Google African Student Summit 2013 - Nairobi, Kenya Day 1

Live from Nairobi, Kenya, Jude Ben, chairman house committee on Media and Publicity, SUG parliament is representing UNIUYO at the summit as a Google Student Ambassador.

+Jude Ben

Jude says the first day of the #GSummit2013 was very eventful. There were great people with different African Countries and great food, #wink. And yes, everyone wanted to associate with Nigerians. We are such a unique race.

Ideas come from everywhere but the method of implementation differs

Brainstorming

Google Developers Groups, Google Business Groups and Google Students Ambassadors had an introductory session together where participants were welcomed to the event by Madam Salome. #AfricanSkank  ‎was played and people got to shake their body. After the introductory session participants were divided into separate groups based on the different communities. 

As developers we were all supposed to first of all spark with imagination and then fuel with data.

with fellow GSAs

Ola, Daniel, Emeka and Rona gave talks during the GDG session. The topics revolved around the meaning and functionalities of a GDG, innovation and community management.

Innovation was described to be the act of doing something new. It was said that Ideas come from everywhere but the method of implementation differs. As developers we were all supposed to first of all spark with imagination and then fuel with data. According to Jude, they were encouraged to think big but start small. Continual innovation was encouraged and not instant perfection. Failure was encouraged. Yes, never fail to fail. Sharing of everything and having a mission that matters was also encouraged.

Cue Session

Next on the agenda was community management. Here, we were taught how to ‘make music’. We made interesting music, I must say. Wondering what music has got to do with management? Sit down there. Each person in the room made music with what they had, including their hands, mouths, keys and what-have-you’s. The end result was a near-perfect harmony of sound. This happened because each person had to listen to his/her neighbor to ensure the sound produced was coordinated. Nobody coordinated it, it just flowed. Also, there was no boss, we all worked together to ensure we produced quality sound. No bosses, remember that. Oga Whales, take note :)

There was a practical session on event-planning. Random event characteristics were generated and we were all grouped and expected to come up with an event that had all the characteristics listed e.g. length of the event, number of people involved, interaction, medium and outcome of the event. The risks and the strong points of the events created were highlighted.

Come and eat

Moonshot thinking – imagination that had a high percentage of failure and also a very high percentage of success was encouraged. We were told that:

1. It's easier to do something 10x than 10%

2. Big challenges motivate people and create passion

3. Seemingly impossible becomes possible

The day ended with a trip to the village market. Everyone had a good time, looking forward to greater experiences today and the next. 

Happy Days!

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