Having obtained an official license from TED, An-Najah hosted a number of speakers from various fields and backgrounds to share their ideas and experiences with a large audience at HRH Prince Turki Bin Abdul-Aziz Theatre in the New Campus.

TedxAnNajah speakers included Dr. Fayeq Oweis, a Palestinian American artist, educator, and linguist currently working for Google as a Language Services Manager;  Mr. Husni Khuffash , entrepreneur and management professional who worked at Microsoft, Google and Maktoob/Yahoo; Mr. Anwar Hamed, author, poet and critic, currently working at BBC Arabic; Dr. Hamdallah Bearat, a professor at An-Najah who has combined his interests in chemistry, mineralogy and anthropology to find new approaches in archaeology; Mrs. Amal Masri, first prize winner of Best Woman Entrepreneur in the MENA and CEO of Ougarit Group; Mr. Saeed Qaffaf, an Engineering student whose disability motivated him to become a public speaker and inspire people and Ms Yasmeen Najjar, student at An-Najah and first  female Arab to climb Mount Kilimanjaro with an artificial limb.

In his speech, Mr. Kuffash presented a speech titled: "How to Create Hope in the Arab World” where he stressed how the road to success is full of difficulties and obstacles. Ms. Najjar spoke about her experience climbing the highest mountain in Africa, Mt. Kilimanjaro, with an artificial leg, as well as the difficulties she encountered after losing her leg while she was only three.

Dr. Bearat’s talk "Detectives of Human Past" introduced a branch of science called “Archeometry” which combines scientific techniques and archaeology.

In turn, Mr. Hamed presented on “Power Games in Our Life, You Can be in Control” as he used his personal experience to demonstrate people’s ability to shift from a position of weakness to power using mind games. Mr. Qaffaf’s talk described his inner power to overcome the stereotype of people with special needs and turning it into a positive motif.

As for Mrs. Masri, she presented on the idea of people’s strength springing from their roots. Dr. Owais spoke of the Arabic language and its relation to different locations, in a speech titled: “I am from Here and I Have Memories: My Language is My Identity."

The event also included a number of musical performances, a Dabke performance and the screening of two popular TED talks.

At the end, Dr. Mohammad El-Amleh, Vice President for Academic Affairs at An-Najah honored TEDxAnNajah speakers and organizers, who in turn extended their thanks to An-Najah University for hosting and supporting the event and the army of volunteers whose efforts contributed to the success of the event.

On this occasion, Professor Maher Natsheh, Acting President of An-Najah commended the committee’s efforts and stated that An-Najah is a beacon for innovation and always seeks to provide a platform to those who have something interesting to say.

Notes:

The conference was also attended by Dr. Sabri Naser, Vice President for Administrative Affairs; Mr. Hussein Abed, Director of the Human Resources Department and Dr. Saeda Affouneh, Director of the E-Learning Centre at An-Najah.

The conference’s organizing committee included Ms Karam Abu Ghazaleh and Ms Christen Phaneuf from the International Development and External Affairs Office; Ms. Suheir Al-Saleh from the Competency Development Unit; Dr. Samer Arandi from the Faculty of Engineering and Mr. Jalal Salman, Events Coordinator at the Public Relations Department at An-Najah.

TED is a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or less). TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, and today covers almost all topics. And TEDx is an international community that organizes TED-style events anywhere and everywhere celebrating locally-driven ideas and elevating them to a global stage.