 So let me start by first appreciating the organizers of this event for the kind invitation extended to me. I came all the way from Abuja in Nigeria, that's a federal capital territory in Nigeria, in Africa for this event and I'm really happy to be here. The topic that has been given to me is one of the most interesting and exciting topics to young practitioners under which category I also fall. So I will be speaking on social media change, embrace or reject, and the first thing that comes to mind when you hear this topic is what is the importance of social media, why do we need to discuss social media in this digital age? I will be showing in the course of my presentation the upsides and the downsides of social media, particularly to young practitioners and our focus on how we can all use social media to build our personal brand and also stand out as young practitioners. So a certain Canadian philosopher, sorry, a certain Canadian philosopher, Marsha McLauram, once stated that the world is a global village and to his death in 1980 there was no certainty on the postulation of McLauram's statement, not until in 1990s towards the end of 1990s that social media evolved that McLauram's statement was made more or less like a certainty to McLauram's statement in the sense that businesses and business transactions can now be carried out, which really is real social media both locally and internationally. And as with many things in life, there are upsides and downsides, one of the upsides of social media as you can see on this slide is that it enhances speedy communication. People are able to communicate speedily and efficiently now without the need to travel physically from Nigeria to Hong Kong or from Brussels to Senegal. So just in the click of the button, you are able to communicate speedily. Also it helps in building a virtual relationship, you are able to nurture and grow a relationship without meeting yourself physically and it's also one of the ways in which you can be in touch with the world and this is particularly useful for millennia who found social media as a driverway by which information is consumed. And one of the downsides of social media is that it is seen as causing distractions, some employers see this as affecting productivity. For many employers in Nigeria, you are not able to assess your social media platforms in the course when you are in the workplace because those social media platforms have been disabled. And one of the concerns of the employers is that it causes distractions and affects productivity. Another downside of social media is lots of privacy. When we are creating social media accounts, we put lots of private information and there are terms and conditions and most times we do not go through the terms and conditions. We just scroll down and click the box and we accept the terms and conditions and as such we are able to give you a way of control of some of our private information. So another downside of social media is potential conflict of interest which I think Charlie has spoken about. So there are some potential conflicts of interest that arise from the use of social media. I'll give an example of a senior practitioner from Nigeria who once was appointed for an arbitration and one of the parties to the case raised an objection to his appointment based on the fact that he had connections with one of the parties on LinkedIn. The tribunal had to rule on that objection, even though it was more or less like a flimsy one but tribunal had to rule and tribunal ruled that there was no question as to his independence and partiality and as such the objection was overruled but their potential conflict of interest is used that will be triggered by the use of social media. But in the course of this presentation I will bracket all the downsides of social media and focus more on the upsides and how we can use social media to stand out as young practitioners and why do we need to stand out that we know that the law practice is getting more and more competitive than ever. Before when you finish from Cambridge or you go to Avalon School or Oxford you are sure of a good job after you finish from uni but now the law practice is getting more competitive. There are many graduates from the Ivy League schools so you need to stand out and show what you've got and show your competence in a more and more competitive market. Also arbitration is considered for aspiring arbitrators. Abitration is considered a closed shop which is very difficult for young practitioners to break into and as such you need to be out there, be visible in the market for people to know you, for people to be able to understand, sorry, for people to know you and for them to be able to know you must be visible in the market and we know that for example in arbitration non-lawyers are allowed to practice arbitration particularly for technical disputes you need non-lawyers as co-abitrators you know non-lawyers you know are coming into the practice and because of that part of the pie and share of the pie is getting more and more smaller and shrinking and as such you have to be more competitive to be able to get into the closed shop. Legal budgets of non-fames are shrinking and being confident is not just enough you need to be out there you need to be visible people have to know you have to be visible in the market for you to get the necessary recognition and appointment and I can also demonstrate this with a potential appointment by the potential appointment by a traditionalist, a senior practitioner and a millennial maybe a junior associate in a law firm so if a senior practitioner is to appoint an arbitrator who typically rely on recommendation from another colleague from a colleague or rely on nominate someone that they have met before in an occasion in an event you know but for millennials the first thing in millennia or an associate that wants to make potential nomination will do is to go on Google and Google you and try to see put your name and see what you what you are what you've done before and you know there is this cliché that you are who Google says you are so then some people will go and clue up clue our nutrition blog to see what you've done before what you meeting before some go some go on LinkedIn to check your LinkedIn profile to see your certifications you know what you've got and what you know that shapes their perception about you for possible appointment so we need to build you know as brand using social media and why is personal branding important or necessary it is necessary because personal branding is a critical part to creating awareness in a crowded marketplace and in a marketplace that is very competitive so internet is free and accessible of course for we that we are living in this part of the world is free and accessible for Africa trying to catch up LinkedIn is a powerful tool Twitter is also powerful and you can also use Instagram can also do personal blogging if you have the time you know just push out you know all you got let people see you be visible you know that is how you be able to get well in the competitive market so if you have a LinkedIn profile of details on social media profile LinkedIn profile with recent participation and certifications and that is what I actually do when I come back from a speech or speaking engagements I have new certifications I'll put LinkedIn profile with certifications and more and more you get employers chasing you out you put us chasing you saying are you interested in this job or the other and tell them no you're not available now you get to know people writing you to say you know asking you requesting that you come on speaking different events you know people you know asking you to if you are able to take a potential application appointment because people go on your social media profile to check who you are to see what you've got also write on online journals and reputable abutation blogs like I mentioned to her the other time writes on Clua Clua as massive followership and leadership so people be able to understand as if see you see your work and you know begin to form an impression about who you are and what your capital of gene also it is important to create awareness and establish relationship within your abutation network you know conferences like these are 10 networking events and don't it should not stop there when you attend networking events also follow-up by emails you know tell them how we discussion words you know and follow-up at the one LinkedIn or you know other social media platforms and continue to fall that for that relationship view that relationship and when it matters most they will remember you for jobs so always be prepared and use every opportunity to showcase your knowledge for example I was invited last year to speak at an event by the United Nations Commission on International Trade on Citra in Seville, Spain after my presentation I had the five minute discussion with a top leader in arbitration within the abutation markets and we spoke for just five minutes and after the five-minute discussion because it was in our office to catch a flight to Portugal and the next day it sent me an email to say do you know that that discussion was that we had yesterday was very profitable I had not thought of third-party funding that you are working on in this the way you described it is it possible that we publish an article together on this or you know possibly make proposal to some institutions on this you know you found it very useful so always be prepared anytime you meet a top leader you have the opportunity to speak with a to-be employer always be prepared to showcase what you got you've got and your knowledge that you have to internet as democratized access and you can now buy bypass gatekeepers internet is accessible to all of us you can use internet to shape how you are perceived like I said Google is where all Google says you are and you know as internet social media is important networking is also important because your network is your network you need to tirelessly network attend conferences like these conferences by arbitration institutions and arbitration associations of our chambers of commerce you know when you get back from the networking event try to follow up and you know begin to build your brand to this through the collection so you know I've said before that the market is becoming more and more competitive I've said arbitration for aspiring arbitrators arbitration is considered to be a close shop I've said that a part share of the pie is shrinking and getting smaller but then the sky is still big enough for all stars to shine so while I'm working silos it's also important that you work collaboratively by using some of the top leaders that you have connected to social media get some of those leaders to mentor you mentorship is key is very important because when there are opportunities those mentors will remember you and they'll call you and again sorry again it is not enough to understand the rules and practice of arbitration you also need to be commercially aware our clients now don't want the lawyers that only know the rules or practice of arbitration or procedures they want you know lawyers that also understand the commercial underpinnings of their business those that are able to provide commercial solutions to their issues so we look beyond arbitration with financial times the Washington Post the economies just gets you know if as much information as you can get and try to push out your knowledge for people to know you and I can't emphasize this enough right right right until you are noticed let people begin to notice you in the market so I will demonstrate again with an example of the association of young arbitrators I am which I founded in 2015 after his second main program at Bica McKenzie office in London I was in my flight back to Lagos in Nigeria and you know I just came up with the idea of our young arbitration practitioners in Africa can benefit from you know having a platform to relate with their peers outside Africa and also connect with thought leaders outside Africa so the the idea became the initiative was launched sometimes in 2016 and we built online presence in self 2017 we did not have any local physical meeting everything was done on social media we connected with relevant arbitration institutions connected with all met so many talk leaders within the arbitration industry and market so and sometimes in 2017 we did our first program the first mentoring program for young practitioners in Africa and we are able to assemble an impressive list of talk leaders in and out of Africa you know who are you know who are able to mentor young arbitration practitioners in Africa for six months and the program was massively successful and was you know we said one of the best that came out of Africa in 2017 all these we did by social media build the relationship not just the relationship or to social media but also in 2018 did the first intra-africa award-writing competition which was also done by social media we got top law firms in London and in Paris to sponsor the competition and you know and it was also massively successful and the major program that the association is doing right now is the Africa arbitration academy of which Charlie is one of is one of our hosts is one of the sponsors program is being sponsored by about 15 international offends in London become a Keynesie or wider case with my hero mayor Brown Allen and the major ones and we also have collaboration with exceeding Washington ICC in Paris and the major arbitration institutions you know supporting us in this initiative at the 15 international offends of providing funding for young arbitration practitioners in Africa to come to London to learn for three weeks from thought leaders from expert non-expert within the arbitration sector you know the current chains in international arbitration and take the knowledge back to their peers in Africa to influence those that are back home so all this we did by social media build the relationship by social media we grew the association by social media and the association today is considered the foremost young practitioners group in Africa or all thanks to social media so the higher your profile the more people want you the more people wants to get to know you the world of arbitration is small and in which network we have evolving arbitration appointment among superstars considered superstars arbitration practitioners like on the shepherd are you born in Manu Gaya lots of them and it's very difficult for younger generations and people like us to break into particularly for some of us from Africa so what we do is try to push out our work try to be visible in the market and try to showcase to people what you've got and your competence and what you can do so that people begin to recognize you and from perception about you so if there's any take away from my presentation and take away is that technology has become an everyday live instrument so you can use social media to create a strong personal brand and also stand out in the competitive market thank you