I want to take you on an extraordinary journey, different from a world where young people are overlooked and NGOs are filled with the same people to one where young people in the field of tourism and gastronomy come together and unite their strengths.
In 2015, I set out with the thought, "Together, we are stronger." Although this idea may seem general, our story started right at this point. I realized how little we could do alone in a university student club. However, if clubs came together, we could achieve much more. With this thought, I took my first step.
As I mentioned, after thinking that we could accomplish greater things together rather than being alone, organizing an event and meeting with all clubs became the first goal. The first step I remember was identifying universities in all of Turkey and Northern Cyprus that had tourism, hotel management, and gastronomy departments and finding out if these universities had clubs. At that time, the most common social media tool was Facebook. While writing this article, I went back to my Messenger history of those old days and found that I had sent messages to exactly 30 clubs. I share this message with you below.
"Hello, we are preparing a Tourism Workshop on April 27. We had previously organized this in Ankara at Bilkent University in cooperation with the Tourism Clubs of Gazi and Bilkent Universities a long time ago. We believe that after Ankara, it's Istanbul's turn for both beautiful participation and unity. In this event, which will last one day, we wanted to meet with the Tourism Clubs celebrating Tourism Week in Turkey and sign a different event. We would like to see Özyeğin, Bilkent, Boğaziçi, Yaşar, Beykent, ITU, and you among us. The location will be at Özyeğin University."
I later added another announcement to this message, stating that the event date was determined to be April 21.
As the event program started to become clearer, I prepared a new message to reach more clubs and sent it to other clubs.
"Hello, we are preparing a Tourism Workshop on April 21. The name of our event is 'Talking the Future of Tourism.' We had previously organized this in Ankara at Bilkent University in cooperation with the Tourism Clubs of Gazi and Bilkent Universities a long time ago. We believe that after Ankara, it's Istanbul's turn for both beautiful participation and unity. In this event, which will last one day, we wanted to meet with the Tourism and Gastronomy Clubs in Turkey to celebrate Tourism Week and sign a different event. We would like to see Özyeğin, Bilkent, Boğaziçi, Yaşar, Beykent, ITU, Çanakkale 18 March, Okan, and you among us. The location will be at Özyeğin University."
Initially, we started with the name suggestion of 'Turkey Young Tourism Professionals Workshop' and later changed it to Talking the Future of Tourism.'
While planning the event, one of the first people I communicated with was Umut Kalkan, President of the Özyeğin University International Hospitality and Tourism Club. I wanted to have the first meeting in Istanbul because it is the heart of tourism, and everyone could easily access it. Umut and I put a lot of effort into planning this event.
Imagine you're organizing an event where no one knows each other, and you come together with a single purpose through a Facebook message. We encountered many difficulties while planning, but we overcame them all. Many aspects were to be considered during the planning process, such as identifying industry professionals to host, arranging sponsors, contacting clubs, and collecting participant lists.
I cannot pass without mentioning the sponsors because a lot of effort was put in. I had knocked on many doors for printing and promotion with my childhood friend, Çelik Eryaşar, President of the Yaşar University Tourism Community. Semih Yaman, President of the Nişantaşı University Culinary Arts Club, played a major role in the event invitation coordination process.
The logo of this event was designed by Süleyman Yağız Çimen, President of the Çanakkale 18 March University Tourism Community.
The first meeting had to be special, as it was about the future of tourism, which is the youth. Therefore, right after the opening speeches, we planned sessions where the representatives of the Tourism and Gastronomy clubs would speak, titled 'Youth Talking the Future of Tourism 1' and '2'. The moderators had to be special, too. The tourism session was led by Erhan Us, President of Young Skal Turkey.
The big day arrived on April 21. After the first session, where the youth spoke, the 'Future of Gastronomy and Tourism' session took place; in this session, we had the opportunity to host many industry professionals: Şerif Yenen, Refika Birgül, and Mehmet Yaşin. Later, the 'Tourism and Youth' session was held. In the final session, 'Future Hotel Investments and Growth Strategies' were discussed, and the event was concluded.
About 300 students and 20 clubs participated. All participating students were given certificates. No participation fee was charged to the clubs and students who attended the event.
The first event we organized was unforgettable, and I want to share another memory with you. During a break, we gathered all club presidents in a classroom, and I was making a thank you speech. After this speech, we listened to everyone's brief ideas. The best idea to continue this event and achieve our goal of staying together was to unite under a platform roof. Of course, an election had to be made, and I was unanimously chosen as the Founder President. It was a proud moment in one's life. For 3 years, I always remembered the choice of that day and worked with all my might not to let down the trust of the 20 club presidents in me.
To Be Continued...
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