Wednesday, May 11, 2011

#TEDxMuscat

As promised, here's a post on TEDxMuscat: personal take supported with some pictures.

#TEDxMuscat | Ideas Worth Spreading


~ The event was kicked off with HH Sayyid Faisal bin Turki Al Said, Head of Brand Oman Management Unit on May 3rd at the Millennium Hotels and Resorts in Musannah. Right after that, a full day of speeches and TED videos had started. Apart from getting inspired by the speakers, we “fortunately” had some time during breaks to socialize and network. I got to meet my University Business Communication Professor, Dr. Evangelos Afendras who was one of the 8 speakers of that day. It was so overwhelming seeing him on stage! His presentation was totally entertaining and creative!

~ My favorite speakers on that day were Jim Stolze (Dutch) & Eman Bint Akbar (Omani)
وبلا شك!


~ As a matter of fact I know that many people were annoyed of the fact that the event was going to take place in Mussanah (and not in Muscat as the name of the event suggested). But I believe it wasn’t a very bad choice for many reasons (one of them is that they sponsored the event, obviously). But I really love the new Millennium resort, its location, the high-quality facilities and its peacefulness. It’s just a perfect place for such a huge TED event. I was personally glad that the event took place in such a neutral area.


~ I and many other people from the Twitter community in Oman were “tweeting” the interesting parts of the speeches & the TED videos throughout the event. You can go back and check the tweets out under #TEDxMuscat hash tag. And YES! There was a free wireless connection provided in the hall (it couldn’t get any cooler!)

And oh! The event was live-streamed on http://omanweeebelong.com/webtv/ (again, it couldn’t get any cooler!)

~ My not –so-favorite things about TEDxMuscat:


1. The fact that most of the speakers were men (only two female speakers!)
2. The fact that only two speakers were locals. As I strongly believe that we have lots of interesting & talented Omani people who are more than qualified to give some moving and powerful speeches. Was that because the organizers aren’t locals in the first place? Well maybe!

~ On a final note, I think the organizers, speakers & audience proved that TEDxMuscat was a celebration of Oman as a whole, not only Muscat…and not only Mussanah!

P.S. All pictures on this blog entry are from TEDxMuscat Flickr Photostream

7 comments:

Maryam said...

Wish I was there..But I'm glad you guys tweeted about it.

Oman Collective Intelligence said...

Wish i had made it to the event too. It was great though to be able to see some of it online. All tweeps did also a great job by keeping us posted. Definitely next year!

Rumaitha said...

I'm surprised I never knew about this nor get an invitation. Such a pity wallah, wished I joined..!!

Salima Al Masrouri said...

Rummy,

Yah I noticed that there were no ads on the papers whatsoever.
I personally knew about it through twitter.
Inshallah you will be able to make it in its next round <3

Nadia said...

You're lucky you got to go! If I had known about it I wouldn't have hesitated in flying up to Muscat to attend. TED rocks!

Salima Al Masrouri said...

Nadia,

Few knew about it evidently. I hope u manage to make it next year inshallah. And I can't agree more: TED rocks!:D

Salima Al Masrouri said...

Kitten, whoh your comment is back! :D Thaanks

OMI,
What's your name on twitter? I want to follow you :)