Written By: Nourhan Badr El-Din
Edited By: Basma Adel Elmaghraby
TEDxSanstefano has launched its first event at Jesuit Cultural Center on 6th September 2019. This version got inspired by the old cosmopolitan theme of Alexandria: Universal City, where people from many nationalities used to experience the true meaning of coexistence.
Cosmopolitan was well represented and emphasized first by the organizing team which embraced different nationalities. Egyptians, Syrian, Sudanese and Yemeni were all united together, having a sole purpose of reviving the sense of universality. Participating speakers came from 7 different nations, a diversity that gave this event a special challenging flavor for the speakers themselves, organizers, and audience. We went through a live changing experience of multiple intercultural communication, which depicted a small picture for the cosmopolitan city that we need to revive again.
The host of TEDxSanstefano was Cosmopolitan, Alexandrian at heart, although he was not born in it. The Chairman of TEDxSanstefano: Omar Elaskandrani, also highlighted that the TEDx purpose is in not just for presenting motivational talks and life experiences, but also for introducing new and innovative concepts, ideas, models or research: Ideas Worth Spreading!
The talks had a common spirit for essences of history and future within our current lives. They came from different backgrounds and industries but bonded with humanity, to show us that we should accept the challenge, to revive our city through the acceptance of our social capital.
This diversity was expressed from the first talk, as “Christina” told us that her secret of making everywhere your new home.
In a one-of-a-kind talk, Abdelrahman Ragheb and Mohamed Hany explained the unique idea of virtual reality and how to employ it in physiotherapy. The attendees were also given the chance to experience this idea themselves.
In his interesting talk, Omar El-Shenawy shows that the modern concepts of marketing and personal branding historically originate from the Arabs & proved by the Arabic poetry.
Mona Taman explained the side effects of Gamification and how different professionals from various industries cooperated together, to develop a game to help families whose children suffer from autism.
Other talks were about how to deal with depression and mental health issues, immigrants’ journey who came to Alexandria for self-discovery, peace, and love.
And finally a talk about “Racism” in our lives, at work and relationships and how we can apply a new model for accepting diversity, whilst not losing our original identity at the same time.
This memorable TEDx event aimed to send us a message, to step out from our comfort zone, and accept our challenges. It was a wonderful day that added a new perspective for our life; to start searching and creating our own model for creativity on the professional and personal levels.
We learnt from the speakers’ talks that that there are no limits or standards to human contributions.
Speakers: Christina Wessendorf – Omar Skafi – Omar El Shinawey – Mohamed Elbermawei – Rami Sharaf – Rokaia Yakout – Mona Taman – Reem Elshafei – Obaida Alam El Deen – Abdelrahman Ragheb – Mostafa Abul-Ela – Ahmed Elkholy – Mahmoud Mansi.
Chairman: Omar Elaskandrani.
Performers: Yasin Mahgob – Zainab Ahmed – Ahmed Elkholy.
Partners and sponsors:
Soryana,
Komet Institute,
UNHCR,
Jesuit Cultural Center,
HR Revolution Middle East Magazine.