea gave way to a collaboration involving many minds, many bodies, and many spirits.

A multitude of experiences and convictions!

It was the end goal that brought men and women together for a common cause. What energy! What obstacles! What differences! So many certainties! So many uncertainties! So much determination! So much fatigue! Don’t think it was easy!
First:
– Convincing people that it was possible: bringing two federations together for a single event!
– Convincing people that they would come: volunteers, and lots of them!
– Convincing people that France was the right choice: host country…
– Convincing people that Lyon was the perfect host city: Lugdunum, Roman city.
A year-long journey to validate an initial decision.

Then, searching, visiting, negotiating, choosing a location, or rather locations. Supporters gave strength to the project: friends, training centers in France, and Lyon 2 University with the DIPHE Laboratory. What brought us together: the goal!

Different worlds, different visions, different languages, different ideas, different feelings, different habits, different experiences, different universes, and yet more than 30 people worked with determination, thought together, validated, negotiated, achieved… Exhausted but happy, so that 1,600 people of 66 nationalities could come together, connect, transmit, receive, share, vibrate, and engrave in their memories: “We were there!”