Hello guys,

I really wanted we, members of the web tech community in Nigeria/Lagos to have a meetup this december, nothing elaborate but due to the timing im thinking we should have it in January 2010.

However, there's a catch: you have to show a willingness to participate and attend and of course it will be free, but for those who will
be working underground, they'll need to know people will be attending the event.

So please suggest a name you'd prefer for this meetup, things to be included (i'll love to see us bld a web app right there),
hashtag to be used, preferred locations in Lagos, and generally your thoughts on this.

Thank you.

Abisagbo Segun (www.twitter.com/segebee)

PS: Seun/Moderator, can u make this a sticky topic?

Preferred location: The Internet (Webinar)
This is IMHO.

Well i personally do not have the resources to do that and its so borin like dat, were u at barcamp that held this year?
There's so much fun in seein pple live, im thinkin we shld go crunchup style,

Why and what is the objective?

Coming together to form a kinda consortium with laid out standards of software development.

i suggest we have a virtual meeting.

Topic has been made sticky. Hopefully, Seun can move it to the front page of nairaland to get more feedback.

1) Excellent idea though unfortunately I might not be able to attend
2) No need copying/cloning google.  Be original.  Just call it what it is - Nigeria Web Conference 2010
3) What does "Nigeria/Lagos" mean? Is it to be held all over the country or just in Lagos?
4) I would suggest that *all* meeting require a physical attendance.
5) Since it is free, I suggest all members agree, during the meeting, to fork out some cash to cater for future meetings.
6) Meetings should be about exchanging ideas, latest technologies, short lessons and may Q and A sessions.
7) Meetings should last (as in, no nigerian time) no more than 2 hours
see if you can get a corporate sponsor to alleviate cost of self-taxation.  This should include the media if possible
9) You will need a website


10) As for subject matter:
a) This should not be a chest-thumping affair.  No need to build any apps.  Come up with a purpose.
b) First meeting should just be a "get to know you" meeting.  You then sit down and address #a above
c) Do introductions, ask for topics to be covered at the next meeting.

**NOTE**
The purpose, which should be set on day 1, will go a long way in determining the success or failure of the conference.  Is this a political organization? Is this a union? Is membership restricted? Can "bad" members be kicked out and ostracized nationally?  If the purpose is to set forth standards, how will they be enforced? How will you convince clients to deal with you and not "outsiders"?  How will you deal with "fake" webmasters? Will meetings be held only in Lagos, all over the country, a few select cities, etc?

Once again, excellent idea.  I look forward to updates.  Hopefully I can make it.  If not, I wish you luck all the same.

Yawa, you are actually stepping up the game. I want the organizer to detail objectives of the meeting and what to be expected on the gathering.

This conference, is it a conference of web developers? I seem to be getting that feel.

It would be a lot more worthwhile if it is a conference about the Internet, trends, developments, opportunities for businesses in Nigeria.
If it is a physical event, will there be exhibitions, as well as keynotes/presentations in the various aspects of Web business, i.e. Web Technologies, Design and Development, Search Engine Marketing, Affiliate Marketing, Display Advertising, E-commerce, Social Media, Web PR, etc?

Who are you targeting to attend, and what are the objectives of the conference? Is there any agenda, etc?

Excellent idea!!! been thinking of something similar. I could do catering free!!! Lets open a website or blog where interested ones can register thier interest, so we know how large or small it is.

Good idea!
Lagos would be the best place for take-off being the center of commerce and most web-tech companies and it would be easier to get corporate sponsorship (if organisers are interested) in lagos than anywhere else.
Wld be on the watch out for more developments

you mean like a symposium in a hotel in Lagos.

hot topic for such event should be the introduction of a search engine, specialised ads programme for Nigeria and Africa and local language integration into mainstream sites like wikipedia, facebook etc

that will be real development if established players attend, it can be a joint force creating kind of google from scratch.

very good organisation will be needed.

Count me in so long as it's not for programmers and software developers alone.

what is the web tech community URL? abi na just naija web folks ni?

Guys,
Do not trivialize what this poster has just done. He might not know it, but the idea he has just put forward can give birth to a successful web industry in Nigeria.

As far as i'm concerned, there is no organised web industry in Nigeria. Everyone just does stuff their own way and do what they think is right.

Coming together physically for a conference like this would do wonders.  You guys should see what the Association of Advertising Agencies in Nigeria is doing. They have a lot of best practices that help them in their profession, like they all deciding to charge pitch fees for clients; deciding whether members should do free samples for clients etc.

A conference like this would not only bring us together to agree on issues, it would also let us rub minds and form healthy collaborations and partnerships. If you were at barcamp Nigeria, you would have an idea of what i'm talking about. I am still benefiting from the networks and partnerships i made.

I also think the conference should accomodate a wide range of topics like development, front end design, web 2.0 and social networking, marketing, search engine optimization, ecommerce( i dont see how interswitch would not support this conference),online advertising etc.

webguru:

Hello guys,

I really wanted we, members of the web tech community in Nigeria/Lagos to have a meetup this december, nothing elaborate but due to the timing im thinking we should have it in January 2010.

However, there's a catch: you have to show a willingness to participate and attend and of course it will be free, but for those who will
be working underground, they'll need to know people will be attending the event.

So please suggest a name you'd prefer for this meetup, things to be included (i'll love to see us bld a web app right there),
hashtag to be used, preferred locations in Lagos, and generally your thoughts on this.

Thank you.

Abisagbo Segun (www.twitter.com/segebee)

PS: Seun/Moderator, can u make this a sticky topic?

Good idea, I hope it can be brought to life.  At present I am living in England, what would be a good Idea is to organize meetings in different locations say USA, England and in Nigeria say Lagos then have an annual meeting in Lagos to network, learn and achieve specific goals once a year.

danteweb:

Guys,
Do not trivialize what this poster has just done. He might not know it, but the idea he has just put forward can give birth to a successful web industry in Nigeria.

As far as i'm concerned, there is no organised web industry in Nigeria. Everyone just does stuff their own way and do what they think is right.

That is true, I think Nigerians can teach each other many things if we all work together (easier said than done). But I for one would like to contribute to the development of the Nigerian ICT sector if things were more organised and this is the right place to start.

This sounds interesting!!!!

May be not exactly what you are thinking of but :

3rd edition of Joomla Day Nigeria holds on December 12th , 2009 in Yaba , Lagos, Nigeria. Its a free event but the hall takes only about 100 people . Registeration is open at www.joomlang.com .


In terms of a more neutral Web conference, it would be nice. Though it would cost a bit and you would need to find sponsoring organisations. Keep us posted.

danteweb:

Guys,
Do not trivialize what this poster has just done. He might not know it, but the idea he has just put forward can give birth to a successful web industry in Nigeria.

As far as i'm concerned, there is no organised web industry in Nigeria. Everyone just does stuff their own way and do what they think is right.

Coming together physically for a conference like this would do wonders.  You guys should see what the Association of Advertising Agencies in Nigeria is doing. They have a lot of best practices that help them in their profession, like they all deciding to charge pitch fees for clients; deciding whether members should do free samples for clients etc.

A conference like this would not only bring us together to agree on issues, it would also let us rub minds and form healthy collaborations and partnerships. If you were at barcamp Nigeria, you would have an idea of what i'm talking about. I am still benefiting from the networks and partnerships i made.

I also think the conference should accomodate a wide range of topics like development, front end design, web 2.0 and social networking, marketing, search engine optimization, ecommerce( i dont see how interswitch would not support this conference),online advertising etc.

True talk@danteweb.

Nothwithstanding the lack of an organised web sector, a serious conference must be run in an organised manner, by an organised setup. Most industry conferences are organised by a primary stakeholder, some sort of organisation, and are suppported by one or more corporate entities.
Sort of like the CTO, Smart Card Expo, and Wafritel. CTO is kind of run by the US embassy, Smart Card Expo is supported by the banks and payment providers, and  Intermarc Consulting is the organiser.

If it is just to share ideas and trade skills, I don't even think you need a physical event. Which is why most of such events not business-focused may never go far in Nigeria.

Not that I am trying to pour cold water on the idea. But it cannot be just an idea. You guys say you have the skills. But you need people to come and see what you can do. Forums like this are always created as a marketplace, to bring buyers, value seekers, and sellers together. At least that's my humble opinion.

Yes, lagos is a very good place for this conference and I am with you all the way.

while dis wud be a very good ideam, who finances ?

The first meeting will more likely than not be financed by attendees which is why I stated in my first response that rather than focus on building the next facebook clone, more important issues like who finances the event (self sponsorship or corporate sponsorship), purpose of the event, etc be ironed out during the first meeting.

IMHO, the minute you start to focus on building whatever app, it will boil down to "do you know who i am?" and become political as everyone will be jockeying to outdo the other.

Get to know each other first for crying out loud, before proceeding

very nice idea i would be there
Lets not forget about other tchnologies that could also be attached to your web hosting such as the SCRATCH CARD technology.
I'm not a web master but i'm in to  printing of scratch cards but i refer lots of my clients to web builders. I hope i can attend the conference.
my number is 07038182502

yawa-ti-de:

The first meeting will more likely than not be financed by attendees which is why I stated in my first response that rather than focus on building the next facebook clone, more important issues like who finances the event (self sponsorship or corporate sponsorship), purpose of the event, etc be ironed out during the first meeting.

IMHO, the minute you start to focus on building whatever app, it will boil down to "do you know who i am?" and become political as everyone will be jockeying to outdo the other.

Get to know each other first for crying out loud, before proceeding

My sentiment exactly, there is no way I would embark on any project without knowing who I am working with, most important is the work ethic and skills.

zsulu:

very nice idea i would be there
Lets not forget about other tchnologies that could also be attached to your web hosting such as the SCRATCH CARD technology.
I'm not a web master but i'm in to  printing of scratch cards but i refer lots of my clients to web builders. I hope i can attend the conference.
my number is 07038182502

Send me some recharge cards and I will lobby on your behalf as to letting you attend.


From every indication, if this thing is ever going to work its going to be held in Lagos
So for us who are not in Lagos (and who have sworn never to travel through Nigerian airspace except internationally), hope you guys will add us to your plans

Sorry to pop in late. It is a wonderful idea. For now everything seems unorganised.
->First, January is in about one month from now, so we have just about that much time to put together the conference.
-> Second, we need an organising team. (Volunteers needed)
-> Third, we need to assign task to all volunteers i.e. designing and managing the website, conference location, registration of participants, submission of conference papers for approval etc. (Please person wey go school go read make him help me organize the stuff, will put something together myself and share with everyone)
-> Fourth, come up with a time-table for the conference
-> Also, anybody with some business savvy can look at interesting some coporate suits to throw in a little sponsorship.

With these in place guys to start to dey feel una.

I want to volunteer sha .

why not hold it online?

ohisng:

why not hold it online?

I have the same thought as you but with a little more thought, I have come to see it wont be as detailed as a physical meeting. Well for the first meeting it'll be nice to share Minutes of the meeting for those who wont be attending physically. For subsequent meetings, live feeds can be added to the meetings. All that's needed is a projector, mics, speakers and some mad ass amount of bandwidth.

that will be so fantastic,

transformR:

   
Good idea, I hope it can be brought to life.  At present I am living in England, what would be a good Idea is to organize meetings in different locations say USA, England and in Nigeria say Lagos then have an annual meeting in Lagos to network, learn and achieve specific goals once a year.

This is an excellent idea, but for some reason the author of this post has gone?? Anyway he's brought something to life, so if anything we, I thank him for that.

I think for those of us not in Nigeria, we should have mini versions locally [/b]to us, however small or big like i.e: Miss Nigeria London, Denmark etc.

I up myself to [b]volunteer. We should have a site, as simple as may be and go from there with all the good suggestions, this way all our posts and talk can be focused online instead of on Nairaland's forum.

I'll be in Nigeria just before so will miss January, but as Dual Core mentioned if minutes [/b]are shared on a site (from all the mini groups around the world) etc we will be in touch.

[b]Seriously, it will be great to leave here and know we are [b]working together [/b]and not just always joking, bashing how bad our country is and not doing anything about it or worse still every man working for themselves.

Arurhose.