DardaChat at Arab Social Media Influencers meet

The Organising Committee of the Arab Social Media Influencers Summit, organised under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has announced a series of innovative activities alongside the summit, which will take place on March 17-18 at the Dubai World Trade Centre.

The committee said these activities will add value to the summit, which is first event of its kind in the region for influencers on social media channels.

One of the major events is ‘DardaChat’, which will provide an innovative model for sharing of best practices and successful experiences. The sessions will provide an opportunity for the social media influencers from various Arab countries and the world to communicate directly with each other. Discussions during the event will look at the impact of social media platforms on humanity, and how social media can be utilised to overcome challenges in the society. In addition it will explore the relation between traditional media and social media and how they can help shape the future.

The Arab speakers at ‘DardaChat’ includes Ali Jaber, Director of MBC Group and Dean of Mohammed bin Rashid School of Communication; Mustafa Al Agha, sports anchor; Jamal bin Huwaireb, Managing Director of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation; Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, journalist and expert on social media; Sheikh Majed Al Sabah, CEO of 360 and founder of TFK; Emirati singer Ahalm, and adventurer Omar Samra.

The list of international speakers includes Brandon Stanton, author of the blog ‘Humans of New York’ with more than 12 million followers on Facebook; Chris Messina, inventor of Hash Tag used in social media; and Gabe Zichermann, an international expert in ‘gamification’, who will highlight the future of smart games and how they can be used in other sectors such as health and education. The sessions will be presented by comedian Bader Saleh.

On the first day of the summit, the winners of Arab Social Media Award will be announced, which will honour individual and institutional innovations in social media channels that have helped establish a positive environment for innovation and creativity. The award aims to boost engagement and communication across social media channels and encourage creative thinking to contribute to the development of individuals and communities by increasing awareness for issues of concern to the Arab community in a responsible and positive manner.

‘Buthoor,’ a platform that provides access to mentorship through accelerators as well as funding through investors, will feature a competition where start-ups, each representing an Arab accelerator, are required to pitch their business models to a panel of expert judges. Each start-up will deliver a five-minute pitch followed by a five minute Q&A session by the judges: Ahmed bin Byat, CEO of Dubai Holding; Fadi Ghandour, Founder of Aramex; and Mustafa Abdel-Wadood, Board Member of The Abraaj Group and Chairman of the Management Executive Committee. Support for the start-ups has been offered by a number of business incubators in the Arab world such as Mohammed bin Rashid Establishment for SME Development, the Silicon Oasis Founders, Oasis 500, Flat 6 Labs Abu Dhabi and IN5.

The audience and participants will have the opportunity to watch theatre shows hosted by Saudi artist Abdul Rahman Mohammed, who offers through his YouTube channel a number of songs and poems in an innovative way, accompanied by music on the guitar. His performance of the musical poem ‘Osabk ishkan’ by Yazed bin Muawiya achieved more than 15 million views, in addition to the well-known stand-up comedian Wonho Chung.

On the second day of the summit, the Arab Social Media Influencers Forum will be organised on the sidelines of the summit as the first event of its kind featuring more than 500 active Arab influencers on various social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. The forum will discuss the most important issues facing these channels, and it will host top international and Arab social media influencers to discuss best practices and how to take advantage of the expertise available in the field. Nicholas Christakis, an international expert, will participate in a workshop entitled ‘Hidden power of social media’ while Alex Ohanin, founder of Reddit, will speak on news production in the new media.

There will also be a workshop for influencers in Facebook, entitled ‘Moving your page to the World’, led by Brandon Stanton, who will speak about his experiences in his transition from an amateur to a professional on Facebook with more than 12 million followers. Another session for influencers on YouTube will be presented by YouTube Academy to shed light on Louis Cole’s experience as one of the biggest influencers on YouTube. Cole Rise, professional photographer and one of the top influencers on Instagram with more 900,000 followers will participate in the session of influencers in Instagram entitled ‘Instagram as a business model.’

The second day will include a sessions about food which highlights the importance of using social media to encourage healthy food habits. The session, which includes chef Osama Elsayed, chef Dima Hijjawi and the nutrition expert Fahd Yahya, will be led by the TV presenter Howayda Abou-Heif. The second day will also feature a session on design and fashion, run by fashion expert Joel Murdenaan, who will meet a number of influential names in design world in social media channels, such as Ascia, the owners of The hybrids blog, the beauty expert Huda Kattan, and designer Sarah Madani.
 

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