The buzz surrounding the NEXT Youth Conference is still ongoing, and rightfully so! But it’s one thing that we, “the old peeps”, say we had a great time and NEXT was amazing.

A completely different thing is to gather the courage to go and ask the feedback from the target audience of this conference – the high school students.

But, as they’ve proven already by pulling this whole thing off without a hitch, the young NEXT organizers – Karlo Marasović, Timea Podrug, and Lana Todorovski – are nothing but fearless! 😀

So, they did just that – asked for honest feedback from the toughest audience: their own peers. Here’s what the youthful NEXT audience had to say…

Antonia Buzov – high school student at the School of Design, Graphics, and Sustainable Construction

“For its first edition, the NEXT conference was excellent and met all my expectations, even more! I am really glad that I could be a part of all this and that I decided to attend in the first place.

The speakers were excellent and enthusiastic, and their talks also really filled me with energy. The break mid-program was awesome, and all the people I met were really interesting, and the NEXT overall conference seemed like a very interesting environment to be in.

I honestly never thought that in such a short time I would meet so many good and fascinating people from all over the region.

I sincerely hope that the next edition of the NEXT conference will gather even more people, and I can’t wait to attend again!”

Miroslav Mikelić – high school student at Split’s 2nd Gymnasium

“When my friend who goes to another school sent me an invite to come to the NEXT conference, I thought it would be another boring conference where there are people who might have compelling interests but also have little to no speaking skills.

But when I came to NEXT, and the first speaker opened the conference, I knew it would be interesting and fun!

The lecturers who followed were very captivating and engaging, and they awakened in me new ways of thinking about life, success, and education.

After the first part of the program finished, the food and drinks were also a really nice touch, but even more important were all the people that were also there: the young people who also came to attend the NEXT conference, like the selected speakers, were very interesting to get to know and spending time with them induced a feeling of great comfort and fun.

In the end, I would like to say that NEXT is an event that should not be missed!

Especially by people who are interested in technology and entrepreneurship, or those who are not yet sure about the next step in their lives.”

Marina Žižić – high school student and NEXT Volunteer

“The NEXT conference – the conference for the next generation of innovators and entrepreneurs – is one of the best events I have ever attended!

Coupled with the fact that NEXT had three main organizers – Karlo, Lana, and Timea, who are high school students – it is even more impressive how phenomenally organized the event itself was!

NEXT delivered what it promised in the announcements, and a lot of young people showed up. These young people were very interested in the event itself, and I also believe that even more young people will join the activities of Split Tech City in the future thanks to NEXT.

For me personally, NEXT could not have gone better!

The speakers were all very interesting people, and I think many of us learned something from them. Everything was very well organized and I believe that it was very engaging and even fun for all those who attended.

I sincerely hope that NEXT will return next year, and I will definitely try to volunteer again.

But even if that doesn’t work out, I will still come to NEXT as an attendee because, as an event, the NEXT conference completely enchanted me!”

And the final NEXT feedback comes from the person who was the first who signed up to attend NEXT. And did so just minutes after the first announcement was published online.

Talk about being a true NEXT fan! 😀

Tina Dobričić – high school student at the School of Design, Graphics, and Sustainable Construction

“The NEXT conference, organized by the high school students Karlo, Lana, and Timea, was surprisingly well put together and had very interesting content.

NEXT also attracted a large number of young visitors who enjoyed the engrossing topics delivered by the speakers and panelists. With their interesting stories, all of them managed to both entertain the audience and show how to find yourself in the best possible way without paying too much attention to hateful comments.

It was encouraging to witness how young people our own age managed to organize such an event and attract quality lecturers!

In addition, the NEXT conference provided a great opportunity for networking among young people. All in all, NEXT was a successful event that I would like to repeat at least once more!”

Mighty feedback from the #NEXTgeneration, don’t you think?! 😉

At the end of this very very youthful article, we’d like to do a shoutout (Is that how the kids call these things?) to the wonderful and international team of NEXT volunteers who helped Karlo, Lana, and Timea make NEXT a smooth sailing ship from the start to the finish of its journey on the day.

That particularly amazing team is composed of these fabulous young people: Christian Pearson, Pavao Petrović, Oleksii Trofimchuk, Pave Petar Vitaljić, and Marina Žižić! 😀

Proving once again that great things can happen when we all work together. With a little help from our friends, of course! 🙂

Photos: Ivan Gracin