Speak Arabic? Have a friend who speaks Arabic? Wish you spoke Arabic? Then watch TEDxHOEAlexandria’s charming introduction to TED, TEDx, and TEDx in Egypt, complete with a (vaguely accurate) animation of climbing Mt. Everest.
At the end of March, over 30 Egyptian TEDx team members, from 20 different events across the country (TEDxTanta, TEDxYouth@Tanta, TEDxAUC, TEDxKFS, TEDxTantaU, TEDxSohagU, TEDxMinia, TEDxMansoura, TEDxYouth@Zagazig, TEDxBenhaUniversity, TEDxYouth@Alexandria, TEDxMenofiaU, TEDxNahdaU, TEDxHOEAlexandria, TEDxAlSaaSquare, TEDxMUST, TEDxGUC, TEDxShebinelkom, TEDxAlMahallaAlKubra,TEDxPortTawfik), met to talk, share stories, and brainstorm how to make the Egyptian TEDx community a place where news ideas thrive and change happens in their wake.
Though many of the participants had never met before, everyone “got along very well and very fast,” said workshop organizer Amr Elsheikh of TEDxTanta. So much so, he said, that ice breakers seemed unnecessary.
As anyone who has ever tried to plan an event knows, organizing a conference from start to finish isn’t always easy. But by discussing everything from hiccups faced by new organizers to the roadblocks that halt even the most seasoned TEDx’er, Egyptian organizers were able to brainstorm ways to host the best, most interesting TEDx events possible.
“With each team talking about how they faced problems squarely and managed to create a respectable event by their own ways and solutions, everyone got to learn a new way to solve potential problems,” said Amr.
“Even more inspiring, some talked about how delivering their event — (starting from scratch all the way ‘til the big day) and the success of the videos on YouTube afterwards — changed not only how they acted, but also drastically changed many of the ideas they held about themselves,” he said.
“They expressed their gratitude for having the chance to have faced all the obstacles and the hardships, and for still having to face them now, for it made them believe in themselves when everyone else bailed on them, and got them to places they never thought they would discover.”
After much discussion, and — also — much fun, this giant group of TEDx’ers posed for pictures to remember their day, and then as Amr nicely put it, “got on their train to head to their home city, with loads of great new ideas and some inspired thoughts.”
TEDxParkour?: In this video trailer for TEDxYouth@Alexandria, parkour takes center stage, as adventurous young TEDx’ers backflip their way through the Egyptian city — spreading the power of “x” as they go.
A poster from the “Quotes worth spreading” campaign from TEDxAlexandriaU in Egypt.
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posted 20 March, 2012
by nohaphrenia - 48 notes for this post
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