Tech experts, enthusiasts, innovators, policymakers, gamers and a vast spectrum of tech-savvy brands and individuals were all present from 21st – 23rd July, 2016 at the biggest tech gathering in Nigeria. #TechPlus2016, was hosted at the Eko Hotels and Suites, Lagos – Nigeria.
With the theme ‘A Connected World’, #TechPlus2016 converged over 10,000 participants, 60 panelists, 100 exhibitors, 3,000 gamers and hackers, and a wide array of tech-savvy, insight-driven audience across diverse sectors.
There were five unique segments at the event which were Conference, Exhibition, Gaming, Hackathon and a Pitch event. #TechPlus2016 provided an avenue to advance the technological discourse in Nigeria, Africa and beyond. In its second year, TechPlus has positioned itself as the premier and most authoritative tech gathering in Nigeria.
The three-day event started with the conference that was strictly by invitation and the gaming session where gamers from all over Africa came together to battle for their place in the qualifying round and of course, bragging rights. Games featured for the event were FIFA 16, Call of Duty: Black Ops and Mortal Kombat XL.
The second day of the event continued with the gaming session and the general conference with speeches and keynotes from top organizational heads. There were also sessions where startups engaged with top venture capitalists on issues such as choosing the right investor for their businesses.
The finale featured a host of many notable persons and celebrities present including Falz the Bad guy and Frank Donga. The last contenders for the gaming event met in an amazing final battle and the winners for each category went home with a large cash reward.
The TechPlus event on the second day exposed kids to devices from smart gadgets to virtual reality lenses. The different devices were present in the show room. Kids also engaged industry experts who encouraged them to pursue relevant careers and achieve their dreams.
Exposing kids to trending technology products will go a long way in setting them to be digitally literate and globally competitive. We wrote a good article about this here.
Here’s an excerpt from our previous article that we consider worth reproducing here:
Many of our students are not exposed to some of the technologies that their peers around the world have access to. For example, many Nigerian graduates still cannot properly operate a computer system or use popular application software like Microsoft Office suite etc. Exposing our students especially at a young age to relevant technologies can cause them to develop technology and research skills at an early age. An article by the Telegraph UK posits that “providing kids with tools that help them use technology as a creative substance can help their development in the digital age”.
It will be great to see the next TechPlus event introduce some of these important technologies to even younger kids and also teachers from various institutions. This will go a long way to help them understand the importance of such tools and how to engage such tools in the classroom. Overall, it will spark curiosity in both kids and teachers and therefore cause them to seek more knowledge. This definitely holds economic value in terms of what teachers and kids can achieve with this knowledge.
If you were not at #TechPlus2016, you definitely missed out on a lot. Don’t be sad just yet, there is still another event to look forward to; the Lagos Comic Con 2016, coming up September 17.
Written by Julius Ameh
