10 Reasons to get excited about the Dubai Lynx 2014!

March 4, 2014

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The 7th edition of the Dubai Lynx is just few days away, personally I’m super excited because I’m a big fan of this event, I like the energy, the topics, the networking, the parties, it’s thee place to be if you work in advertising, or even remotely associated with this mad mad industry!

Here are the top 10 reasons why I’m excited about the Dubai Lynx 2014:

10. Ambient Fun
Every year the organizers create a gallery featuring global winning work as well as shortlisted work from the region, it’s always great to see winners from last year’s Cannes Lions, and potential Lynx winners this year. The fun can get more serious at the booths just off the seminar hall, last year I had my mugshot taken at the Boomtown Productions booth, and after seeing this photo I started to think I might be in the wrong business.

9. Motivate turns 35
Motivate Publishing are celebrating their 35 anniversary with a special edition of the Lynx Connect Party, every year the first day of the festival concludes with a simple networking event sponsored by Motivate, let’s see what they have in store for us this year, I hope it’s something interesting.

8. Graffiti from the Arab Spring: the Voice of the Street
Dubai-based photographer Euan Air will be showcasing the Arab Spring from a street graffiti perspective, Euan has been a resident of the Middle East for the past 14 years and was arrested by state security in Egypt and Libyan Islamist Groups.

This should be a very interesting session as it sheds some light on a lost art that emerged with the Arab Spring, I remember seeing some interesting graffiti in Egypt after the revolution and it will be great to hear his take on graffiti as a medium of communication. This session will take place at 4pm on Monday, March 10th.

7. Independent Agency Showcase
Every year Julian Boulding, Founder of thenetworkone, takes the stage to celebrate independent agencies, showcasing the opportunities, the challenges and success stories these agencies enjoy. This year the focus will be on Iraq. This session will take place at 12pm on Sunday, March 9th.

6. Google & YouTube
Google and YouTube are heavily involved this year, the first bit I would like to see is the Creative Sandbox, which is supposed to be an interactive area for creatives to explore and engage with Google products, the Creative Sandbox should be accessible daily between 11am and 6pm. In addition to the Sandbox, YouTube is hosting some of its partners in a tent to share their experience, this can be interesting as well.

Google’s involvement continues with 3 sessions, the first session will be at 5:30pm on Day 1 and it will be focused on an exciting project called Art, Copy & Code, the title is very intriguing, and yes it’s a very cool project, just click the below image and enjoy! The second session is taking place at 5:30 on the 2nd day, while the Google forum is happening at 2:30pm on the 3rd day.

5. A Program full of Stories
The main theme of this year’s program is storytelling, looking at the topics and speakers I can say we are all in for a treat, you have speakers from WPP, Google, YouTube, BBC, Facebook, JWT, Ogilvy & Mather and more. And if we were lucky, some of these sessions might actually start with a dance lesson, like this one from last year! click here for the Dubai Lynx 2014 Program

4. The Freedom Theatre – Creation Under Occupation
This is a session not to be missed, the Freedom Theater was born in 2006 with a mission to create a vibrant and creative artistic community in the northern part of the West Bank in Palestine, particularly the Jenin camp, which was brutally invaded by Israeli forces. Some of the creative minds behind this project will be discussing art as a powerful tool for the oppressed against the oppressors, I’m so looking forward to this one, mark your calendar the Freedom Theater at 5pm on Sunday 9th of March.

3. The Awards After Party
This year the Awards After Party will be hosted at Zero Gravity, it’s a great venue and I believe it’s the perfect venue for the after party, it’s located at SkyDive Dubai right on the beach!

2. The Awards Night
Just like any industry, awards are something to look forward to, even if you’re not participating, you still enjoy attending these ceremonies, last year I had a blast at the Lynx Awards ceremony and I look forward to enjoy myself this year as well.