My AfroTech experience: Creating Wakanda
A Couple of weeks ago I was fortunate enough to be able to travel to San Francisco for the third edition of Blavity’s annual tech conference — AfroTech. My expectations going in were high after seeing all the build up on social media. I have been to many tech conferences over the last 4 years and while they have varied in size and focus, they all seemed to share similar traits. All of them were mostly concerned with regurgitating theory, and all of them had a distinct lack of representation among black people. AfroTech promised to be different on both accounts and believe me it didn’t disappoint.
My conference experience began about a week before I arrived in SF. I downloaded the AfroTech app one night and wrote a message on the timeline about how excited I was to be making the journey across the Atlantic. When I woke up the next morning I had a ton of messages from people wanting to meet up with me. I got right to work as soon as I landed, meeting for dinner with a group of aspiring minds in Oakland where we bonded and plotted how we would approach the next few days.
While typing this I can still remember how I felt when I first walked into the conference on day 1 after picking up my ticket. Hearing very familiar music “Pour me water, holy water” and immediately feeling a sense of relaxation wash over me. As I danced (yes danced) into the venue that was slowly starting to fill up I passed the stands of global juggernauts like Accenture, Etsy, Airbnb, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon — confirmation that this was indeed a tech conference.
However this tech conference had some serious style! As I took my seat at the main stage, a show reel of black culture started to play and began to set the tone. This event wasn’t just about bringing together black techies. This event was about celebrating everything that is great about black culture which of course includes our brilliance in the tech space.
Morgan DeBaun, CEO of Blavity, came on stage shortly after to echo this statement. This was a place for us to feel at home while connecting with each-other , uplifting each-other, and capitalising on opportunities. This was the place where business partnerships would be formed, friendships forged, job opportunities offered, minds ignited and relationships sparked into life.
We were blessed with speakers and panelists who had hustled and built up inspirational businesses and brands. The likes of Mandela SH Dixon the Founder of ‘Founders GYM’ whose infectious energy at the start of the first day got attendees warmed up and focused. Serial Entrepreneur Everette Taylor who gave us the raw honest truth about what it takes to make it as an entrepreneur. Y Combinator’s Michael Seibel who shared some words of wisdom from his career that has seen him build successful businesses and mentor founders of some of the worlds most successful startups. Then there was Daymond John, founder of FUBU & Shark Tank investor, who walked us through his unlikely journey from the streets of Queens to the top of the world with a blend of media and captivating narrative that kept the audience at the edge of their seats for an hour .
The vibe was pulsating across the two days. At lunch time the DJ kept our juices flowing with the right blend of Hip Hop, Afrobeats , Bashment, Soca & Dancehall which was accompanied by food familiar to our culture. Familiarity was the key here. These signposts of culture helped us be true to our selves which in turned made it easier to network and connect. And connect we did. Usually I find it difficult to authentically be myself and connect with people from my standpoint as a product person who also happens to own a business and be interested in everything from the creative industries to autonomous cars to blockchain and AI. This conference facilitated spaces where it was easy to connect with people in all my areas of interest to share ideas with and educate one another. I managed to form strong rooted relationships with people from all around the world that I will continue to grow well into the future from both a social and professional standpoint.
Amazon and Etsy held brunches that combined amazing food with a clear mission for improving diversity in their companies, outlining their tactics for doing this in the short and long term. These were rivalled by Twitch, Salesforce and Yahoo who held happy hours that were less about the drinks and more about forming relationships and actively recruiting people on the spot (yes people were getting job offers during happy hour).
As expected some cool tech gadgets were on hand for us to play with. Facebooks Oculus Rift had me slicing up fruit in virtual reality for what felt like an eternity. Segways where the choice of transportation for a few as they glided through the oceans of attendees going to and fro. In similar fashion a remote controlled robot on wheels navigated its way through the crowds over to the Linkedin booth to get a free professional profile picture.
Usually when I talk about tech conferences, I start off speaking about the freebies. While AfroTech did deliver on this, the goody bags were a mere footnote on an epic story that will be continued next year in Oakland.
AfroTech is the blueprint for how tech conferences should be done.
