Birmingham Tech Week: Charlotte
With all of the build-up to our own event and all of the planning that went into it, it would have been easy to forget about all of the other wonderful events that were going on that week. We remind ourselves that, for all of the work we have done, every person who hosts an event at tech week does the same. And it was clear this year just how much work went into preparing for these talks, including adapting them and any visual aids like slides, to an online audience.
As a team, we attended at least one or two events every day of Tech Week. The first one that I attended was about the applications of virtual reality (VR) given by Jason Barlow from Talkout VR. This talk revealed some very interesting applications of VR, particularly in the world of social distancing, in training. The simulation of crime scenes for trainee police officers and of accident scenes for trainee paramedics is a use of VR that has huge potential, and to see this being spoken about so locally was very encouraging for both the future of the tech industry locally and interesting for the future of other businesses that might use this technology.
It is amazing to see so many local businesses contributing their expertise to this event. There is so much knowledge in Birmingham on the subject of tech, so I decided to take on some of this for my own role. Given that a large part of this is to oversee the day-to-day running of our social media, I was very keen to attend ‘Unlocking Instagram for Business’, run by David Glenwright of JC Social Media. The event ran through how to effectively set up and manage an Instagram account for business, how to organise your page, add-ons and advertising. I hope to take on board some of the advice given by David Glenwright and use this in running our own social media accounts.
On the same day, I saw a talk given by Michael Bristow, the founder of Crown Property, in which he discussed property investments, different ways of going about this, risks and benefits involved and how the method of investment that his company uses is changing the landscape of financial investment, particularly in property. Although finance isn’t my particular area of expertise, I found the methods of investment to be interesting and I enjoyed the opportunity to learn more about the subject.
Finally, I was able to catch a short section of the closing event. Key people in setting up the event spoke about highlights of the week and summarised a few key takeaways from some of the events and speakers, thanking the sponsors and keynote speakers for their dedication to the event and the local tech industry. All in all, it was a great week with so many insightful talks by industry professionals who do so much to support Birmingham in its role as a centre of culture and commerce in the UK and beyond.