On Tuesday 18th October 2016, the Bournemouth International Centre welcomed around 1000 students to Digital Wave – a free conference aimed at young people between 14 and 19 years old. Showcasing the enormous range of career opportunities available in the digital and creative sectors, the event played host to an array of acclaimed speakers and exciting exhibitors.
Organised by the team at Redweb, the attendees came from 25 local schools and colleges to hear talks from digital professionals representing charities, visual effects studios, digital agencies and global leaders in technology. The exhibitors were also on hand to help students get to grips with the latest technology – including Barclays Eagle Labs, who showed off their 3D printer.
New for this year was the Digital Wave app built for iPhone and Android by one of Redweb’s very own development teams. Featuring a schedule of the day, summaries of each of the talks and the ability to submit questions to panellists and answer polls, the app helped make the event even more interactive and immersive for attendees.
With the event well underway, the speakers covered a wide variety of topics, including:
Mary Keane-Dawson, Managing Director at Neo @ Ogilvy – What does it take to make it in the industry? Mary offered up her manifesto to success, stressing the importance of qualifications and making things now to get ahead of the game.
Victoria Buchanan, Creative Director at Tribal Worldwide – One of IPA’s Women of Tomorrow, Victoria presented her 20 top tips to get the digital dreamers of the future on the right career path. As a Creative Equals ambassador, she also championed girls in coding and the importance of diversity in digital.
Luke Williams, Social Media Innovation Officer at RNLI – From using virtual reality headsets to offer immersive experiences, to harnessing social media to reach huge audiences, Luke highlighted how digital is helping to save lives at sea.
Andy Spooner, Technical Evangelism Lead at Microsoft – Andy delivered a compelling talk, highlighting how storytelling is essential to success in your chosen field, and the entrepreneurs who have achieved great things with a mixture of digital know-how and passion.
Other speakers offering their unique insight on the day were Danny Duke from Outpost VFX, Nadya Powell from creative agency Sunshine, CEO of Wirehive Robert Belgrave, and David Burton from Redweb – read more about the speakers and their talks.
Digital Wave is the brainchild of Redweb’s CEO Andrew Henning. Of this year’s conference Andrew said:
“It’s been another great year at the conference with some really influential speakers and exhibitors attending. Redweb is passionate about giving young people opportunities in the industry and, through Digital Wave and our own apprenticeship scheme, we hope to be able to welcome more digital leaders into the industry in the near future.”
See our gallery of photos from the day or watch our video to see everything that went on at Digital Wave 2016.
For more information and to find out how you can get involved in next year’s Digital Wave, visit the website.