From sports to shopping; dazzling dances to artistic expressions of art; and fun and games to life-changing talks - all held in one very large and lively festival.

By Kelvin Goh Wong

The Putra World Trade Center rumbled as thousands of young people thronged the venue to attend the largest youth festival in Malaysia: YOUTH'10.

The three-day conference was jammed packed with more action than ever before. Six different "festivals" that covered music, sports, dance, discovery, shopping and youth brands, gave the youths who attended a wide choice of activities to do.

There were many showcases by various groups and associations that featured the lifestyle of urban youth like free-running, break dancing, free-style BMX, martial-arts, music and urban fashion.

It was the perfect place for young people to showcase their artistic talents and get noticed for it.

Claudine Lee, 20, felt that the YOUTH '10 was a great place for youth to display the skills and art that would otherwise go unnoticed.

"It's great that youths with similar interests are given a chance to come together and learn from one another be it in dance, art or even music", she said.

Besides the showcases, there were also competitions. Among the ones highlighted is the XPax five-on-five futsal tournament, the Milo three-one-three basketball challenge and Biotherm Extreme Street Dance Challenge.

The most anticipated competition would probably be the XPax Battle of The Bands 3, where various up and coming bands get a chance to display their talents.

Hadry Hyzan, 22, said that the tournaments were great as it allowed youths to go head to head in competition.

"Youths are allowed to pit their skills against others and gauge their skill level. If you win, you get a sense of accomplishment. If you lose, you know that there is room for improvement. Of course it feels better if you win," he said with a smile.

Images of the Celcom blue bears can be seen all around donning jerseys various world cup teams.

It was part of the Celcom's XPax promotion to promote the World Cup hype. XPax also held many activites throughout the day as they were one of the main sponsors for the event.

Celcom also promoted their prepaid plan for youth by giving out free XPax starter packs. 

Dee-jays from One FM, Hot FM and Fly FM also joined in the fun with more games and more freebies to take home.

But of course it wasn't all just fun and games.

For those who were looking forward to broadening their insight as to how to achieve success, there were also conferences held by Maybank featuring big industry names that have made an impact in their related fields.

Among the speakers featured were international violinist and recording artiste, Dennis Lau, critically acclaimed film composer and music producer, Pete Teo and "One in a Million" judge, Paul Moss who is also the General Manager of Media Prima Network.

The Managing Director of Omnicom Group, Andreas Vogiatzakis, who was also one of the speakers, said it was nice to see so many youth willing to share their ideas and grasp the opportunities provided to them by the festival so eagerly.

He added: "Everyone is born to lead, to be great. Everyone knows that. Often times, it's how much work and humility that go into being great that's overlooked".

The festival also had bands and artistes oerform from 10am all the way to 10pm. What a way to rock out.

The concerts featured local Malaysian acts like Bittersweet, Caprice, Army of Three, Yuna and Suki Low just to name a few. Even the Kuala Lumpur Drum line made an appearance.

Executive Director of Youth Asia as well as founder and organiser of the YOUTH festival, Joel Neoh, said he was thankful for the support shown by the young people of Malaysia for the festival.