Doha: When Qatari teenager Riham Al Nasr took to the stage at last year’s TEDxYouth@Doha, she did something that she never thought possible.
For the first time, the musician showed the live audience members and live stream viewers from around the world her musical talent while speaking about how she had taught herself five instruments and battled to prove to people that music was a worthwhile pursuit.
TEDxYouth@Doha wants others to follow Riham’s example, to talk about their passions to a captive audience, to share their story at this year’s November 17 TEDxYouth@Doha, an independently organised event licensed by TED
The first opportunity for those thinking of becoming a speaker is a series of Open Auditions being held by TEDxYouth@Doha to find multiple people to deliver a talk at the main event.
Those auditioning will be filmed, and short-listed candidates’ videos will be put online to a public vote. In short, it is Qatar’s chance to choose a speaker on stage.
For those thinking of trying out at the auditions, the advice from TEDxYouth@Doha’s Co-Curator and Content Manager, Uzair Mohammad, is simple: “There is no theme for the auditions. You can talk about whatever you want to talk about. What gets you up in the morning, what keeps you up at night- a project, a person, an idea? We want to hear you speak. Come tell us a story.”
The TEDxYouth@Doha open auditions are being held on: Wednesday October 6 from 11am; Saturday, October 10 from 5pm; and Wednesday, October 13 from 11am.
The auditions will take place at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, Education City, in room 3035 on the third floor. Each speaker will have 10 minutes for their presentation.
“It is an open stage, and an open invitation to everyone in Doha. We’d like to hear you talk - young professionals, high school students and experienced mentors are all encouraged to audition and speak about whatever they wish, be it an idea, an invention, inspiration or aspiration,” Uzair said.
“It might be an intimidating thing to audition, but the rewards are made obvious by stories such as Riham’s, who reaped both acclaim and benefits from her talk,” he added.
In the spirit of this year’s theme, TEDxYouth@Doha will also be offering public speaking coaching sessions on the day of the auditions to help aspiring speakers fine tune their talks.
The Peninsula
