Today marks the end of the week-long 2020 edition of Social Media Week Lagos. Taking place at Landmark Center, the eighth iteration of Africa’s largest tech and business event (as it was billed) is expected to attract over 20,000 attendees (across the week) from all over the country and beyond. I was one of those attendees, and what follows are my experiences during my visit to the tech gathering on Day 4.
Being my first time attending the event, I didn’t really have anything else to gauge the attendance levels with, although I was able to confirm from multiple sources that the turnout was way lower than it had been in the previous years. I was still struck by the size of the show floors themselves, plus I appreciated the fact that there was enough room to move around freely without bumping into one another.
The theme for this year’s event was HUMAN.X, which is a fancy way of saying the conferences were focusing on “what it means to take a human-first and experience-driven approach to innovation across industries, our communities and the continent.” I was only able to attend a few of these talks, but they were still diverse enough for me to get a feel for what a typical conference at the event was like.
The first one was titled “Human-Focused Lending in a Digital Age” and it featured none other than the Jumia co-founder, Tunde Kehinde. The conference itself was very informative, but the highlight for me was getting to shake hands with Mr. Tunde at the end of it. Then I’d attended a workshop titled “Bringing your Campaign to Life” which was focused on the tools and steps needed to plan a successful creative campaign.
After this, I’d opted to go for a much-needed lunch break at the food court. There were multiple food vendors available, but I was unlucky enough to settle on one of the very worst. Not only was the food on the very edge of edible, but the quality of their service was quite poor as well. They somehow managed to turn the simple act of paying for my meal into a full-blown chore, which was a bit jarring to find at a gathering of that caliber.
On a more positive note, I scored some free snacks at the start of my final conference for the day, which was titled “The Digital Jollof: A Deep Dive into Influencer Marketing.” It featured a panel that included former Big Brother Nigeria housemate, Ifu Ennada, as well as the Jumia Food Marketing Manager, Gaurav Kirpalani. They each gave their take on the growing use of influencers in a company’s marketing strategy, and I picked up a few new terms like micro and nano influencers.
Overall, I had fun at Social Media Week Lagos 2020 and already look forward to going again next year. Did you get a chance to attend the event this year, or are you planning on going later today? Let us know in the comments section below.