Kish Island, April 19, IRNA � The two-day gathering of TEDxKish closed on Saturday on this Persian Gulf island with the resolve to carry on for upholding exchanges of information, knowledge and ideas.




During the event, the Iranian and foreign speakers narrated their stories of success to be shared with participants in form of several extensive and intensive meetings.

The hallmark of the second day of TED-like Talks on the Persian Gulf island of Kish was presenting winners from private tech firms, pro-environment NGOs, philanthropist and arts forums to receive first-time TEDxKish Prizes for their achievements.

Prior to the full of life closing session, speakers took the floor to address enthusiastic young Iranian boys and girls � mostly innovative university students as well as established entrepreneurs � at two sessions of the fully-packed Khalij Fars (Persian Gulf) Conference Hall at the Kish International Conference Center.

From the ecologist Hossein Vahabzadeh who left a higher education career to open his 'Nature School' for primary students teaching them practical learning and creativity, Kaveh Madani's on the future of declining water resources, the UN Tehran-envoy Gary Lewis' pro-environment presentation on 'human security', Ali Bouzari's speech on future of food, to the moving story of philanthropist Saideh Ghods who launched an NGO to help children with cancer, and the cyclist-traveler Mohammad Tajeran who spoke of his 'We Need Trees' project to foster hope for future of planet Earth, all stories focused on the theme of the gathering, the 'Future Canvas'.

The next session 'Incubators of Change' was no exception and yet again it was for exemplary speakers who were sharing their rare experiences. The world renowned architect Gesine Thomson's interview with moderator John Jolliffe focused on how she explored the mind, doubt and knowledge before it was creative inventor Behrokh Khoshnevis to speak on Legacy of Creativity and the path to a creative living and self-education.

As if there was no ending to the hall of feats, the triathlete Shirin Gerami narrated her journey story which took her to the field of swimming-cycling-running. The inventor Tralance Addy also talked on the necessity of using knowledge, instead of accumulating it. Designer David Delgado's speech was on the relationship among imagination, designing and creativity. Omid Scheybani, a Google's strategic cloud computing partner, and tech-researcher Xavier Herve were next speakers whose ideas on 'small talks' and 'game changing young-seeded minds', respectively, brought the session to its conclusion.

TEDxKish opened on Friday with business-like discussions on Entrepreneurship-Universities and Environment roundtables. The main part of the first day program was in afternoon sessions during which speakers narrated the tipping points in their lives, some with moving stories.

The TEDx program is designed to help communities, organizations and individuals to initiate conversation and connection through local TED Talk experiences � technology, education and design � aimed at connecting, innovating and inspiring people through sharing experience, knowledge and ideas.

The TEDxKish convening held on Kish Island on April 17-18 had among its objectives changing the distorted perception of Iran outside the country to make it close to the real one, Mojdeh Eskandari founder of the event told IRNA.

This is following President Hassan Rouhani's recent statements in the wake of nuclear negotiations in which he said Iran intends to upgrade its relations with the international community.

Unlike the TED tradition of holding one-day local events, the talks in Kish were held for two days. Pre- and post- event days were dedicated to side topics. On Sunday, environment issues will be once more the topic of a half-day discussion.

The TEDxKish was the first internationally held local TED event in Iran.

By: Touraj Shiralilou


 

By IRNA