Writers, artists, musicians, bloggers and inventors narrated their journey to success at the event in Dar Al-Hekma College on Thursday. The riveting personalized accounts held the 108 attendees spellbound from 3.00 p.m. to midnight.?

?Basma Adnan Al-Seioufi, a Saudi training expert and self-development consultant and author of five books, set the tone of the event with her amazing story.

?"I believe every person has to do his duty with no concern to the difficulties he endures,” she said while highlighting her achievements.

"Despite health issues and mental pressures early in my life, I overcame that phase with determination. I decided to live my life to the full and chase my dreams. Achieving my dreams and doing the job perfectly were the focus of my life," she said.?

Youth should look for perfection in doing everything. They should wait for the word "wow" as a feedback for everything they do, she said while stressing that the fact she took pleasure and satisfaction in her work helped her to achieve her goals.

“No one can distinguish between simple and hard work, but all should know that even simple work requires big efforts,” Al-Seioufi said, adding, people should not wait for opportunities to come to them, but create them through hard work, overcoming all odds.

?Thamer Shaker too stressed that hard work and using one’s opportunity were the key to success, and he related his experience to highlight this. A Saudi writer, columnist and author of five books, Shaker said that after seeing tough times in trying to get his writings published, it was social media that facilitated his pursuing his aims.

?"I started writing since I was 15, but at that time there was no opportunity to publish my writings. It was very difficult to contact any publication or newspaper, and also there were no social media like Facebook or Twitter where one could blog," he said.??

?"The new generation is lucky because they are living in a different age,” he said, adding,? "Every person can reach an audience through the digital media. I used the social media to reach the biggest number of audience of all ages and nationalities."

?Thamer stressed the importance of social media but, said that it needs to work with traditional media. "Social media is considered the new media that delivers the voice of the youth. It has facilitated my journey in the world of writing. After five years, I am now linked to many Saudi and non-Saudi readers through the Net," he said.?

?Mohammed Abu-Azzah, marketing and communications manager at Knowledge Economic City, talked about entrepreneurship and marketing leadership.

?"When we talk about marketing we talk about big companies that add value to a product, but this can be done at the conceptional stage. Success is not to find a job or to complete a project that doesn't add value, but it is when the person takes an idea to fruition by adding value," he said.?

?Sultan Abdulmohsen, a Saudi interviewer at alif alif FM radio, said success comes from a quick aptitude and the ability to recognize an opportunity. "I started from scratch in media, given a job of retouching photos in a local magazine. After a year I learned everything about journalism — writing, editing, photography plus designing pages," he said.??

?He added, "I took this challenge because I wanted to become the voice of Saudis in the Middle East."??

?Sultan said he recently took a team of Saudi youths to work on Saudi programs. It was the first time that an all-Saudi crew completed the program — from conception to production.?