Theme: LOOKING BEYOND

TEDxConcordia is a powerful Montreal conference hosted by Concordia University, bringing together fascinating and unforgettable speakers. It is organized by volunteers who passionately believe in social change. TEDxConcordia strives at quenching the clear thirst for non-academic learning within Concordia and the Montreal community. Our team aims at sparking genuine curiosity and initiating a love for learning in its most fundamental way. The reaction has been loud and clear, TEDxConcordia is eagerly welcomed.

Looking Beyond... is understanding the matter that lives below the tip of the iceberg. It requires deepening one’s own knowledge and discovering the true self. One is looking beyond when they can observe a picture in its entirety, thus crafting together an all-encompassing perspective for any issue at hand. It’s creating something out of sheer simplicity: in art, science and even business. It’s about tearing down boundaries, looking past stereotypes and affecting a reform. It’s imagining a better world for generations to come, and actively working towards improving the community in real-time. Looking Beyond... elicits the visionary within us all—it means to be a challenger of norms and a catalyst for change.

J.A. de Sève Cinema McConnell Library Building, LB-125
1400 De Maisonneuve Blvd. W. Montreal
Montreal, Quebec, H3G 1M8
Canada

Bachir Halimi

President and CEO of Speech Mobility

Bachir Halimi is the founder of Speech Mobility, a telecom software company that developed the first PBX in the cloud powered by a voice assistant to provide intelligent telephony and safe mobility. Its services appeal particularly to mobile business people who want productivity on the road without compromising safety. Bachir is also an international conference speaker on computer linguistics, voice communications and cryptography. He holds a Masters degree in Computer Science from the University of Montreal. Bachir shared how he innovates in the industry by looking beyond existing communications technologies to change the way we work and live.

Daniel Douek

Lecturer in Political Science at Concordia and McGill Universities

In 2009, Daniel traveled to South Africa to undertake field research on urban violence for his doctoral dissertation. After staying on the straight-and-narrow path for the first few days, interviewing experts in air-conditioned offices in the capital of Pretoria, he encountered a group of South Africans who told him that if he really wanted to understand violence in South Africa, they would take him to the Eastern Cape, a 13-hour drive away, where he could meet family members of theirs who had participated in the armed struggle against apartheid. He gave up all his carefully-laid plans to pursue this opportunity. Daniel Douek, PhD, is a lecturer in Political Science at Concordia and McGill Universities in Montreal. He specializes in African Politics.

David Bernstein

Hypnotherapist

A graduate of Concordia University in 1979, David Bernstein spent countless years in the business world until he discovered the wonders of clinical hypnosis. In 1993, he suffered from a serious sports injury that led to five years of chronic pain. No doctor, medication or treatment could relieve him of his pain until a friend suggested he try hypnosis. Upon seeing a hypnotist, he was immediately cured. This prompted him to become a hypnotherapist, in which he continues to relieve so many Montrealers of their vices and fears by digging into the subconscious.

David Côté

Co-founder and President of Crudessence

Co-author of five books including a bestseller translated in five languages, Shiatsu therapist, acroyoga teacher, living food chef and inspiring public speaker, David always has many projects going on. After several years of travelling around the world, David decided to settle down in Montreal to open up his restaurant, Crudessence. Voted as the 2015 Entrepreneur of the Year in the Quebec Young Chamber of Commerce, David is presently the CEO of Crudessence and Vice President of RISE Kombucha, a healthy energy drink company. During his Talk, David invited people into deeper reflection, inspiring daily acts of self-respect and responsability.

Dax Dasilva

Founder and CEO, Lightspeed - Founder, Never Apart

Dax Dasilva is the creative mind behind Lightspeed's suite of retail, hospitality and eCommerce tools. Seeing the technological evolution of how people live and work, and the void in the market for cloud-based business platforms, he was ahead of the curve when he launched Lightspeed in 2005. Under Dax's leadership, Lightspeed provides industry-leading omnichannel commerce tools that enable more than 35,000 small and medium businesses worldwide to thrive. His vision of blending the best of the digital and physical worlds continues to guide the company today. In 2015, Dax also founded Never Apart, a non-profit organization that brings about social change and spiritual awareness through cultural programming.

James Poudrier

Student at the Concordia John Molson School of Business

James is currently a student at the Concordia John Molson School of Business in the BComm marketing program with a background in graphic design. He has always been fascinated by what the world has to offer. As a graphic designer, James learned about the importance of rethinking your first design idea. After taking an elective in Introduction to Astronomy, it sparked his interest about the world around him and made him realize all that there is to learn about the subject. After some time, he decided to switch programs from graphic design to marketing. Regardless, his curiosity for the world around him never came to a halt. The more he learnt about a subject caused a snowball effect where he began to ask more questions, finally allowing him to conclude that knowledge is not as simple as one may think. James’ talk revolved around the Dunning Kruger effect. This effect states that the less you know about a subject, the more you are comfortable and confident speaking about it.

Jenviev Azzolin

President and Co-founder of PPLCONNECT

Jenviev is the President and Co-founder of PPLCONNECT, a Montreal tech startup which lets users continue all their smartphone conversations cross- devices. Jenviev is driven by big ideas & ppl who aim to make a difference. Her passion lies in democratizing live communications and having a positive impact worldwide. Jenviev is also the President and Co-founder of WeHost, a not-for-profit which aims to empower Canadians to temporarily host a refugee in their home. Jenviev has won numerous accolades and awards for her contribution to Canadian business, from TechWomen Canada, to receiving the Spin Master Innovation Fund, winning the Quebec Angel Investor Challenge and recently being selected in the top 8 startups across North America by Global Entrepreneurship Week.

Mikaël Theimer

Co-Founder Portraits of Montreal

A native of France, Mikaël moved to Montreal on a whim at 20 years old and graduated with a BComm in Marketing. After spending several years of his life working for big corporations, he quit his job and embarked on a journey to discovering his passion. Inspired by Humans of New York, Mikaël bought himself a camera and created a Montreal version of the page with a couple of friends. Portraits of Montreal has received widespread recognition for capturing the stories and ideas of Montrealers through photography. Mikaël talked about the power of photography in tearing down prejudices, reconnecting humans to one another and forcing people to look beyond appearances.

Rym Benchaar

Lead Strategist, Le Site

After graduating from Concordia with a BComm in 2010, Rym dove head first into the world of market research, which kick started her love affair with data. After spending several years crunching numbers for companies such as the Danone group, Reitmans Canada and Merck, it gave Rym clarity on how data could target and predict consumer behaviour. Now leading a strategy team in the digital marketing industry, Rym leverages a wider range of data to help executives make strategic business decisions. At her core, her role will always be to craft marketing tactics but the question that always come up: how can we leverage the same information but use it for the greater good of humanity? Rym invited the audience you to look beyond big business data and demonstrated how we have already started to revolutionize our way of life.

Soliman Abu-Samra

Civil engineer and Ph.D. Student at Concordia University

Soliman Abu-Samra is a motivated civil engineer with blended professional and academic experience in project and infrastructure asset management. Soliman has pursued his bachelor’s and master’s degree in construction management with highest honors from Egypt and he is currently working towards his doctoral degree (Ph.D.) in Civil Engineering at Concordia University. Throughout his academic career, he has published numerous books and journal and conference articles about establishing proper management systems for multiple infrastructure assets and construction operations. Alternatively, his professional experience in mega-scale worldwide projects has framed the real-life problems municipalities and contractors are presently facing while managing their assets. Soliman’s talk revolved around identifying the municipalities’ challenges in managing their assets and introducing practical solutions for both enhancing the level of service and extending the infrastructure life cycle.