Great storytellers speak to audiences with more than just words.
Last week, AboFlah and myself were invited to attend a talk at the Museum of the Future featuring Idris Elba and his wife Sabrina. Thank you to Carin for extending us the invite.
This was AboFlah’s first time attending a talk like this so he was both charged up and curious. On our car drive to the venue, he mentioned that he’d just watched one of Idris’s movies on a flight back to Dubai (Beast). I hadn’t seen it. We exchanged stories. I’ve always been captivated by the animated way he communicates and tells stories. A few failed attempts to dodge traffic later we arrived at the venue.
Prior to the talk kicking off, we met privately with Idris and Sabrina Elba. They were both warm and charming. It was clear they were getting along well with AboFlah. Even with the language barrier (English vs Arabic native speakers), the chat rallied between laughs and wholesome sincerity. When speaking our native tongue, we often over-emphasize the importance of communicating with words. Life has reminded me what matters most is intention and sincerity in what we’re communicating. Words are cheap and easy. The conversation ended with some quick photos and we headed in to the auditorium to catch the talk.
The format was a sort of panel-interview hybrid. The host of the talk steered the flow of the conversation and Idris and Sabrina generally took turns answering. I felt the format was lazy and incredibly dated. Very TV inspired instead of YouTube. You had two prolific story-tellers sitting on stage with a clearly skilled host who rushed through questions instead of enabling a conversation. I would have set this up as a quasi-Podcast-format matching Idris and Sabrina Elba alongside two local hosts who do long-form digital-native content; #ABTalks (Anas Bukhash) and AJ (Jibber with Jabber) for example.
Putting the format aside, there were some very sincere moments. Seeing and feeling the healthy dynamic between the couple really was the highlight. Even with a painful injury, I sat through it all. When Idris spoke on the issues and challenges of being active on social media, Sabrina challenged this. She extolled the virtues of social media and said it was an essential platform to broadcast your voice and message to so many. When Sabrina mentioned she once raised money by doing a silly beauty pageant, Idris said well you are beautiful. When it was time for Q&A, Idris encouraged Sabrina to answer a seemingly weighty question but later regretted it when the next Question he’d have to take was What do you do when your life purpose is challenged?
When the session was over and while still seated, I turned to ask AboFlah what he thought. “Wow, this was amazing. My first time watching something like this, it was great.”
We talked about some of the same key moments. He was narrating some of the stories Sabrina had told about how curiosity is what drove her to create her own line of skin care products that were sourced from her home in Somalia. The points Idris Elba made about social media. It was clearly a home run for AboFlah.
With the influx of actors and celebrities coming to Dubai from outside the Middle East, most are so eager to meet with AboFlah. He’s a kindred spirit. A creative who owns access to a massive online audience. Determining who he meets with and why he may choose to work with them is something my co-founder Eyad has been so masterfully mindful of.
This recent meeting and talk at the Museum of the Future crystallized something for me:
We must actively engage and work with only the greatest, most sincere, well intentioned storytellers in the world if we’re to make an unrivalled impact across the Middle East. Collaborations with those types of people transcend language.
This is going to be an incredible year for creators across the Middle East.