SOCIAL MEDIA WEEK 2020

Social Media Week is actually a conference that is held in most cities of the world to spotlight the manifold ways that technology can be used to constructively impact the environment, government, travel, business, even tradition and culture.

My being part of Social Media Week 2020 was as a result of the subtle pressure and invite from my beloved friend Lordside to speak on Travel Photography. My plan was to speak and find my way out of the place. It was never to be. I spoke, then became a student again listening to people of knowledge like Pelu Awofeso, Chiamaka (Social Prefect), Segun Awosanya (Segalink), Ajala Nene, Funmi Oyatogun, etc. I also gained new friends and reconnected with a few old ones.

Social Media Week is a “contact sport“. It’s not all about just digital discussions and making business connections. It’s a place of fun and new ”discoveries and possibilities”.

I never knew we had so many experts and skillsets in Nigeria, especially amongst the youth. They were all there. Programmers, Animation experts, Travelpreneurs, Podcasters, Musicians, Yoga practitioners, Photopreneurs, Entrepreneurs/Start-ups of all categories etc. People seeking new businesses to finance/do were also there and they got financed for real.

While a lot of young people in Lagos were promenading the Ice cream joints of Lekki with their “baes and boos” , these were punching their keyboards adding wisdom to their knowledge and deleting irrelevances from their lives. From what I saw at the 2020 SMW, the future of Nigeria is digitally secured. All we need to do is to allow the youth to partake in building this nation.

Kudos to the organizers and volunteers etc at SMW 2020. Thumbs up to those in charge of security and feeding. I had a great time sipping free coffee my favorite drink.

Participating multinationals too numerous to mention, I say thank you. Big thanks also because of the arrangement put in place concerning shuttle buses-GIG management etc. That was a lifesaver for me especially bearing in mind the “Okada” ban and the terrible traffic situation ongoing in Lagos at that time.

To all Nigerian youths, I say congrats. You conducted yourself with great decorum and professionalism.

Let’s now conclude this write up with a Poem.

Arise Oh Nigerian youths

The shofar of wisdom has been blown

Heed the cry, rally and gather

Where the carcass is, the sojourning of the eagles is established.

Come, press your phones and become rich

Birth relationships, become fulfilled

Hold talks, drink from the open faucet of knowledge

Be born anew at the SMW talks.

Animators, Start-ups, Entrepreneurs

Come, show us what you have

Bring your gizmos, laptops for interaction

Let’s make wireless really wireless.

Eyes on the screen

Mind racing through the super-highway

Geek chattering keyboards speaking code to other systems

The Web is the autobaan, it’s alive with traffic.

I walked the sanddunes of knowledge at SMW 2020

I immersed myself in its techy waters

The geekiest and the anti-intellectual in cyber-harmony

Old and young, we all found hope and home on the super-highway.

I also walked through lives

And divers lives walked through me

We became one hyper-connected tribe

We became the stars shining in the digital galaxy.

SELAH.

To read another Poem Meet Nigeria’s youngest Photographer

Last line

If you were at the conference what was your experience like? Do you have any advise or suggestions that may be useful to the organizers? If you weren’t there and plan to be next time, also write your opinion in the comments section below.

I hope to be back there next year by God’s grace. Amen.