For over a decade, Sam Sullivan and Lynn Zanatta hosted dinner gatherings at their home. These dinners were attended by up to 10 people from very different walks of life who each spent 5 to 10 minutes speaking about something they were passionate about.
One of the regulars at these dinners was friend and mentor Professor Abraham Rogatnick, who encouraged Sam to bring the benefits of the gatherings to a broader public in a salon format (dating back to 18th-century France, featuring a cross-section of French society that would gather to discuss ideas, or perhaps more familiarly known today through various speaker series such as TED, PechaKucha, etc.) It wasn’t until after Abraham passed away in 2009 that Sam and Lynn committed to fulfilling the wish of their friend; and so was born the Public Salon series.
This month, we attended the 25th Public Salon, where we heard from an inspiring lineup of speakers and entertainment that included John Burns, Journalist; Mo Dhaliwal, Cultural Communicator; Minelle Mahtani, Author, Journalist & Professor; Chris Morrissey, Rainbow Refugees; Jocelyn Morlock, VSO Composer in Residence; Eric Peterson, Environmental Researcher; Brian Scudamore, Entrepreneur; and Mark Winston, Author of Beetime. BeyondYVR has a good recap on what each person spoke about.
Stay tuned for the next Public Salon event and if you know of an interesting person you would like to hear speak, contact Lynn with who you have in mind – maybe it’s you!
Photo credit: Sarah Murray