[RECAP WORKSHOP] ITALY AND ITS SOFT POWER – USING THE RIGHT WEAPONS

INTRODUCTION

Workshop “Italy and Its Soft Power – Using the Right Weapons”, led by Mr. Dante Brandi – Consul General of Italy, took place on November 29th, 2018. This is the third and last workshop of the series “Press pedal to the medal” hosted by UEH Connected to connect the youth with three Consuls General from France, Canada, and Italy.
Over 60 participants, including students and employees from Vietnam and other countries, were present at and actively involved throughout the workshop.
 

WARMUP

The MC briefly introduced about UEH Connected community and an upcoming important event of the community which is Lead The Change 2018 Competition. It was established with the purpose of encouraging young entrepreneurs to embrace the challenges, surpass their own limits, and speed up the process of changing themselves. The competition has been through 3 of its 5 rounds and the gala day where the final round will take place is set to be on December 13th. This will definitely be a truly amazing event, so register right now at: http://bit.ly/chungketLEADTHECHANGE2018COMPETITION
Details of the gala day: https://www.facebook.com/events/1395052033959733/

START

Everyone gave a big round of applause as the Consul General headed onto the stage. He started by briefly introducing about the history of the world, specifically the period when there still were imbalances of power among countries. From the dominance of hard power, nations started to witness a major shift to soft power which is defined as the ability to convince somebody to do something without exerting force on them. Mr. Dante then shared with the audience that soft power was found out ever since the beginning of human beings. Taking the Roman empire as an example, he said that it did not fall because of war, but instead of indulgence and lack of leadership of a ruling class that simply lost its vision and passion.

As a Consul General, Mr. Dante aims to promote soft power through communication and public diplomacy, emphasizing the importance of approaching the Vietnamese audience. He acknowledged the unparalleled impacts of social media at the present. To elaborate on this issue, Mr. Dante mentioned the story of how Dolce&Gabbana latest commercial demonstrated serious discrimination towards China and consequently provoked severe criticism from Internet community.

His two advice to the audience were “Communicate what you believe in and you can be creative even if you have fractions” and “When you feel insecure, ask the people whom you believe can give you a message even if the message is not a positive one”.

Following the Consul General’s sharing, Mr. Thang Huynh, Founder of UEH Connected, joined Mr. Dante for a panel discussion. They discussed critical issues related to the youth such as what if they used social media to spread wrong messages or how to distinguish between authentic and fake news. Mr. Thang then invited some audience to raise their questions to Mr. Dante which he willingly answered, providing many valuable insights.
The Consul General and Mr. Thang Huynh - Founder of UEH Connected

Moments later, the workshop came to an end. Audience went up on the stage to have a group photo with the Consul General. He kindly stayed longer to have some conversations with attendees. Overall, the atmosphere was cozy and everyone was in good spirit.

Mr. Thang Huynh with a gift to Mr. Dante
Mr. Ted Kim - Founder and CEO of KIMC Investment Management Consulting Group, with Mr. Dante and Mr. Thang Huynh
Consul General with the organizors

UEH Connected muốn bày tỏ lòng biết ơn và gửi lời cảm ơn đến Saigon Innovation Hub đã hỗ trợ địa điểm cho sự kiện này.

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