On Thursday 10 December, Huffington Post Greece celebrated the completion of its first year of operatio with a day-long, multi-thematic event entitled HuffPost Greece #1, which was held at The Hub Events.
More than 150 attendees at each workshop got the opportunity to listen to discussions on politics, education, startups, society and tourism. The workshops constituted open discussions between different leaders from the corresponding sectors, the public and the bloggers of Huffington Post Greece. Workshop moderators were, Pavlos Tsimas, Editor at large, Nikos Agouros, Editor in chief, Fotis Nakos Chief Editor, Athina Papakosta, Chief Editor and Despoina Trivoli, Chief Editor, Life & Culture of HuffPost Greece
The workshops event was broadcast through live streaming in LiveBlog format.
Meanwhile, a number of events also took place, such as the photography exhibition featuring the most significant news as they were presented through the headlines of HuffPost Greece, as well as the screening of the video project “Greeks Gone West” which narrates the role played by the Greek diaspora in the working culture of the United States.
Arianna Huffington sent her best wishes for the first year of operation of HuffPost Greece, via video.
Analytically:
Politics Workshop
The first workshop was entitled “Politics – How politics and public administration can reverse the brain drain”. Speakers were Christoforos Vernadakis Alternate Minister of Interior and Administrative Reform, Charis Theocharis Member of the Hellenic Parliament (Athens B) and Parliamentary Representative of the political party TO POTAMI and Niki Kerameus Member of the Hellenic Parliament (State Constituency), responsible for the Administrative Reform and E-Government Sector of the New Democracy Party. (read more here, here and here).
Education Workshop
The next workshop was entitled “Education – How Greek education can coordinate with the future and the new digital reality”. The speakers were Dimitris Andreou, Vice President of Deree, Michalis Meimaris, Professor and Head of the Laboratory of New Technologies in Education, Communication and Media, in the Department of Communication and Media Studies of the University of Athens and Eleni Papadimitriou, Corporate Communications Manager at Procter & Gamble.
Startup Workshop
The event continued with the workshop entitled “Startup Entrepreneurship – How can a Greek Startup manage to succeed?” Through their own success stories, the speakers talked about the ways in which the Greek ecosystem of Startups is developing as well as about greater future challenges. The speakers were Roxane Koutsolouka founder of the JoinCargo platform, Andreas Konstantinou, founder and CEO of VisionMobile and Giorgos Tziralis, co-founder of OpenFund.
Solidarity Workshop
Fourth in line was the workshop entitled “Solidarity – Is solidarity unlimited in a crisis? What have we learnt from the experience of the economic and refugee crisis in Greece and how will we respond to new challenges?” The speakers who broached the issue were Alexandros Theodoridis founding member of “Mporoume”. Laura Pappas, founding member and President of the Organization “METAdrasi” and Anggeliki Patroumpa, Public Affairs & Communication Director for Coca-Cola 3E.
Tourism & Development Workshop
The day was concluded with the workshop entitled “Tourism & Development – How we can invest in alternative tourism and what we need to know for proper branding”. The speakers were Elena Koundoura, Alternate Minister of Economy, Development and Tourism, the chef and renowned ambassador of Greek gastronomy Diane Kochilas, who spoke about gastronomic tourism, and Nikos Polias, the marathon runner with numerous victories, who spoke about athletic tourism (read more here).
The celebration was concluded with a cocktail party, during which the HuffPost Greece team blew out its first candle, together with partners and 24MEDIA executives, friends, as well as representatives from politics, business and advertising.
The food that was left over from the event was given to “MPOROUME”, so as to feed people in need.
By means of the ΗuffPost Greece #1 event, there commences an annual offline forum whose purpose it shall be to promote all issues concerning the society of citizens and to highlight them through public discussion.