The 1st  Phase of the IEEE Virtual Events  program in Africa, BigData2017 (Owerri location)  held  on  the Monday 22nd , 2017 at the ICT Center of Federal University of Technology Owerri, Nigeria. This was hosted by the IEEE Nigeria Section and sponsored by the IEEE Ad Hoc Committee on Activities in Africa and powered by IEEE Meetings, Conferences & Events. A total of  97 persons registered on the Eventbright platform (98.98%) for the conference with 67 attendees (68.37%) present at  the event. These participants include the academia, students, and the unemployed from various disciplines who were granted access to the virtual environment to view the content on demand at the allotted session.

The event was declared open by the IEEE Africa Area Chair, Engr. Prof. G.A. Chukwudebe.  She welcomed the participants and passionately emphasized on role of BigData in solving the prevailing challenges in Nigeria. Also, the event coordinator, Engr. Dr. Kennedy Chinedu   Okafor in his remarks explained the essence of the virtual conference whose content is from the IEEE Computer Society.

A lot of insights were explored during the presentations as well as the open sessions.

Group discussions, comments, suggestions and questions followed at the end of the presentations while group photographs and launch-break took place within the presentations.

In conclusion, lead coordinator   thanked the host and sponsors of BigData 2017 while encouraging every participant to register with IEEE for research and academic benefits.

 

Feedback Comments

The following comments/ suggestion were gathered from the event:

  1. There was a remarkable improvement in the video and audio quality though this can be further enhanced.
  2. The coordinators should be given special certificates alongside the team members.
  3. This year participation was 25% better than the 2016 virtual events program.