Oh My Gosh 2024

Oh my GoSH, what an amazing Friday, which led to an amazing weekend that was full of fun, reminiscing so many ideas for the future. Friday felt like going to Disneyland, learning with a room full of youngsters. My happy place is when I am learning new things and inspiring others to do the same.

A room bigger than what we had last year. Scarier, so many minds to make a difference with.

I was so proud to be part of the speakers at the GoSH Showcase more than 800 young people from 15 regional schools celebrated thinking differently and being creative last Friday. Everyone had so much fun whilst learning from an amazing group of people, I felt proud to be part of this team. 3 days later and I am still inspired, energized, and exhausted all at the same time. And every now and then I get another flashback to an amazing moment.

Disruption was one of the words for the day (Whoop Whoop), one of numerous ideas from the amazing Michelle Wong was to make a noise (whoop Whoop) every time the word disruption came up. Needless to say I think that Jeremy Chetty had the most fun with our young audience and mentioning the word disruption (Whoop Whoop) especially on the disruption panel.

I think we should also count the amount of time people say “Oh My GoSH” and give them a gold sticker for doing so. Perhaps a competition coming next weekend. ?

The event encouraged regional young people to create their own paths, think different, embrace who they are and above all harness technology to turn ideas into to action.

So, here’s a rundown of my favourite moments from the event.

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Aaliyah Nestoridis – Welcomed us to country, introduced the young people to many different words in the Noongar language, many which I had never heard before. ?I loved learning the indigenous story of the Black Swans in the Pinjarra massacre. I had never heard this story before, and it was great to hear directly from Aaliyah what this meant to her.

I also still need to know from Aaliyah the Noongar word for Disruption. I will ask and let you know (please comment below if you know more) I also learnt that when a person who is indigenous uses the world Black that it is used as a meaning of Power. I did not know this, in my early career and as a child I was taught not to use this word. It is great to understand the meaning when it comes from an indigenous person. Aaliyah, I learnt so much from you. Thank you.

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Antonio – Was great to see Antonio up on stage again with his young assistant (Antonio’s son) this time and man’s best friend Dingo (The Robot Dog). There was a cheer every time a backflip was performed. Antonio is outstanding. Nothing is ever to much for him and his family. They always go above and beyond to make sure everyone is happy.

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Jeremy Chetty – As always is effortless in the way he asks questions and inspires others. Never faltered, never disrupted, although I think I managed to make him wonder at one point joining the stage in his disruption panel which was totally off script. The discussion between Lucas and Jeremy was a great exchange across generations. It was relaxed informal and was exactly that a fireside chat. Both of them burned brightly.

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Lucas Lane – Inspired so many in the room young and old, to be authentic to themselves and above all to be you. The vision and intelligence that Lucas showed blew my mind. He is born with a mind which is inventive. Lucas knows what he wants and knows how to get it. ?Lucas left my youngest amazed and inspired giving the time after the performance backstage to answer all the questions that Robert and I had. My youngest and her friend listening in. They were in awe of the conversation. ?My youngest whilst quiet was in awe of what is possible at such a young age. She is 9 and has now seen what can be done if you set your mind to it.

Around the dinner table we always ask:

“What was your favourite bit of your day and why?”

"Well, Mum my favourite bit was meeting Lucas Lane, he’s so cool, he’s like me!!!!”

And a friend who was over for dinner “My favourite bit was, the way he (Lucas) encouraged me to be me. It’s ok to be me”.

My favourite bit was also "Taking our girls and Robert Cass backstage to meet the speakers and inspiring so many young people"

Robert's favourite bit was also talking to Lucas and his Mum.

My youngest has never been inspired like this before, she went from sitting on her seat to sitting on the floor cross legged as she couldn’t get close enough. It was like all of the kids were addicted to what was coming next.

Bravo Lucas a 15-year-old who is changing the world. Shining a light for young people to be comfortable with who they are. ?

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Maria & Sam – I absolutely loved the design video and I loved the way in which they showed how a design journey can evolve and change. The video was fast engaging and every time a photo of a cat came on the screen the kids chuckled. In less that 20mins they showed kids how to create wireframes, how to design a website and how to create a shop front. In a fun and inspiring way.

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Rhys Williams – Shared that he has kept his learner permit on his bathroom mirror to inspire himself to keep learning every day. He encouraged everyone to have a go and always look to others to learn from. Never stop learning is his mantra.

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Lisa Munday – What a woman, I think she deserves the superpower name “Wonder Woman”. Again, another person where nothing is ever too much trouble. From the moment I met Lisa she understood what it was like to be a Mum, of neurodivergent children whilst trying to work at the same time. Lisa understands the value of CoderDojo, she owns her own Neurodiversity with ease and shines proudly with it. Lisa inspired all those in the room who are different. She shared her journey to be a politician, and she also shared her challenges with school.

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Frank Flintoff – A very dear friend who I met many years ago by sitting together quietly at a WITWA conference. Frank is outstanding; I don’t think Frank quite knew what she was in for when she said yes to being a graphic scribe for the GoSH event. I don’t think there has ever been so much information to capture all at once. Watching the kids interact with the screen as she was live drawing on the screen, was amazing. They absolutely loved it. I think the kids thought that it was a robot to begin with until it started responding to them in real-time with a spark and a flare. I don’t know who was having more fun.

This showed to me the power of drawing for the kids is real. Sometimes we need to ensure that they have access to as many colours, marker pens and pencils as they can. To allow their minds to have an outlet for their crazy ideas. Creativity comes from their imaginations. Give them a pencil or a pen and the ideas will flow. We need to remove the limitation on what they can create. We need to firstly remove the barriers that technology can bring by allowing for pen to paper first and then let them draw in whatever form they would like to express themselves.

I took a moment to walk across to Frank in my talk. In silence, I walked and then gestured towards Frank again in silence, and said how awesome is Frank? Asking the young audience a question, To which the whole audience erupted into cheering and clapping. Maybe this was the first time any of the young people have ever met or seen a graphic scribe.

Sometimes words are not enough. A picture can capture 10000 words. Being originally trained as a Cartographer I know the power of a picture or a map.

Frank stepped up the night before and responded to a last-minute request to create a superhero in the form of Michelle as a thank you from the Gosh Committee and Advisory Board. Frank is a true Hero. Her communication is vibrant, bright, visual and quiet. It is a SUPERPOWER. Frank’s superpower is her drawing. I personally can’t wait for the artwork that captured the event.

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Our Volunteers

A huge shout out to all the volunteers. A few mentioned below; the parents, Erin 1, Erin 2, Robert, Matt, Jess, Nancy, John, Stephen, Rod, Archie, Caiden and to all the other volunteers that supported this event. Sorry I have not mentioned everyone as I did not know everyone. Without our volunteers donating their valuable time, ideas, and energy to this event it would not happen, #Thank you

Volunteering is such an important part of our community and it’s extremely vital that the young people in our regions can see what volunteering can do and how much of a difference to a community it can make. These are the Anti-Heroes. Those that silently help behind the scenes, quietly making a difference.

Also a huge shout out to the schools and the teachers that embraced this event and weren’t afraid to teach their children differently. ?

To the quiet Anti-Heroes the connectors those that supported behind the scenes who travelled from our regions to support GoSH.

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Quantum Computing

I spoke on Quantum Computers, the difference between normal and super computers. How far we have come over 40 years and how Quantum computers will help us to solve complex problems which require processing power not the amount of data stored to solve the problem. I even gave a nod to my Dad, a farmer and a technologist to help the kids understand how far we have come in 40 years.

I wasn't able to go into detail in my talk or do ask he audience as I was Rick Rolled. I definitely didn't give out enough lollies (sweets). However, here's the detail behind the photo below from my Dad Glyn James . ( This is an ICL EDS 200 disc, released by ICL in 1974, superseding the ICl EDS 100 series. They provided the disc storage for The ICL 2970 Computer that ICL had brought to the market in 1968. This ran an operating system called VME/B, an operating system that used virtual entities which enabled multiple jobs to run simultaneously and share resources. BP purchased their 2970 computer in 1974 and cost of circa ￡1.2m)

I then went on to talk about how we could use Quantum Computers to predict weather with near real time accuracy having more detail than seven days forecast around the world. That we could predict and prevent flooding and droughts. We could potentially use Quantum Computers to make a difference to Sustainability Goals.

I had a wonderful moment afterwards when one of the students came and asked me so many questions she was inspired. I am not an expert in Quantum Computers, but I have to learn as my role in Data ad AI will eventually be using it. I am sure of that this will happen in the next 5-10 years. As I am no expert, I had to read and understand many many papers, video’s and presentations so that I could then share this in a fun way so that others could understand.

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Thank you to Julian van Velzen CTIO from our Global Quantum Computing Lab and Barbara-Anne Bensted our VP from Sustainability Brisbane for sharing your knowledge with me so that I can inspire our young people in regional Western Australia. I empahasised to the young people that no one person can have all the knowledge, it takes a team of experts, globally working together to solve complex problems. ?

Bringing ideas to young people before they are in the curriculum is scary, because you are not controlling the learning path of a young person, you are encouraging them to explore and find what they are passionate about to learn earlier. This is hard as we are not even prepared for what they ask to learn next. We are preparing for the future like the Hon. Minister Dawson said “We do not know what the jobs of the future will be for these young people yet, because most of them are not invented.” So let’s prepare them in a way we can, by introducing them to emerging technologies early and inspiring there minds. Let’s not assume what they want to learn but allow them to choose which questions they want to ask and where they want to learn. ?

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The GoSH Hackathon allows young people to think bigger and bolder than they have ever done so before. It also introduces young people to Entrepreneurs at an early age. It’s not something which happens in Silicon Valley, 14,793 km amount of miles away from Mandurah, it also happens here in Perth Western Australia. Perhaps this is why we have our Tech Clusters here in WA.

Gaming appeared throughout the showcase. Although I was a little disappointed that Sonic the Hedgehog was not featured, maybe something for next year. I was amused by the Minister of Innovation, the Hon. Stephen Dawson who was caught practicing his Fortnite Emotes in his office. Amazing how he can relate to our youngsters. The dance then carried on throughout our day on Friday and inspiring us all to do an unofficial world record.

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The competitive nature was certainly evident as the Minister of Arts & Culture, the Hon. David Templeman MLA took the noise levels to a whole new level in the ‘Gaming Stakes’ race call which had every student screaming for their favourite computer game and wow it was so much fun to hear and listen too. I was so amazed that I did forget to get my phone out to record. I think we can call this the “David Templeman moment” of the showcase. Look at the photo below of the different generations watching.

The atmosphere was electrifying. Luckily Jeremy was on the ball here. Check out JC’s video to watch more here: https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/jeremychetty_did-not-realize-minister-david-templeman-activity-7227533640300175360-9Osr

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The GoSH Hackathon had many storylines and themes running throughout this year for 2024. My favourite of which was the focus on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's) which were showcased in little videos throughout the whole event. This was wonderful. They were brought to life by visiting different places across the Peel Region including our farm Jacaranda Hill Farm . How Councilor Amber Kearns (Green suit lady) was in charge of the "Transporter". How did she manage to get one of my inspirational heroes to loan her the Transporter. Maybe The Flash, Marty McFly, Antman, Dr Who, Dr Strange and Captain Kirk. Tell me more Amber as to who lent us the Transporter to us at GoSH. It was an enigma to me and well I really did enjoy being lost in the quantum realm for a little while ( Would love to know more on where this inspiration came from). She definitely has great friends around the world. Got to watch out for those wormholes. This gave great context for the problems to be solved at the Hackathon next weekend (Saturday 17th August 2024).

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Every now again during the showcase, a pretend blue screen would pop up a reference to a recent event in the tech world and then a Fortnite dance moment would come up. This was was so much fun for us oldies and not quite long enough to be up dancing (next time we want more dancing please). Jessica Nye

One instance when the kids were watching a video about Quantum Computing, they booed at the blue screen because they wanted to watch the end of the video. The kids wanted to learn more, they wanted more knowledge, they were learning whilst having fun. Fun with technologies that are emerging and are new.

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I absolutely loved the chill out room. There were Lego models in this area and fidget toys and headphones for anyone who was feeling overwhelmed by the energy or the noise in the main auditorium. I would go back to this room now and again. I met so many kids who were enjoying the bean bags just chilling out and just happy doing their thing. I wish every school had a safe space for kids like this, who need to have time out and chill out from overwhelm.

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This weekend on the Saturday 17th August we now have the second part of the GoSHackathon ?where the young people get to develop out their ideas across the Peel region. We will harness once more the kindness of our volunteer community and focus the energy of our young people on ideating and innovating to solve the Sustainability Development Goals. What an amazing initiative, year two as good, if not event better than year one,

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A big shout out to those who sponsored and more specifically the Fogarty Foundation who believe in our young people and their future. I think I am brave enough to say that this was the BIGGEST GREATEST HACKATHON ever held IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE!!!! Cannot wait for next Saturday (17th).

If there is one thing, I want to raise here is that if you are from a big tech company, consider yourself a possible hero, someone who can make a difference, so get out of the cities get into the regions and inspire the kids that are remote. You will be blown away by the knowledge and the skills of those who are in the regions.

The day after; yes, I still went to CoderDojo. It was a necessity to make sure that all the kids debriefed from the day before and it was decompression time for us big kids as well.

A note and a nod to Lyn Beazley our patron for GoSH who unfortunately could not be at h event as she is travelling. However, Michelle shared her favourite photo of Lyn wearing her mini skirt whilst receiving her PhD (The date was not disclosed). A real rebel.

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My final thought. In our house on Friday evening, there was no decompression time required from our day. There was no masking, there were no "No's" and there was no requirement to sit still. There were no objections to collecting the eggs, normally a chore at the end of the day. I leave you with the thought that maybe this day, a "GoSH" Day is a Yes Day for our young people. Maybe this is sometimes what our young people require. To be energised. To be free and to allow their creativity to soar. To allow their imaginations the freedom they deserve. Surely this is how the impossible becomes possible, by allowing young people to explore ideas and possibilities for their future.

Links shared with the young people on Quantum:

https://www.capgemini.com/insights/expert-perspectives/green-quantum-computing/

https://www.capgemini.com/about-us/who-we-are/innovation-ecosystem/quantum-technologies/

https://www.capgemini.com/insights/expert-perspectives/climate-change-and-net-zero-what-role-can-breakthrough-technologies-play/

NB: AI was not used in the writing of this article, this is all my own craziness here. However, AI was used for the spelling and grammar. Yes, spelling and grammar are not a forte of mine.

NB: Robert Proofread for me late Monday evening. More edits will come I am sure of that.

NB: Some people may ask how I do it all. How do I write all the above as well as have 8 hours of back-to-back meetings. Well to start with:

1) I love my job.

2) I am able to hyperfocus, part of my neurodivergence.

3) I visualise and write in my sleep.

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