The Best Lessons From The Digital Workforce Conference – DWC17

Mr. Olaoluwa Mamora, the convener of the event and also team lead for The Sync Africa, kicked off the conference at about 10:15 am with a short speech. Mr. Mamora told us about how the DWC17 idea popped up and how they have been empowering youths to discover and follow their dreams.

The whole purpose of The Sync Africa is “to build men who can rule commerce and industry”, which translates to building a digital world, as well as to strengthen the workforce and leverage on entrepreneurs to build the Africa of our dreams. If you attended, you would agree with me, it was one awesome speech and an inspiring way to begin a conference.

We had 4 speakers who furnished our minds with some splendid talks as well as 3 panelists who supplied answers to a bulk of questions. These speakers include Debo Ajayi, Ayokunnu Ojeniyi, Olufunto Olude and Samuel Akinlotan. The panelists include Olufunmilola Bucknor, Wale Ogunjobi and Aggital’s Oracle, Oghoghozino Otefia.

The first speaker, Mr. Debo Ajayi, Head of RDM Academy made our day with his hilarious childhood dream of being a bus conductor. He told us how his dreams metamorphosed into building cars and he went further to study engineering in school.

In addition, Mr. Debo mentioned that we should discover what we want to do, and Google it! He believes in determination, constant learning as well as grabbing every bit of knowledge in the digital space.

[tweetshare tweet=” Whatever your goals are, pursue them to the best of your abilities. – @DeboAj”]

Moving on, the whole conference got more lightened up when Mrs. Olufunto Olude, a Skill Development Strategist, told us how teamwork and receiving feedback could help us build better relationships in a workplace. She bridged the gap between inter-personal skills and digital skills and mentioned that “if you do not know how to communicate well, you would shoot yourself in the foot!”

Getting along with people in the best way possible is what makes your personality a great one and you do not want to lose the greatest opportunities because you lack simple etiquette. Hence, no matter how digitally skillful you are, these skills should be a part of you:

• Inter-personal skills
• Collaborative skills
• Communication skills
• Presentation skills
• Negotiation skills
• Critical thinking

[tweetshare tweet=”Life is a stage with a series of presentations. It will be your turn to speak, you need to learn – @ofunto”]

Mr. Ayokunnu Ojeniyi, the keynote speaker of the DWC17, blew minds with his constant unavoidable analysis. His views and ideas were really inspiring. He talked a lot about self-development and around-the-clock learning. Building a booming niche for yourself requires you to “shut out the noise of the market and focus on yourself”.

[tweetshare tweet=” You have to be deliberate about your choices, don’t wait for it, go for it! – @AyoOjeniyi”]

“Praise the Lord” was how Samuel Akinlotan started his talks with the audience. We all answered before our brains reminded us it was a conference, not a deliverance gathering. Mr. Samuel Akinlotan is a Human Resource Expert and what we took majorly from him was the fact that robots would replace a bulk of individuals in the workforce. The only way to escape this is to be “as good as the skills we possess”.

However, new behavioral patterns of employees, attitudes, expectations and work style is changing over time. These changes require us to develop new perspectives so as to adapt perfectly. Mr. Akinlotan gave out some learning styles which are specific to each individual respectively.

No doubt, the speaker session was lit and there was so much great stuff oozing out from the podium, the panelist session proved to be something worth looking forward to. The 3 panelists, Olufunmilola Bucknor, Oghoghozino Otefia and Wale Ogunjobi offered great advice as regards building a brand and using social media the right way.

According to the HRmadam, attaining and maintaining success is “about the brand that you build for yourself” and “the relationship that you build with people”. Also, speaking about results, they should be the first thing you think about before taking any step. Here’s a tip from Mr. Wale, “be result oriented, employers are loyal to your productivity”.

Retaining a good name takes much more than what we’re willing to offer and just like Mr. Otefia pointed out, “if you want more, you do more and if you want nothing, you do nothing”. It’s not a rocket science!

[tweetshare tweet=” The distance between your now and the big picture is work! – @oghoghozino1″]

In case you missed the links shared by Wale Ogunjobi, co-founder of PrimalTutors, we got you!
digitalskillswithgoogle.com
twitterflightschool.com
facebookblueprint.com
startup.google.com
capterra.com
designindex.io
afrobuilt.carrd.co

If you’re looking to start a business, all these links will come in very handy.

We’re approaching the robotic season and the only way you won’t be sidelined is to join the gang of the digital gurus. That’s the DWC17 in a nutshell.

Take away the excuses, strive to DO MORE but remember, no matter what it is, let’s not forget to be human.