Black Enterprise’s Tech Connext Summit was lit. With a schedule filled with amazing speakers giving invaluable advice, a hack-a-thon where talented engineers got to showcase their talents and a general feeling of support from other black people in tech, it was the perfect platform for personal growth and career motivation. Both days were jam-packed with content, but here are a few key takeaways that day two of the conference brought us:

Cities 3.0 – Reinventing Urban America

This Tech Talk was one of the first presentations of the day. Hon. Kevin Johnson, Mayor of Sacramento, talked about how cities are transforming to include more technology, and how bringing in business that often written off from black communities can actually yield surprising results for many. The example he used was about a Starbucks reluctantly opened in making back its money in six months — a record-breaking time compared to the four-year average that it takes to start making a profit. He emphasized that we don’t know the power of the black dollar until we cater to black consumers.

Diversity in Silicon Valley

This panel was jam-packed with experienced speakers. Kate Mitchell, co-founder and partner; diversity task co-chair, National Venture Capital Association; Mark Mathewson, vice president, Capital One techy, Capital One; Frank A. Sanders, vice president at Technology and Manufacturing Group; director, corporate strategic procurement at Intel; and Michael DeAngelo, head of people at Pinterest shared their views on diversity. They discussed their various strategies on incorporating diversity in the workplace, and a major theme was to do so from the start — building a diverse foundation is the best way to ensure diversity as the company grows.

AT&T Foundry

While at the conference we talked with HBCU students who were flown out to Silicon Valley by AT&T to participate in a hackathon and Tour google and The Foundry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bn4j2Aa08Jo

Succeeding in Silicon Valley

The main takeaway from this discussion was definitely the power of networking. Shellye Archambeau, CEO of MetricStream Inc.; Clarence Wooten, Jr., serial entrepreneur, investor, founder of VentureFund.io and Progressly; Erik Moore, founder and managing partner of Base Ventures and Eric Kelly, chairman and CEO of Sphere 3D encouraged attendees to put in the necessary hustle by reaching out to people that know what they’re talking about, working hard and making time for the work they care about. Success is often relationship-driven, so Archambeau said to always make time to network. She offered advice on lifestyle things to incorporate networking with — if you’re being social, going to an event, etc., why not make it a networking opportunity?

Intersection of Music & Technology

Gimeal Keaton, better known as Young Guru, is an engineer, professor and DJ that has worked with the likes of both Jay-Z and Beyonce. He gave a super informative speech that talked about the complicated relationship the music industry has with technology and the resistance to embracing new tech advances that often riddles the industry. He encourages us to not reject change. Artists rejected the idea of audio recordings at first, thinking they would eliminate the value of a live show. We all know that didn’t happen, and we should look toward the same innovation with optmism for future changes. He provided the audience with self-proclaimed “genius ideas” (that were, admittedly, pretty genius) with advice on changing the kinds of deals artists sign with record companies, touching on the idea of directional, three-dimensional sound and even bringing tech ideas to African citizens. He ended his session with this sound advice: Look at where there are problems and holes and where tech can fill those holes. And look at what can not only make you money, but what can uplift your people.

This post is brought to you by AT&T.

Did you livestream any of the sessions? What was your favorite moment of the day? Let us know in the comments below!

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