Posts tagged lebanon

Youssef Chaker on the challenges and rewards of TEDxBeirut

TEDxBeirut, unlike other events, wasn’t about the speakers and the big names featured on the program. The theme for TEDxBeirut 2011 was “From Limitation to Inspiration.” What people outside of the TEDxBeirut organizing team didn’t realize is that the theme wasn’t as much a theme for the talks, as it was a theme for the journey the team went through.

TEDx events are special no matter where they are held in the world but in a country like Lebanon, organizing such an event comes with its own set of difficulties. Unless you are a well-known group or company backed by some good contacts, getting past the paperwork alone is an overreaching goal. When Patsy thought out loud about organizing a TEDx event in Beirut, she was merely expressing a wish — maybe some event company would make it happen. Little did she know that she was going to be the one spearheading the effort to see her dream go from idea to reality. And this is why I say it was an event of a different caliber. It wasn’t the major players and usual suspects who were behind the event, but it was, according to many attendee testimonials, one of the best organized and professional events that people in Beirut have ever experienced.

Now why am I talking about an event that’s several months old? I promise you it will all come together at the end of this post. Bear with me as I take you through parts of the journey that will explain to you why if we ever talk about Lebanon I might say something along the lines of, “I live in a different Lebanon than you do!”

What I experienced during the days leading up to TEDxBeirut was only a fraction of what some people went through before I had joined. But I got the opportunity on many occasions to sit back and take a distant view of the behavior of the team members. It’s important to mention the HUGE differences on all levels between the people involved. The interests, skills, personalities, backgrounds, education — all of it was different. A typical Lebanese blend, “makhlouta” (mixed nuts) as we say in Arabic.

But the situation was atypical. There was a common goal. No really, there was. The entire team was working on a single goal, with no personal interest at all. We were all volunteers. None of us was gaining anything from participating in this effort on a personal level. I saw people work their asses off to put together a one-day event in Lebanon. We were doing something that we cared about, that we wanted to see happen, and if others wanted to be part of it, that would be great.

When Patsy started organizing the event, she meant it to be for about 100 or so people, then bumped it up to 300, and bumped it up again to 800 to eventually get an 800 seated audience and about 200 other people sitting on the stairs in the theater or watching the stream in a different room (not to mention those who tuned in for the live stream on the web)!! Exposure, recognition, TV spots or seats in the parliament were never the objective.

I urge you to take a moment and let that last paragraph sink in. It might not impress you at first, you might think it’s weak, your reaction might be #meh. But take a moment to put it in perspective. We are talking about a “do it yourself” mentality coupled with a “do it FOR yourself” attitude. So much goes into planning an event of this caliber. It takes certain personality traits but also education and culture to foster such a mentality.

With TEDxBeirut, the group of individuals who participated broke the mold. They showed that ideas belong to everyone and the execution is as possible for the common person as it is for the likes of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.

What Inspires You?

Written by Youssef Chaker of the TEDxBeirut team

TEDxBeirut’s 7 tips for being agile

Do you want to recruit 40 employees, attract more than 800 customers, get financed within months, have social media buzzing about your company, and throw an event in a very short period of time? It sounds impossible, but the TEDxBeirut team did it.

TEDxBeirut was created by a young group of people who have full-time jobs and yet worked around the clock to introduce something inspiring to Lebanon, while facing many challenges, and learning a lot about marketing, building a team, fundraising, and working under pressure along the way.

These seven lessons from their experie nce should help any entrepreneur create an agile framework for starting up.

1. Don’t spend money on office space. When it comes to office space, a café, a friend’s flat, or any other public and free space will do. The TEDxBeirut team did not have a headquarters. Invest your money in places where you really need it rather than wasting it on things you can have for free.

2. Be honest about your finances. You don’t need money, all you need is someone who has it. A lot of us worry about not having enough money to start up. Yet the TEDxBeirut team considered this a motive to go and talk to people and companies about what they were doing, explaining that this is going to be the event of the season, and that companies would have their names exposed to over 600 people. They also explained how their money was going to be spent- this is how they got funding. Honesty is crucial when you’re trying to get people to pull out their checkbooks.

3. Hire students. The most crucial part of any entrepreneurial endeavor is your team. TEDxBeirut would not have been what it was if it wasn’t for the team they had- their strategy, initiative, and spirit of volunteerism. University students are often the most active advocates for a cause, so it’s great to get them involved, and make sure they know what they have to do. The event succeeded because every single volunteer had the passion and energy that the organizers did.

4. Interact with your audience. Instead of using billboards, radio and print media, the organizers turned to social media, using a facebook page, twitter account, and LinkedIn account to promote the event and communicate with their audience. They used the channels to respond to complaints about registration, and also to get feedback during and after the event. The total cost was $0. But the most important rule factor was maintaining a steady presence. Make sure you are always there on social media- don’t post something and disappear for five days.

5. Deal with complaints quickly. When dealing with complaints and difficult situations, the TEDxBeirut team discussed any issues with the whole team in order to have several opinions on how to deal with them. This ensured that everyone was aware of what problems were being encountered, and it made for faster suggestions and less dissatisfied people.

6. Meet with as many people as you can. Always have your business card and a smile ready. The TEDxBeirut team now knows half of the Lebanese population because they made sure to prove their presence. Social media is not enough- being present at events is what gets you real connections.

7. Have fun! At the end of the day, investing in TEDxBeirut required no money- all you needed was a smile and a lot of energy. Dividends came in the form of a black T- shirt saying “I am organizing TEDxBeirut “and lots of coffee and cake. And let us not forget the gym benefits- walking around Beirut and Lebanon was a definitely way to the keep the team as healthy as ever.

TEDxBeirut was an entrepreneurial journey unto itself. It demonstrated that everyone can achieve something even if it simply means bringing people together to discuss ideas. Entrepreneurship is about the spirit, the passion, the energy and the love of doing something different and getting out of comfort zones and into the unknown where something exciting awaits. You don’t need a fancy office or be making tons of money from the first year. All you need is the belief and confidence that you, regardless of where you come from or how old you are, can break the boundaries of limitation and cross over to inspiration.

On the 24^th of September every single one of us left TEDxBeirut with an idea, a dream, a question… Let us all bring out that rebellious entrepreneur inside of us to make sure we are always inspired.

Written by Esraa Haidar of the TEDxBeirut team

Original post here: http://www.wamda.com/2011/10/7-tips-for-being-agile