Social Networking and the Youth Forum

This past week I had the pleasure of attending the WorldSkills General Assembly and Youth Forum in Kingston, Jamaica. What a wonderful week in the hub of Caribbean Industry and Education. I had the opportunity to converse with the technical delegates from 37 of the 51 countries competing in the upcoming WorldSkills event in London. I also meet many high level government officials, our fellow global industrial partners; including new friends Carl Peters with Lincoln Electric and Martin Williams with Festo. Shook the hand of an Olympic athlete, Silver Medalist Grace Jackson, observed opening and closing ceremonies of the Jamaica WorldSkills competitions, conversed with the WorldSkills London 2011 Team, observed a panel of industry, government and education from the Excel in London via Webex, and took in the fabulous performing arts of Jamaica which included world class music and dance. But the most important opportunity was to network with the fabulous youth of the WorldSkills Youth Forum. They were a great group and their energy level was contagious as they presented to the General Assembly.

I discovered that Bricklayers, Restaurant Service, Web Designers, and other craft that participated in the Youth Forum can teach us many important ways in which to communicate with them.

I learned how important social networking is to our fabulous youth. Watch this video of a few of the participants of the Youth Forum that Kimberly Jones, manager Cisco Networking Academy student advocacy team, and I spoke with after one of the best presentations of the week.

What a great experience for WSI Champions arranged by WSI Secretariat members Christine Scoot and Jarrad Langdon. They all understand how important it is to be transparent and share ideas with others or at least with “STEVE” my new Facebook buddy (http://www.facebook.com/steve.skills)

Great Week!