Welcome
On Saturday 27th March we held our TechStylers March 2021 Inspirational Meetup. This month I had been selected to co-host the session with Olayinka Oke. As hosts, Yinka and I were tasked to find speakers and set the agenda for the event. This was quite a challenge, as we have had some absolutely awesome speakers in the past. The bar was set high!
We often speak in TechStylers of the importance of building community and fostering a strong network. On this occasion it was these that enabled us to find our 3 exceptional speakers. So was very apt that one of our speakers was covering this very subject.
We began the meeting by introducing TechStylers, outlining the aims of our group for any new attendees. Yinka then welcomed our first speaker of the evening.
Communicating from a Place of Power
First on the agenda for this evening was Sam Tulloch, a speaker and author from the UK. Sam had come to speak to us about ‘Communicating from a Place of Power’. During her interesting and engaging talk, Sam shared some of the secrets she has learned in becoming a successful speaker. Sam gave us some awesome tips and tricks including how to improve our posture and showed us the effect this would have on the power of our speech. Encouraged by Sam, many of us put our videos on to show how just a few simple steps made a huge difference to our confidence and ability to project.
Tech for Everyone
The evenings second speaker was Chiamaka Obitube, whose session was particularly inspirational for anyone thinking of moving into tech from a non-technical background. Although currently working as a DevOps engineer, Chiamake had originally worked as a lawyer and had studied for 5 years at Law School. While still studying Law, Chiamake spent some time as a technical writer. This ignited her passion for technology, and Chiamake decided to transition into a technology career full time. During her session, Chiamake was able to share many valuable lessons she learned from her journey to tech. Chiamake is hoping this might help others considering following the same path.
Networking and Community
Our final speaker for the evening was Gbemileke Anthony, a Media professional who works in the content and digital team for a Nigerian bank. Gbemileke spoke to us of ‘The Importance of Networking and Community’ and of how vital it is to be intentional about fostering professional connections. Once established, Gbemileke also outlined the reasons why you might want to actively participate in maintaining them.
It had been a great session, and everything had run very smoothly by Yinka, who had facilitated the sessions exceptionally well. Yinka’s last job was to close out the TechStylers March 2021 session. Having given thanks to the speakers and attendees, Yinka reminded everyone to register for our next meetup. TechStylers inspirational sessions are run on the last Saturday of every month.