Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791), is considered by many as the greatest composer of all time (though there are still debates going on as to whether he really is). At the age of 5, he had started composing and playing before European royalty. A genius of classical music, Mozart by far had the talent any musician in any generation would want to have. 

There are so many talented individuals around;  sometimes while walking down the streets, I see kids with miniature trucks and excavators they had built themselves with people gathered around them cheering and supporting them in the little way they can. A lot of things could be seen from the street view point. I’ve seen very talented footballers, musicians, craftsmen, welders, etc, all not getting what many perceive to be the required recognition and sometimes we just can’t say why. There are great scholars and academics not getting the publicity or attention many people think they really need or not actually living up to expectations. 

It happens all the time so then what can we do?  First, it is important to state that different people want different things in life, and the definitions of success might also depend on the one who is defining it. So what one person considers as success might not mean a thing to another. But isn’t our talents supposed to do us some good? Otherwise what need is there for one to have a talent? I think so.

And back to Mozart, despite his musical ingenuity, he still struggled financially for most of his life as this extract from the billboards put it:

“Yet Mozart earned a reputation for money-grubbing, and evidence abounds that he squandered much of his cash. Among the items on display at the Musikverein are handwritten letters in which Mozart begged his patrons, publishers and acquaintances for huge sums to settle his debts. . . No one disputes that Mozart’s wealth was long gone by the time he lay on his deathbed. Researchers at Salzburg’s International Mozarteum Foundation say records of Mozart’s estate indicate that his widow barely had enough cash to bury him, and that he owed thousands, including debts to his tailor, cobbler and pharmacist.”

This is not in anyway trying to equate success with the acquisition of things, as I personally don’t even believe in that. Many people play music to entertain and make other people happy and this they consider to be the most important criteria for evaluating their success.

From experience (mostly those of others) then I can say that for one to benefit the most from his talent, he also has to have the following qualities: Self discipline and Hard work.

The consistency and dominance of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi for over a decade is a clear indication of the relevance of these two qualities. Many footballers whose names I wouldn’t like to mention failed to capitalize on their talents making them fall short of the expectations placed on them as a result of the talent they had but never truly maximized.

Other than the above, for any talent to benefit an individual in the way the individual wants it to, the following should be considered :

• What Does the Individual Want  from the Talent?
• What is the Relevance in my immediate Location?
• Will it be Appreciated in this Time and Age?

What an individual wants from his talent must be clearly defined. This helps to determine how the person in question goes about utilizing his talents. Many people learn to play a musical instrument just to have a good time and entertain friends and family, many scientists go into science purely for the satisfaction of contributing something relevant to the service of humanity, many teachers teach not because it is going to make them wealthy but because of the passion they have for the profession or young people. What do you want? 

The relevance of one’s talent in a particular location is so crucial that it will be foolhardy not to consider it. What need is there for an astronaut in a community that needs a polio vaccine? What need is there for a Robotics Engineer in a village without power supply?  Moving to a location of relevance may be desirable.

The book The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald was not successful until many years after the death of the writer. I don’t know if there is anything he could have done about it,  but that gives us a reason to look at the age we live in. Are we in the age of posting letters or in the age of electronic instant messaging? Is Nigeria currently prepared for 5G  or 5G experts have to wait till a future date?

I don’t know how this article helps anyone, but you just have to see if it can. As you consider, I wish you all the best.

Making a presentation is arguably the hardest part of being a student. As a student you could either be one that talks a lot but get cold feet in public or be someone who doesn’t talk a lot but makes quite an impressive speech in public or be someone who doesn’t even talk much and still cannot make any meaningful impact in public presentation, but whichever group you belong, a few tips can turn things around and bring out the best in you when making a presentation.

When I was pursuing my bachelors’ degree back in school, you will be doing yourself a huge disservice if you chose me to defend a group project in front of a panel, because I would gasp for air! Funny right? It was really difficult. But along the line I realized that it was not a permanent situation, and that  I could change all that, so I went searching and discovered the tips needed to make a good presentation. This tips worked so well for me. I couldn’t worry too much about my shakiness or panic attacks; I finally learned a way to drive my point home in a relaxed manner and in my own words.

So here we go the 5 basic presentation tips.

BE YOURSELF

This statement is very much underrated mostly because of its frequent use from around the globe. Everyone tells you to be yourself, at home, at work, in places of worship, basically everywhere. You could say “oh I’ve heard that too many times, just not working” but it’s never enough until you understand its contextual meaning. It’s more like get in touch with your inner child; become more aware of your thoughts; follow your intuition; RULE YOUR WORLD! Professionally act like you own this place; be in charge

SHOW YOUR PERSONALITY

You do have a personality, bring it on. Use your body, do not let the body use you; gesticulate; use your hands; walk around a fixed position. Make impressions; bring up scenario; tell a story within time constraint; make them laugh and hit the nail on the head.

FINISH BEFORE TIME

There is something about leaving people at the climax, when you begin in time, make your point as succinct as possible, be concise and confident; take your time, pause in between points to allow it to sink into the minds of your audience. Finish well and in time. If you have 10mins for a presentation, there is no crime finishing at the 8th minute. My uncle will always say “leave the stage while the applause is still on”.

BE AUDIBLE

Speak loudly enough to catch your audience’s attention, if there is a provision for a microphone, hold it with one hand for most of the time.

PRACTICE, REHEARSE

As they say, practice makes perfect. It is not just about knowing what to say, you have to practice how you are going to say it. Call a few friends together and rehearse in front of them. Get them to tell you where you are lacking that you should improve on and enjoy yourself. 

The ILO’s Global Youth Employment Forum 2019 ended with deliberations, key action plans, and thoughts that will contribute to the frameworks for today and tomorrow. Through  series of Tripartite fishbowl discussion, Keynote speeches, Roundtable sessions, Tripartite fireside chat panel discussion, and Panel dialogue that featured over 100 young representatives from government, trade unions, workers, employers’ organizations, and civic society organizations from over 60 countries across the world. 

In some of the topical issues, it was clearly marked that young people are anxious about the future of work and what will influence the future of work. The energies of young people, the potential of young people, and the voices of young people needed to be heard.  

In another submission, “Workers were duly recognized as the creators of wealth for the world”. Their input and ideas towards transformative processes needed to be regarded. 

Mr. Guy Ryder, ILO Director General, stated in an action statement during his opening speech that “we need to stop, think and take action”. We need to stop and look at the barriers that exist, the barriers that are impeding us from making progress towards decent jobs creation, do a reflections and brainstorm to come up with ideas and thoughts that will contribute toward achieving the sustainable development goal 8, and collaborate to take practical steps and actions that will ameliorate the effect of over 255 million young people who are unemployed; and over 136 million young people who are working in extremely hard, and  living in poverty. Of which, 60% of these statistics are from Africa.  

We explored innovative and emerging issues that are critical to key economies. With a definite call to action to create framework for enabling youth employment opportunities and enablers within the digital, green, lavender, blue and orange economies. We also engaged in an intergenerational dialogue, reflection, and commitment to champion the call for action from now to 2030. 

An open market for youth employment solutions was also Featured such that 17 selected Young Participants exhibited best practices, new ideas and broadcast recent achievements on youth Employability and Entrepreneurship. 

My work at Social Impact Africa was also selected to be Exhibited. I contributed by discussing key ideas that will reduce youth unemployment, foster partnerships, and prepare for the future of work in rural Nigeria through teaching basic Employability and Entrepreneurship Skills in both primary, secondary and tertiary schools as well as setting up innovation workspaces and hubs that will be devoted to quality R&D in youth unemployment solutions, build strategic partnership, synergy and support towards reducing the unemployment rate within Nigeria. 

There were areas of key action plan which I believe will be of great benefit towards defining the future of work. And they are: 

• Pro-employment: Discussion on microeconomic policies that will contribute to economic growth and development; 
• Investment in quality education and skills that are needed by youths and that will help them be relevant in the future.  
• Promoting youth Entrepreneurship and Employment Solutions.  
• Been respectful of the rights of young workers. 

I appreciate all the contributions and investment by United Nations Inter-Agency Network on Youth Development and in Partnership with International Labour Organization (ILO) towards promoting decent jobs and Economic growth in Africa and all across the world.

Some people wonder why they are not so good in writing. Some believe they aren’t cut out to be writers. Some are struggling with it, some have conquered, and some have given up. Anyway, I believe everybody is a writer, all that is needed is learning the tricks.

Writing is a skill, just like speaking, listening and reading. If you can speak, you can write. As it takes learning and practicing to develop other skills, so is it with writing. You can look up articles on developing writing skills from the internet and read them up, but I want to drop my two cents on the matter.

Creative writing is different from academic writing. To me, creative writing is using our experiences and the experiences of others in an invigorating way to pass on intended message(s). A creative writer is expected to be imaginative, captivating and unique, even if the write-up is not a fiction. This means that you need to let your mind make use of its creativity during this process.

Before you start writing, you need to bear the following in mind:

1. Motivation: The first thing you have to do is ask yourself why you need to write. You have to be motivated for you to be a writer. If not, you will lose interest along the line. Besides, motivation should be your driving force in everything you do, including writing. So ask yourself these questions: Do I want to write because I needed to inspire people? Do I want to write because I wanted to correct some societal norms? Do I want to write because it is an outlet for my emotions, opinions and ideas (that’s me here)? Do I want to write because it will bring in more income? Anyway, look deep down you and find the reason you really wanted to write and allow it to pull you through.

2. Choose a Stand: Here is where you decide on the area(s) you want to write on. Your decision here will affect everything about your writing – language, length, mood, style and so on. So, do you want to write on politics, religion, romance, marriage, business, ICT, health, crime, community development, philosophy …? There are so many of them. But I’ll advice that you choose what interests you and what you are conversant with.

3. Audience: Who are your intended readers? What are their interests? Do you think your work will capture those interests? You have to bear your intended readers in mind when you write. It will be wrong to write to medical practitioners about the latest inventions that help in language teaching. It will be wrong to write to teenagers on exotic places they can enjoy their retirements. It will also be out of place if farmers were told about robots that can carry out surgeries. Let your targeted readers decide your write-ups.

4. Communication Channel: What I meant here is where you plan to send your write-ups to. How do you intend to get your audience to read your works? Which outlet will your audience have access to? You can think of using any of the following – newspapers, periodicals, blogs, magazines, social media, flyers, pamphlets, and so on. Some platforms have length requirements, making a word count tool necessary.

5. Language Choice: The language and the language variety chosen depend on a lot of things – topic, audience, purpose and channel. If you plan to write to professionals, it will be proper to use related jargon. If you are writing to the man on the street, then use street language. If you want to write to a semi-literate, please simplify your language. If your intention is to make your audience laugh, go for comic terms. Are writing religious matters? Then, use religious register. Let your language be the forerunner of your message.

6. Style: By style I mean the narrative technique you plan to use – suspense, imagery, code-switching, flashback, symbolism, and so on. You need to develop your own style to make your work unique (try not to pick up another person’s own). For example, you can choose to present your works using stories, rhetorical questions, proverbs, code-switching, arguments, and so many others. Find a way to make your work unique and captivating.

7. Practice: The saying that practice makes perfect still holds. Writing skill needs constant sharpening and oiling to avoid it getting blunt and rusted. And, if you don’t write at least once a day, you are going to lose the zeal to write. So, form the habit of writing everyday. You can make it long or short depending on your unique style. The major thing is that you transfer what is in your mind into the paper. If you get stuck along the line, just take a break and get back to it later.

8. Choosing a Topic: Choosing a topic is not the same thing as choosing an area. Within the area you focused on, you have to choose what to write about. That is the topic. Sometimes, the topic we are to write on eludes us; you find yourself wondering what to write and nothing will come to you. What I usually do in situations like this is to meet with people for some conversations, hang out in places that interest me, or read posts on social media. Trust me, ideas will keep jumping out of every structure, interactions and comments you see or read.

9. Facing your Fears: Sometimes, or rather most times, we are afraid of how our write-ups will be received by the readers. We are afraid that no one will want to read them or that they will be criticized. We are also afraid of our grammatical errors being pointed out and our ideas being thought as shallow. The truth is that everybody is afraid of how their works will be accepted. No one can really say what the reactions to their works will be until they push them out. It is also good to know that there is no perfect work, and that your idea isn’t all encompassing even though it will add to existing knowledge. Besides, criticism helps us to develop. So, remember, fear is a normal thing. Just write it and send it out.

I will come back with another post on different stages and strategies of creative writing. But before then, draft something and get it ready for your audience.