Nazanine Matin founder and face of TEDxMonteCarlo infusing Monaco with the magic of TEDx and sparking many a conversation.

I met Nazanine Matin many years ago at a private dinner party, up in the hills overlooking Monaco. The party was exquisite but the person who left the biggest impression on me that night was the young lady sitting next to me. Nazanine, there was just something about her confidence and determination combined with a kindness. We have crossed paths a few times since and every time I’m left impressed. So it was a pleasure to interview her for Women On Top’s December issue. She is now known as the founder and face of TEDxMonteCarlo infusing Monaco with the magic of TEDx and sparking many a conversation.

WOT: A little bit of background about yourself for those readers who don’t know you yet!

“Originally I’m from Iran and I studied Mechanical Engineering in California. My family emigrated in the summer of 78 during the revolution of Iran and my uncle settled in Monaco. I settled here permanently in 2014. I worked in engineering, technology and finance for a long time but today I work as an independent consultant for companies in many different fields.”

WOT: You are known as the founder and face of TEDxMonteCarlo, how did you make that happen?

“When I bought my iPad in 2009 a friend of mine told me to download the TED app. I was traveling a lot at the time and was constantly watching TED talks, I really became a bit of a TED addict. I went to my friend’s TEDx event in 2013 in Covent Garden and I was blown away. I felt like I’d been hit by a bus, the sheer diversity and depth of the topics left me really speechless. So I let it sit for a while and I went back to Monaco as an MBA student at the International University of Monaco. I wanted to share this experience with my community and in 2014 I was allowed to set up an event at the University (TEDxIUM). In 2016 I was asked to set up another event and that is how TEDxMonteCarlo was born with 400 people in 2016 and 800 people in 2018. We were going to run it again in 2019 but due to the lack of funds we postponed it to 2020 and then the pandemic hit….”

WOT: I attended the TEDxMonteCarloSalon on Arts & Ai and was signed up for the one on laughter, which of course was cancelled due to the pandemic. I was however very impressed with how quickly you adapted to this and switched to virtual TEDx events. Can you tell us a little more about that and also how you decide on your speakers and topics?

“The going virtual was something the TEDx organization was very responsive to. TEDx has many rules with regards to keeping the brand quality, etc… but TEDx quickly realized the importance of keeping the community connected and keeping conversation going during these difficult times. And so there was a little more flexibility on format and we received the support we needed to switch to virtual. Topic wise, we just try and see what is important to our local community and which questions are big at the moment globally. We have a monthly call with the board to discuss the topics, and I am signed up to the other TEDx organizations to see what they’re doing and my board is there as my sounding board. They have said no a few times to me!”

WOT: Are there any TED talks that have left a big impression on you?

I used to watch them a lot more so perhaps the ones that have impacted me the most may be a little outdated now. I do prefer watching talks live, I think they leave a much bigger impression. If I had to pick a few I would definitely include “Shut Up and Listen” by Ernesto Sirolli in 2012 and then we were lucky enough to have him as a participant in one of our events. His message was just so important and still is today, listen first and then see how you can help instead of imposing our ways on other cultures and peoples. I also saw one where I could not stop laughing. “This is what happens when you reply to spam mail” by James Veitch, it is just hilarious. There are also many scientific ones that have left big impressions on me. Unfortunately not all of them go viral and people don’t necessarily get their message through. This lady collected data and proof on how to impact and improve the lives of people who are in a vegetative state with the hopes of getting enough support for human trials. Then there is of course the talk on “Happiness” by Shawn Achor.

WOT: What do you think are the ingredients for a successful TED talk?

Short and to the point! People should walk away learning something new and the talk includes a piece of yourself, it’s personal with a message. The preferred length has changed over time, the written rule is no longer than 18 minutes but people’s attention span is getting shorter and shorter. In 2016, my speakers were told to average their talks around 14 minutes and in 2018 I cut that down to 12 minutes. I got to the 12 minutes by observing an audience at another TEDx event and noticed that’s when most audience members would look on their phone and disconnect. So a good talk should be short. I think 6 minutes is the optimal time for a talk for if a speaker wants the most views – as it’s short enough to watch at any time throughout the day.

WOT: What are the aspirations for TEDxMonteCarlo?

“I would just really like to run the event we had planned for 2019, it was just such a phenomenal speaker lineup. I would love to give these people an opportunity to be on stage, perhaps the topics are less relevant today, so we would need to adapt.

When we started, we just wanted to introduce the concept of TEDx to Monaco as many people had no idea what it was. The second year was just trying to make a bigger impact. I wanted to showcase to the world how innovative Monaco is but it seems that people here want to see international talks and not local people. It was a bitter pill to swallow for me as I really do believe that Monaco has many interesting people that could share their powerful message.

WOT: What are you hoping to achieve with your next even FEARLESS.

This is my first “women” event. I never really was into it but now that they made it easy for us to do it virtually I thought this is the opportunity to explore a new event topic & format. The objective is to drive tough discussions and ask the hard questions allowing people to join the conversation with their ideas – no matter what they are. The format is different, we will show the TEDWomen 2020 talks and then we will go into Q&A leaving a lot of time for interaction and breakout sessions where attendees will have a facilitator. The breakout sessions are on the same topic, so participants do not have to pick a topic. And don’t worry, you don’t have to be there the whole day! You can pop in and pop out any time you want and finish off with a little dance to our live DJ party!