When Hope Speaks ......................... أمل إن حكت: 10 things you missed if you missed GeekFest Beirut 5.0

GeekFest Beirut 5.0 ended on the night of July 5, 2012. I will not explain the event, I do not think I am cool enough, nor geeky enough to explain an event of this nature. I am getting there, but until then, I do I recommend you click here instead and get geeked!

One of the things I AM though, is a person who loves to look at the big picture; and therefore to truly evaluate GeekFest, one must put it in context.

GeekFest Beirut 5.0 was launched on the same night, as BB King, the iconic legend was playing in Lebanon.

Lebanon itself has and continues to struggle with power outages, internet blackouts, increased crime rates, severe political turmoil, repeated road blocks, dangerous borders with troubled neighboring countries, strikes by teachers refusing to correct official exams, and what was claimed to be a Phoenician Port, and a significant part of our heritage as a nation, was destroyed as a result of a very suspicious deal between a ministry and a real estate developer.

Alas my friends, the list of “context” items does not end here, but this is about GeekFest not Lebanon’s long long long history of corruption and mayhem.

Despite the above, a bunch of young geeks, The Online Collaborative to be exact, decided to
pull in a few friends, call some good sponsors, ask for huge favors I am sure, and DO this. I don’t know why they did it. You have to ask them for that. I was too busy standing there like a dork, with a big smile on my face just happy to be a around all these bloggers, tweeps, designers and artists whom I am a huge fan of.

Now with that wonderfully 'colorful' image of Lebanon at the back of your mind along with extremely humid weather, allowme to introduce 10 things, I managed to pick up despite my dorkiness and weirdsmiling, that YOU (no teasing intended) probably DID NOT, speciallyif you were NOT in that alley on that geekiest of nights!

Innovation:Let me explain something, there were some smart and I DO mean smart people downthere. These young aspiring inspiring individuals got brains and talent andthey were not afraid to use it! Ideas of different natures, from smart gogglesand music portals to NGOs and open source code were introduced that night.Rubbing shoulders or 'sticking' shoulders with people of intelligence can onlybe a good thing. Being at the heart of trends as they emerge is also humbling.

PositiveEnergy: It was humid that night, as are most summer nights in Beirut. But myhair wasn’t getting curled up because of that, it because of the energy and thebuzz of everyone there. The organizers, the presenters, even the people at the balconieshaving their ear drums harassed by the music. Everyone for a few hours, livedin an alley of dreams, potential and a great future. In a country like Lebanonit is hard to find that, let alone maintain it and share it.

Determination:When you have such determination at a young age to make things work, guesswhat's gonna happen. Things WILL WORK. That night you would have been in thepresence of the most determined bunch of people I have ever seen. It's not thatthey are oblivious to their surroundings, it's just that, they refuse to havetheir future determined by it. The show was a success, despite all thecontext mentioned above and multiple technical difficulties. When you see thisfrom individuals, who are, may I remind you, volunteering to accomplish such anevent, you are instantly ashamed and your nagging comes to an instant halt.

Fun:This event was FUN! It was fun organizing it, modeling for it, just standingthere or reading about it. It was uplifting and from the heart and this youcould sense across the board, be it the audience, the business owners pitching,or the grandma who sat at her balcony looking down on us. Everyonehad fun and brought fun. And FUN is the essence of any successful endeavor.

Acceptance: In that little alley in Beirut, your race, nationality, religion, length, shape of your body, color of your eyes, none of that mattered. If you wanted to be part of the crowd, just COME AS YOU ARE! For real! Acceptance and respect were the words of the day. Anyone can be anything they want. A baker (actually the best baker ever and if you haven't had his cakes yet, then you have lived a sad dull life) became a hot model, for instance!

BusinessSavvy: Yeah here we come to The Alleyway group, whom I must say have turned me into a loyal fan, just for supporting the Online Collaborative and young souls like these. These people are smart. They can smell future customers and they know how to hunt them down. This is called, for the so ignorant businesses out there, engagement and giving back to the community. They engage their customers for real and they do it well, without compromising the equity of the brand. Not many groups can pull that off.

RealLive Examples: of what you might ask. Well, of startups, online businesses and NGOs who have done well so far. This is not a business case you read about. These are real success stories of real Lebanese who have made it in Lebanon! A rare sight! but they exist. This is HUGE for the rest of us out there thinking of venturing on their own, have an idea to make the world a better place, or simply want to do something different. It tells us that these guys have done it and continue to do it. Then by gully so can WE!

Opportunity: My favorite word. Imagine all these people, all these backgrounds, all these brainwaves flowing with the music. The possibilities were endless. A handshake could have sparked the idea for the next big company, for the next NGO, for the greatest fashion icon or artist that ever lived. Who knows! It probably did too. Now if that's not invigorating, I don't know what is.

Geekinessmade simple: Remember how I said, the people there were smart, well they were. But they didn't make everyone else feel stupid. The ideas were simple and made sense. They were part of your daily routine, and they flowed naturally.

Great FFM: NO! that doesn't stand for F***ing Fabulous Marijuana! It's short for great fashion, food and music. The 3 essentials of a good life. The DJ was amazing, the clothes looked hot, and the food, Oh the food! Had dinner at Couqley, Chicken and wild rice and Chocolate mousse for desert. Their food was sooo good, it was illegal. I will never look at chicken and rice the same way again! EVER!

I leave you with a few pictures of the show but I of course have left with many MANY more. Enjoy.

Until next time,

Hope over & out