Another Geekretreat has come and gone, and as with most things it is probably best to put reflections on paper as soon as possible.
The first thing that struck me – but not for the first time, is how talented, passionate and inspired my fellow geeks are. There was nobody at the retreat who did not positively contribute to it. At an event like this one, where 50 people with a common thread but diverse backgrounds come together, it might seems risky to not have a set agenda, or even a set of clearly defined goals right from the start. But that is the beauty of the creative process. Slowly but surely everyone starts to fill in the blanks – no one has to catch up, or “get it”, because there really is nothing to get. We come together, we talk. We ask. We think. We inspire. And we listen. There are very many discussions – almost no time slot is taken up with a one way communication – but there are very few heated arguments.
There were over forty speaking opportunities, and nobody’s voice was silenced. There were no keynotes, no sessions that were more important than others. We sat and we listened to people sharing their ideas, and if we were not inspired or connected with what we were hearing, we moved on to another venue, another speaker, another passion.
And as diverse as the ideas were, they did have common threads running through them, The ones that resonated most with me was the national pride, and the sense of urgency of using our skills and our knowledge to empower others in our country.
But there was something stronger still: the willingness to seek solutions rather than hide behind obstacles. That is rare for our society: we tend to complain, but don’t often propose how a situation can be made better. At the Geekretreat, believe it or not, nobody ever swore at Telkom, or the government, or the dti. We really didn’t focus on what is wrong, but rather on how we can make it better.
So, can 50 geeks come together in Stanford Valley, spend 3 days talking, listening (and drinking) and come up with solutions to problems that have been baffling the country for years? Suprisingly, yes. And that’s because we each understand the power of one. It might be that social media has made us bold in our approach to conquering large problems, since we know that one blog post, or one tweet even, can start an avalanche. But that’s a blessing, because we are not discouraged by the enormity of the problems.
A lot more, I hope, will be written up about the projects proposed or discussed at the Geekretreat. I hope some get traction, and start happening. Here are a few:
Create and promote locally hosted educational online content, since local bandwidth is cheap, and is often even free
Create an “African Wiki” of people, products and companies in the online space, active on the African continent
Create a list of South Africans active in the tech sector, who have moved overseas where they have had an opportunity to create a network of influencers, and who might share those contacts with the rest of us in South Africa (that one is mine)
Plans and hopes for the next Geekretreat
Non educational games with an educational benefit (think how good Monopoly is about teaching you about money etc)
P to P university, which provides and facilitates free courses online, from and to people all over the world.
Geek Diploma, which would formally teach the youth the skills necessary for entrepreneurial activity, without requiring them to pursue a tertiary education
Sillicon Cape, and how to sell the rest of the world on SAfrica’s capabilities as an IT hub
Mobile payments without the necessity for a formal bank account. Getting the Reserve Bank to approve PayPal transactions etc etc
And what did others think? From a quick ad hoc survey, all participants really enjoyed the opportunity to mingle, talk and share. A common thread running through the comments is that it is wonderful to realise that companies and people who previously thought of themselves as competitors have now realised they will achieve more if they work together.
And just for that little gem, the Geekretreat should be considered a great success.
(A special word of thanks to all our sponsors: <Telamenta, Old Mutual, Skyrove, Yola, White Wall Web, Seacom, IS, Jackie Scala, eConsultancy, Orca Wireless)
(And as an aside, our venue, the Stanford Valley, was absolutely awesome. If you are looking for a quiet retreat, away from the hustle and bustle, you’d be doing yourself a favour by checking it out. )
Cool Beans, Startups 
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