Story.me

Story.me

Name of the organization: Synergy Bulgaria
Website: synergybulgaria.com

Brief description of the organization

Synergy Bulgaria was founded in 2013 with a purpose to support young people in their social, personal and professional development. The vision is to create a world where everyone can grow and thrive into joy and fulfillment. The Synergy Bulgaria team empowers, inspires and educates young people through experiential learning and coaching to lead a purposeful life. The members of the organization are friends, volunteers, youth workers and trainers united by a common interest to share their personal and professional experience in the areas of personal development and coaching. They organize public events, international trainings and youth exchanges, local seminars and workshops.

Synergy Bulgaria is a part of International Synergy Group with whom they share a common vision of a world that works for everyone. International Synergy Group is a network of 35 organizations all over Europe which work together to offer opportunities for education and development of young people, groups and society.

Problem addressed by the good practice

Story.me events aim to inspire and encourage young people to seek opportunities for their personal and professional development.

Target groups

Story.me initiative is open for everyone. However, the primary target group is young professionals, youth and students (including internationals), people working with people, people with fewer opportunities.

Summary of the good practice

Story.me events are life-changing stories in TED format + Q&A session, moderated by the Synergy Bulgaria team. All of them are united by the topic of personal transformation, and every month the sub-topic is different, for example: ’through failure to success’, ‘travel to change’. The team makes an open call for speakers, conducts personal interviews with each of them and chooses three people to perform on the stage. This type of event is very informal, yet aimed to bring people together, shape a community and inspire.

This type of gatherings is focused mostly on meeting new people, hearing their inspiring stories, making friends and creating mutual projects that will bring a change into a local community through informal learning. A more professional and educational format is called Synergy Lab. These are non-formal workshops either delivered by the Synergy Bulgaria team or invited speakers to cover the topics of emotional intelligence, entrepreneurship, personal development, etc. With these events, Synergy Bulgaria wants to create a space for a personal change and encourage young people to make the first steps towards what they want in life. The team is also open to including the topics and workshops from young people in their community.

The programs are open for everyone interested in education and self-development with special focus on the following groups: young professionals, youth and students (including international ones), people working with people, people with fewer opportunities, all – interested in personal development, self-improvement, new experiences and networking with like-minded people. To ensure intercultural sharing, all events are conducted in English.

Evaluation

Story.me events bring an opportunity for young people to get inspired by the stories of their peers. For instance, the event on the topic of Travel to Change! presents three different stories of travellers who decided to challenge themselves and change their lives.

Recommendations

The event can be multiplied in other regions and countries. The model of TED talks is an attractive way of getting inspiration and sharing experiences with others.

Resources

Information about Story.me can be found in Facebook.

Story.me

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