BEIRUT: It’s a surprising and impressive feat to get 19 speakers, four performers, a 27-member organization team, numerous volunteers and over 600 attendees into a lecture hall at 9 a.m. on a rainy Saturday morning, but TEDx Beirut achieved it.

The predominantly Lebanese and mostly under-30 crowd descended on Berytech Technological Pole in Mkalles outside Beirut for a full day of carefully curated talks and lectures from speakers on topics ranging from improving the format in which Beirut addresses are given to comprehending how the Flying Spaghetti Monster rose from being one man’s caustic joke to an Internet phenomenon and the head of the FSM Church.

Brought together in just four months of planning, Saturday’s event was TEDx Beirut’s first full-day conference. TEDx conferences are independently organized events that utilize both the TED name and format. TED, which stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, started in 1984 as a conference aimed at bringing together thinkers and innovators from these three sectors. It has since grown to hold two international conferences annually and is known to most people through TEDTalks, an online showcase of the best 18-minutes-or-less talks that its conference speakers have delivered.

TEDx Beirut hosted three successful smaller-scale salon events, with screenings of TED talks, prior to running its first full-day, live conference. The salons clearly did significant work in generating local interest and sponsorship for the initiative to enable Saturday’s event, which sought to create the incubator in which seeds of inspiration, creativity and innovation will take root and from which positive change will grow.

TED events are lauded for their emphasis on freedom of expression and their open availability through the Internet. Audience members are encouraged to express their reactions to speakers, be those reactions positive or negative. They are also encouraged to interact with each other and the speakers between events. All talks are broadcast online, but attendees are also facilitated in tweeting the event from the auditorium while it is in progress. Speakers are given free rein, within a time limit, to talk about what most interests or concerns them, even if that challenges the TED talks format itself.

While everyone present was issued a badge upon arrival stating their name and profession, the conference’s opening speaker’s first message was a reminder that roles were originally created for the “particular industry of the theater.” Michael Kouly, the president of the Cambridge Institute for Global Leadership, used his time on stage to remind attendees, “You are not your role, whatever your role is, and all roles come to an end.”

Several speakers later, Mahmoud Natout, an Educational Studies Ph.D. student and instructor at the University of Oxford, delivered his address with one foot on and one foot off the circular red carpet from which the speakers spoke, claiming he was still unsure about participating in the event. “I have a problem with TED talks,” Natout began as he outlined his objections to “soundbite media,” “Fastfood thought,” and sweeping claims about how knowledge relates to practice. “I would be extremely concerned if a 10-minute presentation moved any of you to action,” he said. Yet, his 10-minute presentation afforded him the chance to challenge his audience’s views on the nature of learning and knowledge.

The loose theme of the event was “From Limitations to Inspiration,” and several speakers offered admirable examples of individuals who had stepped beyond their limitations, embraced inspiration, and made a real difference in the world.

Hala Fadel, a successful Lebanese entrepreneur, has been pivotal in the organization of the MIT Arab Business Plan competition. Her inspiration has created a forum for aspiring Arab entrepreneurs from 17 countries to present their business plans and compete for prize-money to kick-start their initiatives.

Gilbert Doumit’s talk on political entrepreneurship challenged attendees’ assumption of the limitations of politics in the Middle East. “I transform politics in the Arab world,” Doumit announced, before describing his work in the region to transform the political practices of “conflict, corruption and confessionalism” to the more positive practices he’s coined of “governship, adaptivity and responscivility.”

Sawsan Zenne, an audience member, cited Doumit’s talk as one of the best of the day. “We need this kind of innovation in Lebanon. Politics is very much about corruption as he says, and we really need creativity,” the 21-year-old said.

The conference’s closing speaker was definitely a highlight for many. All day attendees had been examining small squares of an unidentifiable hard material – not unlike like chipboard, but clearly something different – that were included in the goody bags they’d received upon arrival. Ziad Abichaker finally delivered enlightenment.

Abichaker is the CEO of Cedar Environmental, where he and his engineering team have developed new technology to turn plastic bags into durable and waterproof solid plastic panels that can be used outdoors instead of wooden and steal panels.

Declaring his love for waste, Abichaker said: “We can make waste positive.” He and his organization continue to strive to overcome obstacles to increase the level of recycling in Lebanon.

Indeed the conference itself aimed to be a “zero waste” event and provided labeled bins made from Abichaker’s new material for attendees to dispose of the plastic dishware on which the day’s meals and snacks were served and leftover organic material. All would be either recycled or composted.

However, Josie McVitty, a conference attendee from New Zealand, after expressing her enjoyment of the day, commented: “It’s impressive that they aspire to zero waste, but they could have gone further in reducing waste in the first place.”

Overall though, the day was awash with enthusiasm. Attendees mingled, talked, and penned multitudes of creative ideas on a giant swath of white paper – a wall of ideas.

Among other highlights of the day were addresses from Mazen Hajjar the CEO of 961 Beer, who also offered pints in the social space; Arne Dietrich who challenged listeners’ understanding of the subconscious; and Reine Abbas, the creator of Douma, a video game that allows players to pit Lebanese politicians against each other, who received the first of several standing ovations from an appreciative and hope-inspired audience.