🌏 One of the most significant highlights of this month for me was probably the HPAIR (Harvard College Project for Asian and International Relations) conference. This Harvard-based organisation has been connecting different cultures around the world for 35 years and has allowed numerous young professionals and students to expand their global networks.
💫 HPAIR also conducts two offline sessions annually - one at Harvard, another in an Asian country. For instance, this year the Asian conference will take place in Hanoi, Vietnam. You must be 18 years of age to apply for the in-person sessions.
If you'd like to read part 1 of my series of posts about HPAIR, see this post.
Speaker Panels
🔥 The keynote speeches were my absolute favourite feature of this conference. The number of fireside chats a delegate can attend is quite large, and I got to choose the speakers I listened to. The delegates got a chance to hear the stories of esteemed leaders from countries like Japan, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka and many more.
📈 Probably the talk that stood out to me the most was the one delivered by Kathy Matsui, the founder of Japan's first ESG-focused venture capital fund. Moreover, she developed the theory of Womenomics, which laid the groundwork for an economic policy that the Japanese government implements to this day.
HPAIRx
📣 The guests were not the only ones delivering speeches. At HPAIRx, the delegates got an opportunity to deliver talks about topics that ignite passion in them. It was thrilling to hear other ambitious young people talk about topics ranging from human trafficking to environmental sustainability.
Impact Challenge
📄 For this part of the conference, all delegates were split into 37 different groups. We were given a case to work on, and my team had to present some innovative solutions to the issue at hand. I'm glad to share that, despite the fact that my group only consisted of two people, we managed to pass to the final round of this competition.
Our main objective was to develop a plan for expanding the outreach of NFTE - a global non-profit organization - and informing people about their events. I was inspired by the bond we managed to form with my teammate while solving the case.
⭐️ Overall, I'd rate this experience 8/10, as the need to stay glued to the screen to attend all available events made me feel quite exhausted by the end. Yet I'd totally recommend applying for this remarkable conference to anyone who strives to become an authentic, impactful leader in the future.
You can use this link to register: https://www.hpair.org/