The IEEE Student and Young Professional Lebanon Congress (SYPLC) 2018, which was held at the American University of Beirut on the 9th and the 10th of March, was the second edition of this conference, aiming at facilitating the transition of students and young graduates from college to the workplace. This is the biggest IEEE event in Lebanon, gathering people from all over the country, from various backgrounds and career levels.

The congress amassed an audience of more than 300 people, with students coming from all corners of Lebanon to have the chance to connect with fellow peers and learn from multiple experts.

During the two-day event, esteemed speakers such as General Chamel Roukoz or Mr. Tony Charaf (ex-President of Technical Operations at Delta Air Lines) gave talks on how to lead at work and become an expert in your field, while the likes of Mr. Raymond El Khoury and Habib Al Khoury discussed topics related to emotional intelligence and the analysis of body language respectively. Other experts such as Nour El Assaad, Careem Lebanon Marketing Manager, informed attendees about the importance of personal branding and how to do it. Hind Chammas held a hands on workshop on Design thinking, Lea Korkmaz shared her experience on transitioning into the working world, Daniella Khalil discussed the importance of the volunteering, Feras El Banna tackled the topic of negotiation in the workplace, Dr. Ziad Nehme shared the Dos and Don’ts of public speaking and an esteemed panel of life-coaches encouraged the attendees to take their life into their own hands.

While the conference mainly took place at the OSB Maamari Auditorium, a few Parallel Sessions were also offered at the IOEC and Bechtel Engineering buildings, to offer the attendees the choice between multiple workshops focusing on selected topics like personal branding, emotional intelligence or public speaking… It was quite pleasing to see this big number of students and young professionals excited to work on their soft skills and develop their connections, and we hope to see this excitement in other IEEE events, whether at AUB or at any other university.

It is also important not to forget that all this would not have taken place without the months of hard work and dedication from the IEEE Young Professionals Lebanon Team, the IEEE AUB Student Branch Team and of course without the support of the Maroun Semaan Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Alfa, IEEE Young Professionals and the AUB University Student Counsel.