Whenever I used to hear the word TEDx, I used to feel someone calling out my dream, said one of the biggest TEDx event organizers, Ehtisham Akram. This is the story of Ehtisham Akram, which shows that the more you experience, the more you learn or the better you get. The word TEDx itself was something huge for him; he always thought it was the biggest event one could ever attend. However, he never thought in his wildest dreams that one day he’d be the one arranging TEDx events.
How Did Ehtisham Akram’s Story Begin?
So, the story of Ehtisham Akram starts when he meets one of his seniors named Hammad Siddique, who wanted to arrange a TEDx event. He thought it was all a joke until Hammad bought a license for the event. Although he agreed to be Hammad’s partner in arranging TEDx but, deep down, he knew that they wouldn’t be able to arrange one, as arranging a TEDx event is not everyone’s cup of tea. His doubts started to fade when they met the vice president of TEDx Umme-Habiba.
The main focus of Ehtisham Akram and the team was to arrange a TEDx event without being affiliated with any university. As in typical TEDx events that are affiliated with universities such as NUST, KU, NED, etc., outsiders are not allowed; even the team and the audience include the inner members of the university itself, which almost closes the doors of new learnings for outsiders. He wanted to arrange an event apart from the university’s affiliation so that they could target different people and maximize people’s chances to learn new things.
This decision was not easy for him to make as this decision (not being affiliated with any university) brings loads of drawbacks with itself. When the university arranges the event, you get lots of perks, for instance, the name of the university, aka the brand, their auditorium, the audience, and sponsors too. Ehtisham Akram had none of it, he did not have money to book an auditorium nor he had contacts with sponsors as he was inexperienced and it was his first event so organizers were not trusting him.
The First Experience of TedEx Pakistan
After various struggles, he somehow managed to book an auditorium of Karachi university, now the next challenge he faced was the selling of tickets. It was one of the hardest parts as the students of Karachi university were not aware about TED events. After some time, some of the tickets were sold, and now the next hurdle was to arrange food, but Ehtisham Akram, along with his friend, ran out of money. They decided they will use their savings to save their first event. They did so, and after loads of struggles, finally, their first event, the first TEDx event, which was his dream, came to reality.
Ehtisham Akram got to learn lots of different things about organizing and managing Ted events, which helped him to do better in future. Later, he arranged his second TEDx event. He was confident that this event will be far better than the first one. Although it was a hit, Ehtisham Akram did face some struggles while arranging this event, too. The first was to arrange an auditorium. They chose BAHRIA University, whose management was not that cooperative. The second was to arrange money from sponsors. Lastly, the third problem that he faced was that his main speaker backed off a few moments before the event. Apart from all these struggles, Ehtisham and his team somehow managed to deliver a jam packed event, which was surely far better than the first one and was a hit.
Before his third event he was well aware about the dos and don’ts of the event. They booked their venue six months before the event and got all the reputable sponsors such as Vital, 3D Design, etc. Sell all of their tickets, make a new team, provide internships for their team so that they can also benefit from the event. Overall, their third event was the best of all, as he was now experienced. He had learned from his past experiences.
One thing that makes Ehtisham Akram apart from others is his vision of arranging such TED events through which he can spread Islam, or can make people aware about Islam and its teachings. He is planning to arrange events without unnecessary music and stuff.
TEDx Azaadi Street
Ehtisham Akram is now arranging TEDx events all over Pakistan, as these events, TEDx Azaadi Street, have become so recognized and famous all around Pakistan.
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