It’s Sunday morning. There’s a coffee on my desk and I’m thinking about a slightly odd conversation I had this week.
A Mum stopped me and asked:
“You’re the anti-littering, design guy on TikTok aren’t you?”
“Err… yep, that’s me” I replied, slightly embarrassed. I’m still adjusting to being described as a ‘TikTok-anti-littering-design-guy’
She explained that her son was at one of my talks at his school.
“He loved it,” she said. “He came home with the stickers and immediately put them all over his laptop. He was very proud.”
I was genuinely pleased. Not because of the stickers (although they are very cool) but because it felt like proof that those kids had connected with the message. And when you’re trying to encourage a n island wide behavioural change, that’s really the whole game.
The conversation also made me reflect on the goals I’ve set myself for Love Our Island. The project has three key pillars; First is adoption of the icon, second is visibility of the campaign and third is education. One of my goals is delivering ten educational talks/workshops across schools, community groups and organisations. So far I’ve completed four, including two schools and two talks for adults, one of which was on stage at the Doers summit in Limassol.
What has surprised me most isn’t that people are interested in the project but how differently young people respond to it. As a father of three, I’ve never really subscribed to the idea that young people are difficult to engage. In fact, I think they’re remarkably easy to engage. You just have to earn it.
Perhaps nine years of owning a coffee shop has helped too. When you spend your days talking, joking and sharing stories with hundreds of people, you quickly learn the skills of communicating across different ages.
My own memories of educational talks at school weren’t always particularly inspiring. I remember various organisations arriving in suits, gathering everyone in a hall and delivering presentations that seemed more memorable to the adults than the students. The photographs were always excellent. The engagement less so. It seems things haven’t changed much since the mid 90s, a few weeks ago, my daughter came home from school after a guest speaker had visited. She was very polite about it.
“Daddy, it was a bit boring.”
Then she added:
“I didn’t really understand what he did.”
More tellingly, she said the children lost interest almost immediately.
If the audience disconnects in the first five minutes, it doesn’t matter how important the message is, they won’t remember it. So when I started delivering talks for Love Our Island, I decided to do things a bit differently.
I usually arrive in shorts and a t-shirt, not as a strategic decision, its just more comfortable in Cyprus and the last thing I want is to be a sweaty mess from the start. For the kids, the presentation begins with a slide that says:
“This might be boring.”
Which usually intrigues them and gets a laugh. Then I introduce myself with a silly slide that is over designed and has accompanying music – this definitely locks in their attention. I show them some of my more fun design work and from there, we play a game. I put famous logos on the screen and ask students to identify them. Suddenly the room changes. Hands shoot up. I encourage them to shout out the answers, I ask them what each logo means (Nike, Apple etc). The kids are fully engaged now and everyone is joining in. I explain why symbols matter and how visual communication works. And eventually I show them the Love Our Island icon and tell the story behind the project.
The workshop ends with them creating something themselves. We made posters at the last talk and that’s the important bit. Because people remember what they make far more than what they’re told – the stickers help too, but even those have become an interesting lesson.
The reason I was pleased by that mother’s comment wasn’t because her son liked the stickers. It was because he was proud of them. Proud enough to put them on his laptop. Proud enough to tell his family about them. That’s when an educational session becomes something more than a presentation. It becomes ownership.
Increasingly, I think this is where businesses should focus when considering community engagement and corporate social responsibility. Not just on visibility or attendance but on genuine connection. The talks that leave a lasting impression aren’t always the most polished but the ones that make people feel involved. Like participators rather than listeners. It’s long-term community building. It’s investing in future citizens, employees, customers and entrepreneurs. Most importantly, it’s doing so in a way that feels authentic.
Since those first talks, another school has begun the process of adopting the icon and another has asked about doing a workshop next academic year. I’m scheduled to talk at one more event at the end of the year so my 2026 educational talks goal is looking close to being achieved.
If a child comes home excited enough to cover their laptop in stickers and explain the idea to their parents, then perhaps we’re getting somewhere. And perhaps that’s what meaningful engagement looks like.
If you’re part of a school, organisation, or business that would like to help bring that kind of engagement to more people across Cyprus, I’d love to hear from you.