The Event April 2012

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R22.80April 2012www.theevent.co.za

TRADE SHOWS

INDABA takes place from 12-15 May 2012 at the ICC Durban. The show, owned by South African Tour-ism (SAT) and organised by Witch & Wizard Creative, attracted 13 000 delegates last year and the numbers are expected to grow. This year 197 international hosted buyers will grace our shores.

THE National Department of Tourism has its sights set on bringing 15 million foreign tourists to South Africa, and

increase tourism’s total contribu-tion to the economy to R499 billion by 2020. Government recogonises the economic power of tourism, which is why there have been calls across the board for companies to buy into the ethos of Destination SA, which sees individuals working together to secure business for the country. The recently established National Convention Bureau has also echoed this call to the busi-ness tourism sector

Tourism is a big job creator and one of the fastest growing indus-tries in the world. According to the Department of Tourism, the indus-try is one of the sectors that has a higher yield for fi scal investment through its multiplier effect on other sectors of the economy. For every job created in tourism there is scope for at least 1.2 more jobs in the feedback chain.

This is the reason why destina-tion marketing shows such as Inda-ba are so important. Indaba is one of the largest tourism marketing events on the African calendar

and one of the top three ‘must vis-it’ events of its kind on the global calendar. It showcases the widest variety of Southern Africa’s best tourism products, and attracts in-ternational visitors and media from across the world.

At this year’s Indaba, South Af-rican Tourism (SAT) will be rallying the tourism industry with its call for collaboration in order to increase South Africa’s competitiveness as a global tourism player.

“We must continue our strong 2011 returns of 3.3 percent arrivals

growth,” says Thulani Nzima, CEO at South African Tourism. “Indaba gives the larger national indus-try an unprecedented opportu-nity to meet; to do business with partners both at home and from abroad; to strategise; and to plan for increased sales and sustained growth.”

He believes that partnership is the key to success. “Tourism, more perhaps than most other indus-tries, demands industry collabora-tion for success. The South African industry already does an excellent

job working together to make this destination one of the most de-sirable and successful on earth. However, the spirit of partnership and collaboration needs to be cemented and ingrained in the way we all do business. Hence the special focus on partnerships and collaboration.”

The SAT stand will focus on star grading, product databases, re-search, social media, global mar-keting campaigns, and regional and domestic marketing.

Delegates will also be intro-

duced to the newest phase of the ‘Welcome!’ campaign.

This year’s show highlights in-clude The emerging Tourism En-trepreneur of Year (ETEYA) Award, announced during the Opening Ceremony, TripAdvisor training workshops as well as mathchmak-ing marketing sessions focused on sustainable and responsible tour-ism; culture and history tourism; and adventure tourism.

Another highlight is the Indaba opening party which will be host-ed at the Moses Mabhida stadium.

Organisers Witch & Wizard Cre-ative are aiming to make Indaba as paperless as possible, so all col-lateral will only be available elec-tronically.

Following on from the techno-logical advancements introduced last year, Indaba 2012 will have a dedicated Indaba group set up on LinkedIn where delegates can get the most updated show information, and where they can e-meet each other; set up face to face meetings; and network prior to the show.

In addition to the LinkedIn group, delegates will be invited to download a free South African Tourism Indaba App and use it for any and all information they need about the exhibition. The App – or ‘Indaba in your Pocket’ – lists ex-hibitors (by category) and infor-mation on each one; the Indaba fl oor plan; event times and ven-ues; and a ‘what to do at Indaba’ section. The app can be down-loaded from the Indaba website.

Sally Fink

INDABA SET TO PUT SA ON THE GLOBAL MAP

Indaba

CTICC EXPANSION FORGES AHEAD

VENUES

IN March the Cape Town Interna-tional Convention Centre (CTICC) announced the design architects for the expansion project, which will see the centre doubling in capacity over the next three years.

CTICC CEO Rashid Toefy announced the award-winning Cape Town trio of architects – Piet Bakker of

Stauch Voster Architects, Anya van der Merwe of Van der Merwe Misze-wski Architects and Mokena Makeka of Makeka Design Lab – who were awarded the contract for the design of the expansion.

“It is the goal of the CTICC to be

the best long-haul international con-vention centre by 2020 and this ex-pansion project and the calibre of ar-chitects who have been appointed to lead the process, are essential to achieving this goal,” he says.

As a municipal entity majority owned by the City and Province, the appointment was made after a thor-ough open public tender process in line with the Municipal Finance Man-agement Act (MFMA). An indepen-dent advisory panel was convened to assist in the selection process.

A total of 19 tenders were re-ceived, including submissions from overseas representatives, of which five were shortlisted to present their concept and design.

Rashid says the expansion is set to create an iconic convention centre

within the redeveloped Foreshore precinct, which will comprise 10 000 square metres of retail space, a hos-pital, hotel and an office tower. It will also contribute to the regeneration of Founder’s Garden, which will con-nect the Artscape precinct with the new, larger CTICC. “We are looking forward to the positive impact this project will have on the marketabil-ity of the Western Cape and South Africa as a year-round business and leisure destination,” he says.

The expansion is the final catalyst in the regeneration of the Foreshore as the business hub of the central city, and will go some way to helping Cape Town absorb some of its addi-tional hotel bed capacity.

The extension will primarily add flexible multi-purpose exhibition

space to the centre, in line with inter-national trends. “The increased cen-tre will not only create much needed capacity for larger events that we’ve not been able to accommodate, but it will also allow multiple large events to be hosted at the CTICC simultane-ously. Both outcomes are in line with the needs of local and international meeting and event organisers.”

The winning architects were giv-en an opportunity to showcase their designs. Criteria included the inte-gration of environmental, social and economic sustainability in the design and the creation of exceptional cli-ent and guest experiences. The de-sign also had to adhere to strict bud-getary and spatial guidelines.

Piet Bakker explained the part-nership established by the three ar-chitects in order to enter the bidding process together and Mokena ex-plained the concept for the design, based on the theme of DNA Identity and the Cape Floral Kingdom, while Anya spoke of the technical design.

Mokena said the architectural concept was entitled “6211” which is a design interpretation of the globally unique biodiversity of the Cape Flo-ristic Kingdom. “Using the DNA code of the 6210 plant species endemic to the Cape Floristic kingdom plus one dedicated to humanity, 6211 transforms the convention centre into an iconic living artwork that cel-ebrates and raises awareness about humanity and nature for the passive enjoyment of local and global audi-ences,” he said.

Anya says the new buildings are designed as a seamless extension of the CTICC to provide complementa-ry space for large exhibitions or con-ferences, whilst also being able to operate as an independent facility.

The double storey facility will comprise 10 000 square metres

over two levels. Included in the ex-pansion is a 17 storey glass tower of combined offices and a hotel, at the very top of which will be a rooftop venue with views of the harbour and Table Mountain.

Since opening its doors in 2003, the centre has contributed to the creation of more than 60 000 direct and indirect jobs and has played a pivotal role in raising the profile of Cape Town and the Western Cape as a globally competitive meetings destination. The expansion is likely to increase the number of direct and indirect jobs created by the centre from about 7 000 to about over 10 000 per annum by 2018.

Highlighting the economic ben-efits of a larger CTICC, Western Cape MEC for Economic Development and Tourism Alan Winde says, “As part owner of the CTICC, the Western Cape Government is delighted that it is to be expanded. The CTICC plays host to events such as the Cape Town Jazz Festival, Design Indaba and others - events that bring hordes of local and international tourists to Cape Town. The expansion of the CTICC means that there is space for even more tourists. More tourists mean more economic growth and more opportunities for employment for the citizens of the Western Cape.”

The next step is the appointment of Quantity Surveyors and Project Managers. It is anticipated to have a spade in the ground in one year. Construction is expected to take place between 2013 and 2015.

“Convention and exhibition spaces like the CTICC are our mod-ern day cathedrals or city halls – this is where we go to meet, learn and be inspired. And we are confident this new space will be an iconic meeting place on the African continent,” says Rashid.

02 | The Event

Proposed Cape Town International Convention Centre expansion

HOW TO ENTER NEW MARKETS?EXHIBITIONS

AT the UFI Congress held in Cape Town in March, Douglas Emslie, group managing director of the Tarsus Group, drew upon his ex-perience with Labelexpo to speak about introducing trade shows in emerging markets.

LABELEXPO was described by Business Week as the only truly global brand in the exhibition in-dustry. Started over 30 years ago

in London, Labelexpo now has ten events around the world. The larg-est events are in Brussels, Chicago, Shanghai and Delhi. 2012 sees the brand launch in South Africa.

“Normally exhibitions cater for domestic suppliers looking for do-mestic buyers,” says Douglas, “But in order to be successful, expos have to have unique characteristics that can be marketed on a global basis.”

“The key to drive business for-ward has been globalisation, the American market and an increase in demand in labels, technology and digitalisation, as well as the growth of supermarkets,” he says.

What also sets Labelexpo apart from the copy cat exhibitions that have emerged over the years is trust. “Our exhibitors see the benefit from having continuity in our team for the last ten years. Its helped us be able to take the business global.”

Labelling is about printing. “The people in our industry like printed products. It’s an important tool. When we went into China we had a Chinese edition of our magazine. Its key in terms of leadership in the in-dustry.” Douglas says that magazines are a key beachhead when going into a new market. “Our magazine is 33 years old and we’ve just printed

our largest issue ever.”Douglas says exhibitions wanting

to move into new territories have to stay focused and have courage in their convictions. “What we’ve done is create an exhibition in five editions that’s over 10 000 square metres. Last year we had 18 000 printers attend,” says Douglas.

In 2007 Labelexpo acquired Gulf Pak and Gulf Print which merged to-gether to form Pak Print. “It was im-portant to our label customers as it’s a new sector. It’s more efficient to print on label machines. This is a new industry that wasn’t there before, done with labelling equipment.”

It’s this diversification that has aided growth. “Today we have over 20 different products covering vari-ous emerging markets. We are still seeing lots of opportunities to launch new products.”

Douglas says that when launch-ing, buying and partnering in new markets, branding is key and can take the show to the next level. “You need to have a presence in the mar-ket. It’s important to open an office in the country you want to launch in so that you’re seen as adding value, rather than create the impression that you’re only there to take the money and leave. Speak to your cus-tomers all the time, forge relationships with local associations and become local industry champions. It’s the only way to take the market forward and to grow the show.”

It can be done, but it takes a lot of research. “We launched in China in 2003. The associations we approached said we couldn’t launch the show without partner-ing with them. We went ahead and launched it on our own. There were no existing competitors and we had the backing of industry. Within one year we had four com-

peting shows,” he says. In India there was already an

existing show, the India Label Show. “We looked at buying it. We also looked at launching a new show. It took us four years and four court ap-pearances to buy the show,” says Douglas. “Local industry supported us. The original show was local and we managed to draw in internation-als and that changed the econom-ics. In one year it had tripled finan-cially because we could take in inter-national customers. What the Indian market wanted was recognition on a global stage. Putting the Labelexpo stamp on it gave it that step up.”

Labelexpo has now moved to South Africa. “We thought South Africa was an interesting market because of the wine industry. It’s a small number of buyers that spend a lot of money.”

Douglas says he looked at launching in Cape Town in 2009, but it was bad timing because of the economic recession. “People were being cautious with their budgets.”

Instead of launching or buying, it made sense for Douglas to work together with Label Summit Africa, already in existence. “We own the event 100%, but the conference has also been encapsulated 100%.”

The Event | 03

Douglas Emslie

SCAN ON SHOW ATTENDS ITBEXHIBITIONS

TOURIST visitors from Germany are perceived as wanting a destination that offers wildlife, scenery, cultural experiences and sunshine – South-ern Africa provides all of these elements and more, says Jacqui Reynolds, managing partner of On Show Solutions.

ITB Berlin is the annual gathering of the global tourism industry in Ger-many attracting the European travel trade and German consum-

ers for what the organisers call ‘The World’s Leading Travel Trade Show’. At this year’s ITB Berlin, the regional pavilion Southern Africa On Show showcased a range of African tour operators, boutique hotels, game reserves, tourist attractions and train adventures to meet the demand of the German market.

Feedback from the market-place is encouraging showing early signs that the German trade is on a positive upward swing. “Af-rica is definitely back in the Ger-man psyche”, says Rene Breuer of Shongololo Express. Nils Heckscher of Winchester Mansions reported that “t’s refreshing to witness the renewed interest in our destination from the German market”.

Chris Anagnostellis from An Afri-can Anthology found that the “qual-ity of buying is better than the last two years.” He elaborated that the German market is looking at South Africa more seriously now with op-erators reporting better growth from South Africa than Namibia – a tradi-tionally strong market. Chris added

that Tanzania is being well received and Botswana is steady and growing annually.

The key to working with the Euro-pean market, as with so many mar-kets, is to build strong reliable partner-ships with the operators – both the big players and the smaller niche lei-sure operators. Ute Latzke of Wilder-ness Safaris stated that there is confi-dence in the market despite the eco-nomic downturn. “Even in the luxury segment, we’re seeing a late book-ing trend – not last minute but late booking.” Ute attributes their success in recent times to their ongoing re-lationships with the trade. Christine Macvicar from Sefapane Lodge & Safaris reported similar findings that the Germans are very selective in who they work with and relationships are essential. She says, “We’ve cer-tainly grown our market at this year’s show but also see how the German market in general is increasing.”

Jacqui Reynolds and her team in Germany

04 | The Event

HOW SMARTPHONES CHANGED EVENTS

TECHNOLOGY

MEETINGS guru Corbin Ball, named by Meeting News and Success-ful Meetings Magazines as one of The 25 Most Influential People in the Meetings Industry, was in Cape Town in February to talk about how tech-nology is moving into event space.

TECHNOLOGY is revolutionis-ing the event industry. Most meetings and trade show attendees are carrying web-

enabled phones. “These micro-computers are increasingly be-ing used for networking, lead ex-change, electronic ticketing, way finding, audience polling, surveys, pocket programmes, pocket ex-hibit guides, course notes/literature collection and much more,” says Corbin. “And new phone Apps for events are emerging daily.”

“Our industry is a mobile one,” he says. “We do business away from our offices and from our com-puters on a regular basis. Most of us don’t carry around notebook

computers at events for a num-ber of reasons: weight, security, the inability to access easily while standing, etc.”

Corbin explains that exhibi-tor brochures are now paperless. Course notes are electronic and available in mobilised versions. With the iPad’s touch navigation and multi-media capabilities, it will be natural to see self-service information demos in a booth or elsewhere. If the attendees like the demo, they can electronically re-quest more product information or even load the App and take it with them. “Attendees and exhibitors do not have to be tied to a partic-ular area of the booth for demon-strations. Multimedia presentations can be given anywhere due to the iPad’s portability,” he says.

Corbin explains that mobile technology is a value add for ex-hibitors and convention centres should have Apps available provid-ing local area information, event information, floorplans, speaker files and GPS coordinates. Most im-portantly, it should be free.

“Major MPI conferences use iPad Apps. They are much bet-ter than any paper guide and are easy to use,” he says. “Paper con-ference programs go out of date as soon as they are printed. They are heavy to carry around, dif-ficult to use, and they usually end up in a landfill after the event. Mo-bile phone apps, although help-ful, have limitations due to small screen size.”

“iPads open a new range of possibilities. Not only can the con-ference program be included, but also easy links for more information about the speakers, topics, session handouts and other events. Videos of the speakers with slides and tran-

scriptions can be included after the event. Surveys of the presentations can be included as well,” he says.

“A single-event App may be more appropriate for organisations that do not yet use mobile Apps and have a substantial number of events during the year,” he advises.

iPad Apps are also being in-creasingly used by hotels. “Guests can check their room amenities, order room service online and even Tweet about the hotel. It en-hances the overall experience,” says Corbin.

Not only that, social media has mobilised, and if an event is not on Twitter or has an App for iPhones and iPads, it’s already behind in the times.

Other innovations making their their way to our shores is Bump technology, which has become a convenient way for exhibitors and buyers to swop information. It’s a free App available from iTunes, that enables users to literally bump phones together for simple, easy lead exchange.

Perhaps the strangest tech-nological innovation is Augment-ed Reality. Corbin spoke about Google Goggles, a free App for An-droid phones that features a visual search application. “Say you’re at a network function and you see someone across the room that you recognise but you can’t remember their name. With Google Goggles you can take a picture of them with your phone, and using face recognition technology, you will be able to find that person on the Internet in seconds.”

“Its not science fiction. Look how far we’ve come.”

Sally Fink

Corbin Ball

NEWS GENERAL INDUSTRY

IF you have any news highlights to share please visit our web portal www.theevent.co.za and load your own stories for consideration in next month’s edition.

Sugen Pillay joins ThebeSUGEN Pillay, formerly the global manager: Events at South African Tourism, has been appointed as Busi-ness Development Director at the Thebe Exhibitions and Projects Group (TEPG).

In addition to developing new business and growing existing events, Sugen will offer strategic support and direction to the annual Sports and Events Tourism Exchange. “I believe my background in tourism, especially in the public sector, will add value to the group. I am passionate about positioning South Africa as a mega events destination and am particu-larly looking forward to growing the Sports and Events Tourism Exchange in this regard,” he says.

SAT says Air Passenger Tax is unfairSOUTH African Tourism (SAT) supports the global call for a review of the Air Passenger Duty (APD) taxes imposed on international tourists by the UK, says SAT CEO, Mr Thulani Nzima.

“These unilateral taxes have a detrimental effect on international travel at a time when the world tour-ism industry is recovering from the global economic crisis,” he says.

Initially introduced as a ‘green’ tax by the UK, SAT believe this tax is now aimed at revenue–generation. “SA Tourism would like to put it on re-cord that we support all initiatives to reduce carbon emission as long as the process is consultative and trans-parent,” he says.

SAACI ROUND TABLE ON OUT-THE-BOX CONFERENCES

ASSOCIATIONS

IN its 25 years, the South African Association for the Conference In-dustry (SAACI) Western Cape has done much to support the busi-ness tourism sector with its semi-nars and annual conferences. In the spirit of knowledge sharing, Western Cape chairperson, Zelda Coetzee hosted a media round table to introduce new ways in which organisers can present con-ferences.

ZELDA and SAACI board member Beryl Eichenberger of HIPPO Communications, hosted a lunch on the spec-

tacular nineteenth floor of The Westin in Cape Town, where she schooled media on current indus-try developments.

“The conference industry is changing,” says Zelda, who put together a well researched pre-sentation on current conferencing trends, which she hopes will be of

use to the association’s members and also show the value of the as-sociation to would-be members.

She introduced the SAACI Fo-rums, which meet regularly to dis-cuss issues pertaining to Transport, Venues, Services, Conference and Events, Exhibitions, Technical and Destination Marketing. The benefits of these Forums are varied, and of-fer an understanding of the realities of doing business in these sectors.

Zelda also spoke about the SAACI workshop on the Safety at Sports & Recreational Events Act (SASREA) and its repercussions for industry which took place in early April. The workshop was pre-sented by Brigadier Bert van der Walt, Section Head: Legal Sup-port: Crime Operations SAPS and Colonel Anand Siva, Section Com-mander: Major Events, who spoke about event planning, risk profiling and determining the responsibility for event safety.

During the media lunch, Zelda introduced the concept of Pecha Kucha, a new way of presenting

information at conferences that ties in to the digital era where consumers want their information faster and in smaller bites. Pecha Kucha, which was used to great affect by CTICC CEO Rashid Toefy at the 2011 SAACI Conference, sees speakers present their talks and slides in twenty second incre-ments, giving them less than seven minutes to deliver their information.

She also touched on Smart-phones, mobile lecture rooms, and the livestreaming of events for participants who can’t attend the conference. “These develop-ments offer more variety for del-egates, especially those accus-tomed to managing their lives on their phones. Speakers have to be prepared for this and venues have to relook at Wi-fi,” says Zelda. Oth-er factors to consider are official hashtags and Twitterfalls.

Food is also becoming increas-ingly important. “People are more aware of what they’re eating,” says Zelda, who advises Low GI menu choices for sustained ener-

gy throughout conferences. “Or-ganisers need to work closely with chefs to create menus. They also need to look at the waste compo-nent as sustainability is important to international delegates.”

But food doesn’t necessarily have to be a serious topic. Zelda reports that the current rage for desserts is Lolly Bars, where dele-gates can choose from a range of confections on sticks, such as Cake Pops. “It’s time to put some fun back into conferences,” she says.

On this note, Zelda encour-aged organisers to take another look at how they configure their conferences. “It’s not just class-room style or cinema style any-more,” she says.

For the CNN/Time Global Fo-rum in 2010, Zelda chose a relaxed lounge style, where delegates could watch the proceedings on individual screens. She believes it was the intimate touch that made the event a success.

Another successful SAACI ini-tiative and an excellent way to

make new contacts, is Speed Marketing. SAACI Western Cape hosted its second annual speed marketing event in March. Meet-ing 20 new suppliers in one after-noon, enjoying decadent snacks at the Vineyard Hotel and Spa and standing a chance to win a trip on the glamorous Rovos Rail or a private sightseeing tour of Cape Town were just some of the incen-tives which inspired PCOs, DMCs and event organisers to sign up for the event.

Each delegate had seven min-utes to present their products or service before moving on to the next in line. Speed Marketing is a fun way to make contacts, catch up with old ones, and to discover the latest developments in indus-try without sitting in a half an hour presentation.

Speed Marketing is just an-other innovative way that SAACI engages its members, and keeps them up to date with conference industry trends.

Sally Fink

The Event | 05

Zelda Coetzee

HOW SMARTPHONES CHANGED EVENTSSpeed Marketing Speed Marketing

06 | The Event

TOP GREEN TRAVEL TRENDSGREENING

AS a ‘green wave’ continues to sweep across the globe, and con-sumers increasingly look for ways to minimise their impact on the environment, the tourism industry is undergoing a significant shift in the way it operates and in the types of travel packages it offers. Gavin Bell, marketing co-ordina-tor of ecoAfrica, takes us through the trends.

Voluntourism GAVIN says that one of the key changes in the tourism industry is that many travellers are more fo-cused on value – both in terms of value-for-money as well as their own values and principles. “We are increasingly seeing travellers wanting their holidays abroad to be meaningful experi-ences that offer opportunities for self-growth and helping others.”

Walking safaris GAVIN mentions that walking sa-faris are proving very popular.

“The guides share a wealth of bush culture and knowledge while tourists get to see and experience nature first-hand. It serves the dual purpose of bringing people closer to nature while also educating them on the current challenges and issues that our sensitive en-vironment is facing, often turning tourists into nature activists.”

Guilt-free travel THE on-going prevalence of ‘green’ as a global trend means travellers are placing ever-greater

importance on the effect that their holidays have on the environment.

“We have recently noticed a major increase in people asking for holiday experiences that ‘do no harm’.”

African environmental issues AFRICA is one of the last places on Earth where people can see and experience the untouched natu-ral environment in all its splendour.

“This has helped bring African environmental issues to the fore-front of the tourism market,” ex-plains Gavin.

“Tourists become invested in the natural beauty once they’ve experienced it for themselves, and want to do their part to ad-dress the major environmental is-sues facing Africa.”

EVENTING: HOW TO STRIKE IT LUCKY

OPINION

THE success of a superlative event can be measured by the positive feedback of the invited guests; says Leah Mc Crae, director at Strike Al-liance. There are many factors that contribute to its triumph, such as the venue, theme and concept, but the most important one is often left to the last few weeks of plan-ning: the technical component.

GLITZ and glamour are definitely not associ-ated with technical sup-pliers, says Leah, whose

team comprises highly competent stage and lighting designers, but yet they are the ones who are going to make the magic hap-pen, whatever the concept. “It is

essential that the event planners include their technical team from the beginning. Brainstorming and coming up with fantastic ideas is a complete waste of time unless sig-nificant technical solutions can be supplied by the experienced team present at the start,” she says.

Budget is often a thorny issue, so it seems senseless not to include a technical expert who can guide both the client and event planner with regard to the likely cost of a particularly hi-tech product launch.

Leah explains that event plan-ners can benefit from working closely with technical suppliers from the planning stage. “When it comes to event planning, the working relationship between event planners and technical sup-pliers is incredibly important. We need to work together very close-

ly to ensure that the event runs smoothly. In my experience, when the technical team is involved from the very beginning, there is a greater chance that the event will run seamlessly and the tech-nical solutions will be of a higher quality. In this way, the client will feel that there has been a holistic approach taken to realise the suc-cessful result.”

Most of the time, technology and logistics are the hinge on which the whole event pivots, so the advice of a technical profes-sional is invaluable and will con-tribute to the realisation of the “dream” function.

For instance, if the idea for an event is conceived without know-ing what the technical require-ments are, the result will be com-promised by additional or “hidden costs” that creep up at a later stage, leaving the client with a feeling of disillusion.

“If an event planner has a par-ticular vision and proceeds without consulting a technical team, this could be a recipe for disaster. The delighted client would have great expectations, but would soon be disappointed as the technical problems come to the fore. So then it would have to be back to the drawing board with a revision of budget and timeline, in addition to a disgruntled client,” says Leah.

“As technology gallops ahead at an incredible pace and we find ourselves in the era of tablets and iPads, you can be certain that the Strike Alliance team will be up to date with the latest equipment,” she says.

Gavin Bell

Leah McCrae

The Event | 07

THEBE SURGES AHEAD DESPITE TOUGH MARKETPLACEEXHIBITIONS

THE exhibitions market is tough out there, which is why the news that Thebe Exhibitions and Proj-ects Group (TEPG) having secured three new exhibition management contracts for 2012 comes at just the right time.

THEBE Exhibitions and Projects Group (TEPG) have been on a roll of late, having launched The Sports and Events Tourism

Exchange, Retirement Expo and the Design in Hospitality last year, and the adrenaline filled Atomic Junkies in early April.

Both The Sports and Events Tourism Exchange and Retirement Expo will be returning in 2012, but that’s not all the event organisers have up their sleeves.

This year Thebe have even more new shows on the cards.

The new exhibitions contracts for 2012 include the reformation of the Cape Town Book Fair, to be held at the Cape Town Interna-tional Convention Centre (CTICC) from 15-17 June 2012, the Interna-tional Small Business Congress Exhi-bition (SBCE) at the Sandton Con-vention Centre from 15-18 Sep-tember 2012; and the Cape Wine & Vindaba from 25 -27 September 2012 at the Cape Town Interna-tional Convention Centre (CTICC).

The new exhibitions come hot on the heels of a recent string of successes.

Thebe’s flagship exhibition, Decorex Joburg, was named the Best Trade and Consumer Exhibi-tion: 12 000m² and over at the 2011 awards of the Exhibition and Event Association of South Africa (EXSA). At the ceremony manag-

ing director Carol Weaving was in-ducted into the EXSA Hall of Fame.

To top it off, Carol was named Entrepreneur of the Year at the Virgin Active Sport Industry Awards earlier this year.

The Event Newspaper spoke to Carol about how she does it.

What is the state of the exhibition marketplace in South Africa?THE exhibition industry, like every other, has been hit by hard eco-nomic times.

Recent years have seen a number of organisers going out of business and many shows strug-gling to survive.

In addition to this, perhaps ironically, South African consumers are far more sophisticated nowa-days than just a few years ago, which poses other challenges to organisers of consumer shows.

My feeling is that trade shows have not been affected quite as drastically, although times remain challenging.

However, despite all these circumstances, some exhibitions continue to grow and a few or-ganisers, like ourselves, are even initiating new projects with a sig-nificant measure of success.

Why did you decide to reinvigo-rate the Cape Town Book Fair?WE are managing the Cape Town Book Fair this year on behalf of the Publishers’ Association of South Africa.

The fair was established in 2005 and attracts visitors and exhibitors from all over the world. It has un-dergone a major revamp and this year will see some 200 events on the programme, as well as a buyer meets seller programme.

Research has shown that the

market is huge and we aim to grow the fair in years to come.

Are consumer shows doing well compared to trade shows?SOME consumer shows have be-come very tired. Consumers want to be entertained, they want more value for money and they want to have an experience along with show specials and discounts.

There are still opportunities for consumer shows in our market but they have to be innovative and “different”.

Trade shows are affected by the economy so therefore com-panies are buying slightly smaller stands and the international visitor numbers are reducing due to trav-el costs being cut by companies.

However, with all emerging markets and in particular Africa, there are a great deal of oppor-tunities in certain industry sectors and we are aggressively entering these markets.

What show works best in this current climate?WHETHER it is a trade or a consum-er show – the show that offers the best match between the exhibitor and the visitor works best.

As always, it boils down to the basics – proper research, a well-developed business plan, under-standing of the industry, effective marketing and professional event management.

Sally Fink

Carol Weaving

08 | The Event

IS IT TIME FOR AFRICA?

GENERAL INDUSTRY

THE UFI Open Seminar in the Middle East/Africa and Expo Summit Africa, organised by UFI, the Global As-sociation of the Exhibition Industry, in collaboration with Manch Com-munications, was held at the Cape Town International Convention Cen-tre (CTICC) from 15–17 March 2012. The event attracted more than 70 participants from 18 countries.

CEO of the CTICC, Rashid Toefy, stepped in on be-half of speaker Dirk Elzinga to deliver a presentation

on the state of the African exhibi-tion scene. Rashid started off with a few statistics. There are 54 countries

in Africa, which equates to 1 billion inhabitants (14% of the global popu-lation). 1.5% of the global exhibition space exists in Africa. That’s 500 000 square metres divided among 25 venues. Only one venue is 50 000 square metres, while the others are smaller. This figure doesnt include the innumerable other venues with 5 000 square metres or less space.

South Africa comprises a total of 178 000 square metres exhibition space which is 0.5% of the global ex-hibition space, but only one third of Africa’s. In other words, there’s plen-ty of room to do business in Africa.

Out of Africa’s 54 countries, 50 have cities with more than 1 million inhabitants. Cairo, for example, is home to 152 million people, while Joburg appears lower on the list with

7.6 million. “By 2050 there will be 2 billion

people in Africa; an unprecedented growth rate that will surpass global powers,” says Rashid.

The statistics already illustrate the potential of the African market. “41% of our 1 billion people in Africa are under 50. They are the users of technology, the future exhibition at-tendees and organisers. This a young upwardly mobile demographic,” says Rashid.

There are only very few inter-national operators active in Africa, such as UBM-Montgomery, Informa, Reed, and Clarion-Spintelligent. The industry is mainly active in North Af-rica (Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco) in order to be closer to European mar-kets, Nigeria and South Africa and even less African operators are ac-tive across the continent.

Rashid believes that there is a lot of potential for growth, and this belief is echoed by industry. A recent UFI survey revealed an increase in dol-lar spend and also an anticipation of growth in the exhibition sector.

In the past ten years, six of the ten world’s fastest growing econo-mies were Sub Sahara African. These are: Angola (11.1%), Nigeria (8.9%) Ethiopia (8.4%), Chad (7.9%), Mozambique (7.9%) and Rwanda (7.6%). The IMF predicts that in the years 2011-2015 Ethiopia, Mozam-bique, Tanzania, DRC, Ghana, Zam-bia and Nigeria will (again) be in top ten with GDP growth above 7%.

The fastest growing sectors are Agriculture, Telecommunications, Mobile, Banking and Healthcare.

The exhibition industry is a new market as many African consumers have never been exposed to the concept of an exhibition before, and South African organisers would be wise to jump on this opportunity.

There are new meeting facilities on the drawing board for Addis Ababa, Mombasa, Windhoek, Kigali, Vic Falls, Dar es Salaam, and Lilongwe.

According to HQ magazine there are currently 775 African As-sociations with 400 International headquarters in African cities. These statistics reveal a growing African membership of interna-tional Associations.

Another element assisting growth is the increasing African Middle Class, which is estimated to reach 300 million by 2030. In 2008 consumer spending in Africa peaked at $860 billion; in 2020 it is estimated to reach $1.4trillion.

In 2020, there is estimated to be 128 million households with discre-tionary income.

According to The Economist, The African continent will soon take the lead in growing the world GDP and overtake Asia. There are many rea-sons for this. Firstly, the discovery of enormous oil reserves, political stabil-ity and visionary governments, and the fact that African economies are diversifying to attract increasing in-ward investment.

Travel has also improved. In the last two years 130 daily flights were added to African destinations; not only in the North and South but also East and West Africa. More and more African carriers dominate the African skies. “Additional daily flights makes the continent more accessi-ble. Intra-Africa traffic is also starting to change,” says Rashid.

Dirk’s meticulous research points to previously unknown trade cor-ridors, such as Chad/CAR/Cam-eroon/Gabon/Congo Brazzaville/DRC/Angola.

There are many more reasons to be optimistic.

Growth is underwritten by rising

commodity prices, while capital flows in from BRIC economies, such as major interests China and India. There has also been a recent rollout of sizeable infrastructure develop-ment, coupled with intra-regional trade networks, have seen a deep-ening of capital markets. There are currently 20 African companies with revenues of at least US$3billion.

There are pitfalls which can have an adverse affect on growth, says Rashid. “There are quite a few obstacles to emerging markets. Po-litical instability can affect our indus-try. Would an event organiser book a conference in an African country in 2019 if they don’t know who the new president is going to be? Weak rule of law, safety and security are all issues, but this too can change. In the last 17 years, there hasn’t been a year where South Africa hasn’t got-ten better from a safety and security point of view.”

He says that countries across Africa are turning around. Rwanda, for example, has seen major de-velopment happening. “There is a very pro-active president in place, and lots of investment taking place, such as a new convention centre, and the Microsoft head office,” says Rashid. In addition, Rwanda just formed a convention bureau, the second African country to do so.

Another example is Angola, which grew its economy tenfold over the last few years from 8 billion to 80 billion.

“African economies are starting to mature. We are seeing lots of in-ward investment, and China is a big player. The resource rich areas of Africa are a big draw card for inves-tors,” says Rashid.

Sally Fink

Dirk Elzinga

The Event | 09

A QUICK LOOK AT AFRICAN VENUESVENUES

CONFERENCE and event venues in Africa are attractive, not only for their affordability, but also for the hospital-ity. Today, most of the larger and es-tablished venues have all the facili-ties and equipment needed to run a world-class event. We rounded up a few top venues in East Africa.

ETHIOPIATHE capital city of Addis Ababa is the home of the African Union (AU) and the United Nations Economic Com-mission for Africa (UNECA). More than 95 embassies from all over the world have their missions here. The United Nations Conference Centre in Addis is modern and sophisticated. Its larg-est conference room seats 600 dele-gates, plus 180 in the gallery. The sec-ond largest room seats 400, plus 48 in the gallery. Four conference rooms each have seating capacity of 114.

All the above have simultane-ous interpretation facilities. There are small breakaway rooms for 20-30 people, briefing rooms, office suites, a press centre, a business centre, cafeteria, lounges, a del-egates’ dining room, a press bar, and an exhibition area.

Addis Ababa is easily accessible with daily flights to and from cities in Europe.

The Sheraton in Addis’ confer-ence venue is smaller but luxurious. Up to 500 delegates may be seated in the main hall and they have small executive boardrooms and simulta-neous interpretation facilities. The Sheraton Addis overlooks the city. The hotel has three restaurants, a gazebo where light meals can be taken by the swimming pool, a musical fountain, cozy bars, and a health centre.

KENYATHE Kenyatta International Confer-ence Centre (KICC) is a 30-storey building situated in the central busi-ness district of Nairobi. It has a ca-pacity for 4000 delegates and is with-in walking distance of several five-star hotels. In addition to the standard conferencing facilities, it has a he-lipad and an amphitheatre. The tiered seating has a capacity of 771 people. The KICC has been award-ed sixth place out of 162 in 2010/2011 for best performing State Parastatal.

The Kenyan government is seri-ously aiming to grow their tourism in-dustry and they have targeted con-ference tourism. MICE (Meetings, incentives, conferences and Exhibi-tions), has a newly formed commit-tee in Kenya, which has been given the task of making Kenya a signifi-cant and internationally competitive MICE destination. And as a bonus delegates can break away to have a picnic at the foot of the graceful Mount Kilimanjaro or enjoy game drives through some of Kenya’s most beautiful natural parks.

The development of a Mombasa International Convention Centre is on the cards. While we wait, the Serena Hotels Group has the perfect confer-ence venue at the Mombasa Serena Hotel consisting of three air-condi-tioned event or conference spaces. I spent a week at the hotel and it is not only breathtakingly beautiful, but also has fully equipped state-of-the art conference venues and the best service I have come across in Africa. And it is a little slice of paradise for the business traveler. It is a little more expensive than most hotels in Mom-basa but it is magnificent; complete with a swimming pool on the beach front, stunning gardens with palm trees, an endless stretch of sandy beaches and turquoise water. Away

from the conference there is a range of activities to partake in.

TANZANIADAR Es Salaam International Con-vention Centre in Tanzania, is locat-ed close to to five-star hotels, banks, embassies and diplomatic missions. It has six conference rooms, three of which are inter-connecting. It has modern conferencing equipment, its own restaurant, that can seat 250 people, and reasonable pricing has made it one of the most competi-tive establishments in Dar es Salaam. 250 people may be seated class-room style in the conference venue and the specially allocated car park can take up to 80 vehicles. Tanzania is right up there with Kenya when it comes to unspoiled natural beauty and friendly service.

The Arusha International Con-ference Centre (AICC) in Tanzania was established under the Public Corporation’s Act, 1969. It is 100% government owned, but operates as a fully-fledged commercial entity without any subsidies from the Gov-ernment. AICC is in the middle of the bustling Arusha city’s CBD and it is sur-rounded by a number of hotels, from luxurious to affordable. There are ten conference rooms in total which can accommodate between 10-1000 people. The largest is the Simba Ple-nary Hall which can take a maximum of 1000 people theatre style. And of course Tanzania has some of the fin-est wildlife sites such as the Ngorong-oro Crater, with its high density of predators in Africa, as well as black rhinoceros, hippopotamus, wilde-beest zebra, eland, and more.

MALAWILAKESHORE International Confer-ence Centre is situated in Blantyre, Malawi. The Main Conference Hall

covers 422.4 square metres in area and can be used as a single entity housing 350 people U-shape set-up, 300 people in a banquet set-up, 510 in cinema style, 320 class room set-up and 1 000 for a cocktail reception. The venue has seen banquets and conferences, music concerts and major exhibitions. It can be subdi-vided into four separate rooms and its four spacious breakaway rooms can be customised into boardrooms and/or secretarial rooms to meet specific needs of different group-ings. The Conference Centre has a wide coverage of wireless internet services with very good signal re-ception. A one stop business centre provides the conference centre with internet service and other secretarial services. Travel support, banking and gift shop services are also available at the Conference Centre. A district hospital and banking services can be accessed in Mangochi Boma 24 kilo-meters from the Centre with a shuttle bus. Malawians are very friendly and receptive to visitors.

BOTSWANAIN Botswana, the Gaborone Inter-national Convention Center (GICC) is situated at The Grand Palm Hotel Casino Convention Resort. The GICC is a multi-faceted convention facility which can host up to 1 800 people cinema-style. A business centre is located in the heart of the GICC of-fering computer workstations with internet and e-mail facilities, a board-room and ‘office-away-from-office’ station. The GICC also has smaller meeting rooms.

Botswana has one of the stron-gest African economies and it is an interesting mix of shanty towns and modern buildings, where old meets new. Delegates can take time out from business to do a Okavango Del-

ta safari where they are sure to spot herds of buffalo, zebra, Eeephants and hippos.

MOZAMBIQUEMOZAMBIQUE’S Joaquim Chissano International Conference Centre is set on the beachfront in Maputo. It can host up to 1000 delegates. State of the art AV facilities and translation services are available. Maputo has a wide selection of three, four and five star hotels and there are many new hotels on the cards, including the five star Radisson Blu hotel right next to Joaquim Chissano. Mozambique is renowned for its golden beaches and excellent SCUBA diving.

Astrid Stark

IS IT TIME FOR AFRICA?Entrance to the Sheraton, Addis Ababa

10 | The Event

EVENT LISTINGS

AprilThe Old Mutual Summer Sunset Concerts: Hot Water and Wrestlerish1 April, Kirstenbosch, Cape Town

World Toilet Summit2 April, ICC Durban

ABSA Cape Epic Mountain Bike Race2 April, Oak Valley, Western Cape

Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon Expo4-6 April, Good Hope Centre, CPT

Shoppex 20125-9 April, ICC Durban, Kwazulu Natal

Atomic Junkies6-9 April, Coca-Cola dome, JHB

Rand Show6-15 April, Johannesburg Expo Centre

International Multi-Faith Conference 10-14 April, CTICC, Cape Town

MTN Radio Awards14-15 April, Sandton Convention Centre, JHB

Trucker’s Forum14-15 April, Sandton Convention Centre, JHB

Annual IT Summit15-17 May, Sandton Convention Centre, JHB

International Committee on Non-Destructive Testing16-20 April, ICC Durban

IT & CM China17-19 April, Shanghai World Expo Pavilion Theme, China

The Congress of World Association for Infant Mental Health17-21 April, CTICC, Cape Town

Taste of Cape Town19-22 April, Green Point Cricket Club, CPT

Huntex20 April, Gallagher Convention Centre, Midrand

Mpumalanga Wine Show20-21 April, Ingwenyama Sports Resort, Mpumalanga

Conversations on Architecture26 April, CTICC, Cape Town

Decorex26-29 April, CTICC, Cape Town

Expo 18 Golf Expo27-29 April, Coca-Cola dome, JHB

SA Cheese Festival27-30 April, Sandringham Farm, Paarl

MayFinancial Due Diligence Seminar3 May, CTICC, Cape Town

QS APPLE Conference3-4 May, UKZN

MDG Summit & Exhibition 3-4 May, CTICC, Cape Town

The Joburg Wine Show4-6 May, Coca-Cola dome, JHB

Water Institute of Southern Africa (WISA)6-10 May, CTICC, Cape Town

Franschhoek Literary Festival Book Week for Young Readers7-10 May, Franschhoek, Western Cape

West African International Telecommunications Exhibition & Conference & NISE: Nigerian ICT Business Solutions Expo8-10 May, EKO Hotel, Lagos, Nigeria

Marketing Indaba9-10 May, CTICC, Cape Town

Africa Health9-11 May, Johannesburg Expo Centre

Franschhoek Literary Festival11-15 May, Franschhoek, Western Cape

Indaba12-15 May, ICC Durban

Security Summit15-16 May, Sandton Convention Centre, JHB

Hostex Cape15-17 May, CTICC, Cape Town

Nampo Harvest Day15-18 May, Nampo Park, Welkom

Henry Rollins: The Long March16 May, Bassline, Newtown, Johannesburg

The Baby Expo Mammamagic17-20 May, Coca-Cola dome, JHB

Henry Rollins: The Long March18 May, Baxter Theatre, Rondebosch, Cape Town

Henry Rollins: The Long March19 May, The SunZone, Suncoast, Durban

African Utilities Week21-24 May, Johannesburg Expo Centre

SATCOM22-23 May, Sandton Convention Centre, JHB

National Occupational Safety, Health & Environment Board Conference & Exhibition22-23 May, Silverstar Casino, Krugersdorp

IMEX22-24 May, Frankfurt, Germany

Fine Brandy Fusion23-25 May, Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg

Working World Wxtravaganza24-25 May, Hudson Park High School, East London

Good Food & Wine Show24-27 May, CTICC, Cape Town

Rising Stars Careers Expo25 May, Protea Edward Hotel, Durban

Grand Designs Live25-27 May, Coca-Cola dome, JHB

Baba Indaba25-27 May, Johannesburg Expo Centre

Royal Show25 May-3 June, Royal Show Grounds, Pietermaritzburg

Music Alla Kaap 26 May, GrandWest Arena, CPT

Facilities Management Show28-30 May, Sandton Convention Centre, JHB

Land Forces Africa28-30 May, Gallagher Convention Centre, Midrand

WAMPE30 May–1 June, International Conference Centre, Accra, Ghana

SA Property Owners Association Conference31 May- 2 June, ICC Durban

DIARISE

APRILIT & CMA China

17-19 April, Shanghai World Expo Pavilion Theme, China

MAYHow to Apply Knowledge of HIV/

AIDS in a Sector/Workplace

3 May, Protea Hotel Victoria Junction, Cape Town

3 May, Protea Hotel Regent, East London

3 May Protea Hotel Kimberley

3 May, Protea Hotel Nelspruit, Mbombela

4 May, 20 Eaton Road, Parktown, Johannesburg

8 May, Services SETA offi ces, Durban

8 May, Protea Hotel BFN Central, Bloemfontein

8 May, Fusion Boutique Hotel, Polokwane

15 May, Protea Hotel Marine, Port Elizabeth

IMEX22-24 May, Frankfurt,

Germany

JUNEMarkex World of Events

12-14 June, Sandton Convention

Centre, Johannesburg

AIBTM19-21 June, Baltimore Convention

Center, Baltimore, MD

JULYSAACI National Conference

29-31 July, Indaba Hotel, Fourways, JHB

AUGUSTIT & CM India

21-23 August, India Expo Centre & Mart, India

SEPTEMBERSports & Events Tourism Exchange

12-14 September, ICC Durban

Site International Conference14-17 September, Beijing, China

Andy Rice is the keynote speaker for SAMRA Conference in August

Zayn Adam celebrates his 50th Anniversary with Music Alla Kaap at GrandWest in May

Henry Rollins returns to South Africa in May

Pieter Dirk Uys will be appearing at the Franschhoek Literary Festival in May

The Event | 1 1

Comrades Marathon31 May - 2 June, ICC Exhibition Centre, Durban

Bonitas Comrades Expo31 May-2 June, Durban Exhibition Centre

JuneMoody Blues1 June, Coca-Cola dome, JHB

Roxette3 June, Coca-Cola dome, JHB

NUMSA National Congress4-8 June, ICC Durban

Roxette5 June, ICC Arena, Durban

Jeff Dunham: Live in South Africa5 June, GrandWest Grand Arena, Cape Town

Jeff Dunham: Live in South Africa7 June, ICC Durban

Jeff Dunham: Live in South Africa9 June, Sun City SuperBowl

PRISA annual conference11-12 June, Johannesburg

Markex World of Events12-14 June, Sandton Convention Centre, JHB

SA TB Conference12-15 June, ICC Durban

Jeff Dunham: Live in South Africa14 June, Carnival City Arena, JHB

Cape Town Book Fair15-17 June, CTICC, Cape Town

Top Gear Festival16-17 June, Durban

IFSEC South Africa19-21 June, Gallagher Convention Centre, Midrand

OSH EXPO Africa19-21 June, Gallagher Convention Centre, Midrand

Exchange World Africa19-22 June, Sandton Convention Centre, JHB

International Congress of Psychology22-27 June, CTICC, Cape Town

International Cost Engineering Council World Congress25-27 June, ICC Durban

Africa Ports & Harbours Congress25-29 June, Sandton Convention Centre, JHB

Africa Rail26-29 June, Sandton Convention Centre, JHB

Disney on Ice26 June - 1 July, Coca-Cola dome, JHB

JulyDisney on Ice6-8 July, CTICC, Cape Town

International Wildlife Management Conference 9-12 July, ICC Durban

Comics Choice Awards10 July, Teatro Montecasino

Bafunny Bafunny11-14 July, Teatro Montecasino, Johannesburg

Eid Shopping Festival12-15 July, Coca-Cola dome, JHB

Southern African TB Conference12-15 June, ICC Durban

AFM Women’s Conference13-15 July, ICC Exhibition Centre, Durban

Southern African International Trade Exhibition (SAITEX)15-17 July, Gallagher Convention Centre, Midrand

BRICS Africa Export Import Forum15-17 July, Gallagher Convention Centre, Midrand

Africa Mining Congress16-19 July, Sandton Convention Centre, JHB

Future Ed19-21 July, Coca-Cola dome, JHB

World of Dogs and Cats and Pet Expo (WODAC)20-22 July, Gallagher Convention Centre, Midrand

Intl Federation of Teachers of French Conference23-27 July, ICC Durban

Bafunny Bafunny24-25 July, GrandWest Arena, Cape Town

Eskom KZN Regional Expo for Young Scientists27 July, ICC Durban

Bafunny Bafunny27-28 July, ICC Durban

Limpopo Wine Show27-28 July, Meropa Casino, Polokwane

SAACI National Conference29-31 July, Indaba Hotel, Fourways

Banking Outlook Africa30 July- 3 August, Sandton Convention Centre, JHB

AugustConversations on Architecture8 August, Gallagher Convention Centre, Midrand

Decorex8-12 August, Gallagher Convention Centre, Midrand

OppiKoppi festival - Sweet Thing 9-11 August, Northam, Limpopo

Interbuild Africa15-18 August, Johannesburg Expo Centre

Southern African Marketing Research Association (SAMRA) Conference16-17 August, Rosebank Crowne Plaza, JHB

Andre Rieu17 August, Coca-Cola dome, JHB

IT&CMA India21-23 August, India Expo Centre, Delhi

Sign Africa Expo22-24 August, Sandton Convention Centre, JHB

Africa Print Expo22-24 August, Sandton Convention Centre, JHB

Cape Homemakers Expo23-26 August, CTICC, CPT

Good Food & Wine Show 22-26 August, ICC Durban

Wedding Expo25-26 August, Coca-Cola dome, JHB

Sustainable City Exhibition 30 August-1 September, ICC Durban

The Getaway Show31 August - 2 September, Coca-Cola dome, JHB

SeptemberSA Orthopaedic Association Congress3-7 September, ICC Durban

Intermodal Africa5-7 September, ICC Durban

BT Africa Expo6-7 September, Sandton Convention Centre, JHB

National Boat Show7-9 September, Coca-Cola dome, JHB

Eastern Bridal Fair7-9 September, ICC Exhibition Centre, Durban

International Aquarium Congress (IAC)9-14 September, Two Oceans Aquarium, Cape Town

Electra Mining10-14 September, Johannesburg Expo Centre

Sports & Events Tourism Exchange12-14 September, ICC Durban

Business Opportunities and Franchise Expo13-16 September, Coca-Cola dome, JHB

Medunsa Refresher Course14-16 September, CSIR Convention Centre, Pretoria

ISBC15-18 September, Santon Convention Centre, JHB

Creative Week Cape Town 15-23 September, Cape Town

Planning Africa16-19 September, ICC Durban

SA Council of Shopping Centres Congress19-20 September, ICC Durban

Pendoring Awards21 September, Cape Town

Durban Business Fair21-23 September, ICC Exhibition Centre, Durban

Soweto Festival21-24 September, Johannesburg Expo Centre

Taste of Cape Town

12 | The Event

PRISMS RECOGNISE LIVE EVENTS

AWARDS

THE Prisa Prism Awards, which rec-ognise excellence in communica-tions, took place on 25 March 2012 at the Hyatt Regency in Johannesburg. Three Event Management cam-paigns cracked a nod.

THESE days creating an award winning brand communica-tions campaign takes a lot more than a press release and

social media buzz. Sometimes the best strategies are those that feature a live event component. This was evidenced at the Prism awards in March, where three PR companies shone above the rest.

PR Worx were awarded a Gold Prism award for their work on the Plat-africa Jewellery Design Awards 2011

for Anglo American Platinum Limited. PlatAfrica, the Oscars of the jew-

ellery industry, hosted by Anglo Amer-ican Platinum Limited (Platinum), cel-ebrates and rewards the most talent-ed professional and student jewellery designers in South Africa.

The team at PR Worx put together an event which was attended by 280 guests, an increase of 47%. A com-prehensive communications plan ensured that all target audiences were kept informed about the event, award winners, and what Platinum is doing within the jewellery industry.

The theme for the event, held at Arena Royale, was “Platinum Ro-mance”. The awards ceremony in-cluded models that showcased all the winning designs down the run-way, as well as through the crowd. The PlatAfrica Jewellery Design Awards was so successful that a deci-

sion was taken to host it again in 2012, where it was previously decided that 2011 would be the final year.

The campaign generated R4, 845,298 worth of coverage (AVE 1:1), which exceeded the actual event cost by R3, 166,627.49 or 289%. In total, PR Worx generated an ROI of 2 354%.

Atmosphere Communica-tions were awarded a Silver for the “Shopping Mall” campaign for Capitec Bank.

The team created and executed an innovative campaign to attract a new breed of ‘bank for life’ cli-ents. The team did this by bridging what set Capitec apart – free debit card swipes and low fees – with the recessionary mindset of the youth: an anti-bling culture that focused on the simple and free things in life.

The solution was The Live Free

Project - an integrated communi-cations campaign that amplified Capitec’s values of simplicity and af-fordability among young people. To make ‘free’ compelling for the tough Johannesburg crowd, the team iden-tified what Jo’burgers did best – shop – and piggybacked on National Sav-ing’s Month to launch The Swapping Mall. While it looked like a real Mall, everything could be swapped, not bought. No money was exchanged.

The event attracted 700 people and the supportive PR generated 1 643 362-million interactions and in-creased Facebook fans by 41,7%. Capitec cited it as a significant driver behind the bank’s reposition-ing among young people, helping it attract up to 100 000 new clients per month.

Finally, Plato Communications were awarded a Bronze for their Jacobs Mandela Day Mosaic for Kraft Foods.

Jacobs Krönung premium cof-fee got a head start in bringing Man-dela Day to life at Nelson Mandela Square in Sandton by creating an impressive 2700-cup mosaic artwork of the world’s favourite statesman. The creation, which was overseen by renowned South African artist James Delaney, was built solely from cups of Jacobs coffee.

The PR team pulled the event off in just two weeks from the date of agreement to the date of installation.

The entire mosaic took three hours to complete. For the first 67min-utes spent creating the mosaic, R1000 was donated per minute. The Kraft foods corporate affairs director Pat Senne was so impressed that she sponsored the R67 000 from the com-pany’s CSI budget.

An AVE value of R456,254.45 was achieved.

Sally Fink

NEWS

GENERAL INDUSTRY


David Sand named SITE presidentIN 2013 David Sand, CEO of Incen-tives Company Uwin Iwin, will take on the prestigious post of president of the Society of Incentive and Travel Executives (SITE).

In his role as president, David will manage the SITE board, made up of global incentive travel executives.

“As a South African I will be able to rub shoulders with some of the biggest incentive companies in the world,” says David. “Your peers are serious players from big companies. It gives you a global perspective and great learning. My perspective on South Africa has changed a lot. We need to catch a wake up and be-come a global player before we miss the boat.”

David believes most South Afri-can incentive travel companies dont realise how good their product actu-ally is. “Our standards are amazing,” says David. “The overarching thing that is missing is teamwork. We need a unified approach in order to call ourselves Destination South Africa.”

NEWS HIGHLIGHTSGENERAL INDUSTRY


South Africa shortlisted for global WACS congress in 2016SOUTH Africa has been shortlisted as one of the four countries to host the WACS 2016 Congress between 4-10 March 2016.

South Africa will be competing against Greece, Hungary and Aus-tralia. The bid will include proposing Johannesburg as South Africa’s city of choice.

WACS, the World Association of Chefs’ Societies, represents a global network of chefs associations first founded in October 1928 at the

Sorbonne in Paris. Today, this global body has 87 official chefs associa-tions and its biannual congress is a hallmark tradition of WACS.

The congress in 2016 will attract almost 500 global delegates.

Four International Conferences for ICC DurbanDURBAN ICC has been secured as the host venue for four international conferences including the World Toi-let Summit in 2012, the 6th Multilateral Initiative on Malaria in 2013, the World Association of Cooperative Educa-tion in 2013 and the International World Leisure Conference in 2016.

In addition together with the Dur-ban KZN Convention Bureau and other city partners the ICC is in the final stages of contracting one ad-ditional international conference which will take place in 2014.

In excess of 5,800 delegates are

expected to attend the five confer-ences.

“Our success in securing these international conferences has been reliant on great teamwork with the Durban KZN Convention Bureau and the support of all stakehold-ers in the city and province which is key when competing for these events on an international stage.” said ICC Durban’s, chief executive, Julie-May Ellingson.

The delegates attracted to these five conferences over a full 15 day period will generate an estimated R217.5-million in economic impact, based on a per day delegate spend of approximately R2,500 for the City of Durban.

Cape Town wins bid for Paediatric Cardiology CongressTHE 6th World Congress of Paedi-atric Cardiology and Cardiac Sur-

gery will take place in South Africa in February 2013. This international congress will be the biggest event in heart health to have ever been held in South Africa and indeed, on the African continent.

The Congress will be held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) between 17-22 Feb-ruary 2013

Paragon secures high-profile interna-tional conferencesPARAGON Conventions Africa has secured the hosting of a number of international conferences in South Africa that will attract thousands of international delegates.

Between 17-21 July 2012, the 21st congress of the International Associa-tion of Cross Cultural Psychology will take place in Stellenbosch. Approxi-mately 450 delegates will attend.

From 22 -27 July 2012, Cape Town

will play host to the 30th International Congress of Psychology (ICP). 5 000 delegates are expected to attend.

In 2013 Paragon Conventions Af-rica will be the local organiser for the 18th Commonwealth Law Confer. In addition, Paragon has secured the hosting of the very first World Con-ference on Personality, to be held in Stellenbosch from 19-23 March 2013.

Cape Town secures IFES ConferenceCAPE Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) has secured the Inter-national Federation of Exhibition and Event Services (IFES) annual meeting taking place in Cape Town in 2013.

THE IFES Congress will attract ap-proximately 130 delegates from 42 countries for information sharing.

The 2013 congress will be the first time that IFES will hold its annual meeting in Africa.

Sally Fink

David Sand

The Event | 13

CTIJF CONTINUES TO GROWLIVE EVENTS

THE Cape Town International Jazz Festival (CTIJF) took place from 30-31 March 2012 at the Cape Town In-ternational Convention Centre.

LAST year the annual event contributed R498 million to the Western Cape economy and in eleven years has increased

attendance from 14 000 in 2000 to 35 000. MEC for finance, econom-ic development and tourism Alan Winde praises the festival, saying: “It has become the stage upon which the business world meets Cape Town, a place where international deals are brokered to the sounds of jazz ¬saxophonists.”

CEO of ESP Afrika Rashid Lom-bard announced that the primary sponsor for the festival was the SABC. “We are extremely proud to have the SABC on board again in 2012. The SABC’s contribution in terms of its national footprint is significant. This is especially true when it comes to cre-ating awareness for the training and development programme that sup-ports the festival each year.”

The SABC also sponsored the Fes-tival’s Golf Day caddy programme in association with the Caddy Founda-tion and live broadcast the festival on its numerous radio stations.

The popularity of the CTIJF is ev-idenced by the fact that tickets sell out weeks before the event and it continues to grow, with crowds clambering to get inside the festi-val complex.

CEO of the Cape Town Interna-tional Convention Centre, Rashid Toefy, says that the centre’s expan-sion will finally give the Jazz Festival the room it needs to grow. “Events like the Jazz Festival can be bigger,”

he said. “Our philosophy is to cre-ate memorable experiences rather than just being a space for events. It’s important for us to work with events that are important to Cape Town’s brand. With the expansion we will be capable for multi-simulta-neous events and give the Jazz Fest the space it needs.”

And with more space, comes ca-pacity for a bigger crowd, and with that, the demand for bigger artists.

The Cape Town International Jazz Festival has attracted top interna-tional talent over the years, including, among others, Esperanza Spalding, Earth Wind and Fire, Youssou N’dour, and George Benson. This year organ-isers ESP Afrika, took a different ap-proach, choosing to shift the focus to more commercial artists.

This year’s event sold out even before the announcement that Grammy Award winning singer Lau-ryn Hill would be replacing headline act Jill Scott, who pulled out a week before the event. It was a coup.

Ms Hill, as she likes to be called, performed to a full house, belting out some Fugees favourites as well as some of her solo work. The singer caused a delay at the start of the show after complaining about the quality of the sound, but returned in good spirits to complete her set.

Nouvelle Vague, whose name lit-erally translates to ‘New Wave’, per-formed on the outdoor Bassline stage to an intimate crowd.

Formed by Marc Collin in 2004, Nouvelle Vague is a collaboration of French artists that cover new wave and post punk classics with a distinct French style that evokes Paris in the Golden Age. Guest singers have in-cluded Vanessa Paradis. Their music is a favourite of Hollywood, with songs contributing to among others, Planet Terror, Bridesmaids, The Inbetween-

ers, Nip/Tuck and Gossip Girl. Marc was accompanied on the

South African tour by Liset Alea and Melanie Pain, whose breathy lyrics added a smoky final note to many of the songs. The distinct Parisian style covers included treatments of The Sis-ter’s of Mercy’s Marian and Depeche Mode’s I just can’t Get Enough.

For those wondering what a French Bossa Nova band were doing at a festival devoted to jazz were si-lenced by Liset Alea’s energetic per-formance of The Cramp’s Human Fly, which saw the artist belt out lyrics as if she was channelling Billie Holliday herself. This is not surprising, since the Cuban born beauty was trained at The New School Jazz Conservatory in New York.

But festival fans seemed to think local was more lekker. South African rising star Zahara snagged a much larger crowd for her performance on the Manenburg stage, which overlooked the N1 highway. The songstress released her debut album Loliwe in 2011 which went double platinum after two weeks, selling over 100,000 copies in South Africa.

Legend Hugh Masekela, and ar-guably the only true jazz artist that performed at the event, also played to a capacity crowd.

The CTIJZ is one of the few events that has buy-in from the entire city. One of the official after parties took place at the most unconventional venue, the Two Oceans Aquarium, where guests listened to the soft sounds of jazz surrounded by the gently cartwheeling jellyfish and lan-guid rays. It only goes to show that Cape Town is a treasure chest during the day, but the jewels really come alive night.

Sally Fink

Nouvelle Vague © Warren Talmarkes

14 | The Event

GEARHOUSE ADDS ITS TENTH COMPANY

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

GENERAL INDUSTRY

THE ideal and complete confer-ence and event solution, from registration to audience response systems, has taken shape in the newly formed company, Gear-house ICS.

TALKS about a merger be-tween INHOUSE Venue Tech-nical Management IT (IVTM IT) and Global ICS started

late last year. Gearhouse SA Pty (Ltd) directors, Ofer Lapid and Nasser Abbas, and MD of INHOUSE Venue Technical Management, Ashraf Omar and MD of Global ICS, Thabiet Waggie are the key

players in this - the Gearhouse Group’s tenth company.

Ashraf Omar explains, “I saw an opportunity within the informa-tion technology rental fields and contacted Thabiet to discuss our options. Thabiet has extensive IT rental experience and has been in the industry for a long time.”

Ashraf then asked Thabiet to look at the equipment so a decision as to the project’s plausibility could be made. “I suggested to Thabiet that we ensure we obtain the best technology for the project.”

“It was a natural fit,” says Tha-biet, “since both companies ser-vice the conference and events industry. IVTM IT Rentals takes care of hardware rentals and Global ICS

has developed a number of ap-plications, including a registration system and a presentation man-agement system for conferences.”

On 1 March 2012, Gearhouse ICS Pty (Ltd) was officially opened. The new company now provides IT hardware, software, and project management services. Their new-ly developed products include; EventsCentral, which is the online and onsite delegate manage-ment and registration system and MediaVue, the online and onsite presentation and content man-agement system.

Ashraf says that at the initial development phase business was somewhat erratic, “but we could see it would be profitable,” he ex-

plains. “We are already receiving great international interest and forsee many more potential mar-kets. Thabiet, in my opinion, is the best person to run this as you need someone with passion and love for the business; he has both.”

Thabiet, who has more than ten years experience in the indus-try, explains that these applications were developed specifically for the South African market. “We have our own team of developers who look after our product,” he says.

Adrian de Vries is the lead software developer for both EventsCentral and MediaVue “When we developed the software for EventsCentral, we really kept the end-user, our client, in mind,”

Adrian explains. “We have devel-oped it so that the front-end is very easy to use, but it has full function-ality. The client should not assume that it is lacking in any functionality because it is so easy to manage. EventsCentral can be customised exactly to our client’s needs.”

Adrian also developed Media-Vue, which took about a year to finalise. “This program eases the process for presenters who can upload their presentations at a central point,” he explains, “Then the presentation is delivered over the network to the relevant room, eliminating the usual running around with memory sticks. This system is unique in South Africa but it is on par with international stan-dards. We do constant updates and modify it as we go along.”

Thabiet says Gearhouse ICS Pty (Ltd) is committed to improv-ing the events industry by using ef-ficient information technology to raise the level of professionalism.

Gearhouse ICS has offices in Cape Town, Gauteng and Durban.

A full list of the company’s ser-vices include: Website Design and Development, Online Registra-tion Systems, Online Event Pay-ment Gateways, Online Presen-tation Upload System, Abstract Management Systems and Peer Review Systems, Web Applica-tion Development, On-demand Video, Graphic Design, Onsite Registration Systems, Onsite Tick-eting, RFID, Barcode and Bio-Met-ric Tracking Systems, Onsite Pre-sentation Management System, Live Video Streaming, Interactive Services, Hardware Rental and General IT Services, Copier and Printing Services and Cable and Wireless Network Infrastructure.

Astrid Stark

GENERAL INDUSTRY


KLCC Wins Best Convention Centre In AsiaTHE Kuala Lumpur Convention Cen-tre was awarded the Best Conven-tion Centre in Asia at the MICE Re-port Awards 2012. Malaysia as a whole was also voted Best MICE Country in Asia.

“Subscribers were influenced by factors including capacity, facility and service, and based on their own experience at the various conven-tion centres listed,” said editor of the MICE Report, Cliff James. “The Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre received

the highest number of votes in the Best Convention Centre in Asia cat-egory, beating other facilities in the region for its state-of the art facilities and exceptional service.”

Four-City Alliance targets International Science ConventionsTHE convention bureaus of Adelaide, Australia; Daejeon, South Korea; Hyderabad, India, and Toulouse, France have formalised a partner-ship to tap into science-related inter-national conventions.

The four bureaus say over 60 per cent of international conventions are science-related and that the ‘Sci-ence Alliance’ is designed to share information, develop networking op-portunities and promote the destina-tions to this lucrative field.

IFES combines with 5expo IFES welcomed Expocentre to its of-

fice in Brussels to kick off the joint IFES Annual Meeting to be held from 13 -15 June 2012 at Expocentre Fair-grounds in Moscow, Russia within the framework of the 6th International Forum of Exhibition Industry ‘5pEX-PO-2012’.

“We are all very enthusiastic about the fact that IFES will hold the 2012 AGM in conjunction with the 5P Expo and the international congress and convention organised in part-nership with Expocentre, our new member in the boyant Russian and Moscow exhibition market. We are looking forward to have a very well attended convention and exhibition from all over the globe,” says Bruno Meissner, IFES President.

The three-day event offers IFES members and delegates joint con-ferences with Russian exhibition in-dustry leaders, educational sessions focused on the BRIC market, and a

large exhibition. The programme of-fers the chance to meet quality con-tacts and the chance to learn about the Russian market and trends.

QNCC boosts Qatar as global business destinationTHE newly opened Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC) is fast transforming Qatar’s meetings and events industry to be a global pre-mier business destination.

To date, the Centre has hosted 52 events with more than 30,000 visi-tors. The estimated delegate spend from overseas visitors is over QR 41 million (US11.2 million).

This year, the Centre will play host to a number of international events including the United Nations Confer-ence on Trade and Development (UNCTAD XIII) from 21-26 April 2012 and the 25th Universal Postal Con-gress (UPU) in September 2012.

Rezidor Hotel Group named one of World’s Most Ethical Companies THE Rezidor Hotel Group, a member of the Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, remains one of the World’s Most Ethi-cal Companies.

The US-think tank Ethisphere In-stitute awarded Rezidor for the third consecutive year for real and sus-tained ethical leadership. The Hon-ouree Dinner took place in New York City in March.

“We are very proud that we have maintained our status as one of the World’s Most Ethical Compa-nies since 2010. We are on a long term basis committed to a respon-sible way of doing business. We translate words on ethical practices into action, create innovative ideas to benefit the public, and raise the bar for standards within our indus-try,” said Kurt Ritter, president and CEO of Rezidor.

McCloskey Coal

The Event | 15

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

WEDDING SHOWS STILL A HIT WITH CONSUMERSCONSUMER SHOWS

LOVE springs eternal. Proof of that came from the lengthy queue of people waiting to pay R100 to en-ter the Wedding Expo in Johannes-burg in April.

IT seems no matter how the economy is behaving, there is a continual market of starry-eyed young romantics planning their

perfect wedding.By Saturday lunchtime the

sprawling car parks at the Coca-Co-la dome were full, and people were squeezing past each other in the aisles to look at 320 stands displaying all kinds of wedding paraphernalia.

It will be the same story in Sep-tember when the twice-a-year Wedding Expo returns, with 70% of exhibitors taking part in both shows each year.

Director and founder Amanda Cunningham never expected the shows to grow this large when she started in 2002. Her first event at-tracted 77 exhibitors and 3,200 visitors. This year’s expo attracted 15,000 people to the two-day fairs, a record breaking figure.

“The growth in the industry in the last five years has astounded me. Years ago a lot of brides were youngsters coming out of school or university, leaving home and getting married and they didn’t have a job. Now all the girls are working nine to five and they need someone to help them plan their wedding.”

The average wedding costs about R150,000 and with at least 200,000 weddings a year in South Africa, that’s a R30 billion industry, Amanda says. Yet her only real competition is the smaller Bridal Indaba held at the Indaba Ho-

tel and Oakfield Farm Bridal Expo north of Johannesburg.

Most brides spend six months to a year planning their wedding, which is why in 2005 the exhibitors asked for a second event later in the year to cater for those marry-ing in the summer months.

“The visitors used to be brides with their mums but now it’s very much brides with grooms, maybe with a mother tagging along,” Amanda says. “Grooms now want to be involved in the planning. I think they’re realising it’s quite fun and it’s their day too.”

The average bride is 22-32, and they’ll change their minds 100 times as they look at all the differ-ent options on offer. Older brides in their late 30s or mid 40s tend to know exactly what they want and go straight to the stands that can give it to them.

The Wedding Expo stages fash-ion shows four times a day, two of them for imported gowns and two purely for local creations to en-courage the local industry.

This year a new Wedding Cake Competition attracted 30 entries, and a coffee area run by Annica’s Designer Cakes let visitors linger over elegant refreshments rather than the Dome’s usual fast food selection.

Cakes by Pat produced the winning cake both from a taste and aesthetic point of view. The beautiful lace embossed cake with intricate flower work im-pressed all three of the judges. “The iced Arum Lilies were realis-tic and true to nature. The design was clean, uncluttered but very sophisticated. The taste and skill used in the baking of this tradi-tional Baumkuchen cake was of an exceptional standard,” says judge Franco Lambiase represent-

ing South African Cake Decorators Guild (SACDG).

In 2010 Amanda tested the Cape Town market by staging a Wedding Pavilion as part of the Women’s Show, but that experi-ment hasn’t been repeated.

“We’d love to do Cape Town and Durban, but the markets aren’t as big as in Gauteng. We have a very successful formula here and we’d have to make cer-tain those markets are ready for it and find the right venues for it.”

Cape Town seems to be suc-cessful with events held in shop-ping malls, but the Bridal Expo doesn’t attract casual foot traffic. “These people are here because they are getting married – they’re not here because they have noth-ing else to do today.”

Originally a small magazine was handed out to visitors, until

Amanda realised it had the poten-tial to be a success in its own right. Now that magazine, Wedding In-spirations, is published four times a year at R49.95. The magazine host-ed two workshops during the Expo to discuss trends in décor, flowers and fashion.

As for fashion trends, this year it’s back to the traditional look. “A few years ago we saw some very wacky dresses with polka dots, minis and black. This year there’s no doubt the British Royal Wed-ding is having a knock-on effect. The dresses are all terribly elegant and feminine, although there’s quite a lot of bling.”

About 95% of the exhibitors are entrepreneurs, including one-man bands and some that have grown into bigger teams over the years. “I’m always astounded by how cre-ative they are with their unbeliev-

able stands,” Amanda says. “There’s something new every time and they make the show spectacular.”

The stands really did look stun-ning, with exhibitors ensuring their displays offer the glamour young brides are seeking.

There were dresses and cakes, outfits for the groom, venues and honeymoon destinations, wed-ding planners, car hire, caterers and gifts for the guests.

There was even a stand hand-ing out advice on pre-nuptial con-tracts, but it wasn’t doing a roaring trade from the love-struck ladies.

Lesley Stones

Scandinavia creates world’s first Sus-tainable Meetings RegionCONVENTION bureaus, destination marketing organisations, venues and agencies from the five Scandinavian member countries of ICCA (the In-ternational Congress and Conven-tion Association) signed an Accord to create the world’s first sustainable meetings region.

The Accord is the first of its kind in the world, and aims to advance sustainable development within the meetings and events industry.

The Accord was signed at the annual meeting of the ICCA Scandi-navian Chapter in Tampere.

EIBTM sees record breaking attendanceEIBTM has announced record break-ing attendance following the official results of their ABC Audit – confirm-ing them as the largest audited exhi-

bition in the meetings sector.The Total Unique Attendance for

EIBTM tipped an all time high with 15,219 industry professionals (6.9% in-crease on Total Unique Attendance for the previous year) attending the show over the three days.

Reed Exhibitions acquires stake in All-Energy AustraliaREED Exhibitions has acquired a majority stake in All-Energy Austra-lia, Australia’s single largest clean energy event, taking place in Mel-bourne from 10-11 October 2012.

All-Energy Australia joins the re-cently launched Australian Sustain-ability in the Energy/Sustainability portfolio at Reed Exhibitions.

Gdansk CB first In Poland with Four-square and Google+THE Gdańsk Convention Bureau claims to be the first Polish conven-

tion bureau to sign up to the social media portal based on geo-location, Foursquare.

The bureau has also recently joined search engine Google’s own social networking site, Google+ with the aim of attracting the attention of the international meetings industry.

The bureau says social media is an effective tool for communicating with professional meeting planners and delegates in Gdansk and that it allows the bureau to conduct an intensified promotion for both busi-ness products and destination them-selves.

Pacific World appointed agency for IFRA ExpoPACIFIC World has been appointed the official Destination Management Company (DMC) for IFRA Expo 2012, the leading international exhibition for the newspaper industry and its

suppliers, which takes place from 29-31 October 2012 in Madrid. Around

10,000 visitors from over 90 countries are expected to attend.

QNCC

The Event | 15

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

WEDDING SHOWS STILL A HIT WITH CONSUMERSCONSUMER SHOWS

LOVE springs eternal. Proof of that came from the lengthy queue of people waiting to pay R100 to en-ter the Wedding Expo in Johannes-burg in April.

IT seems no matter how the economy is behaving, there is a continual market of starry-eyed young romantics planning their

perfect wedding.By Saturday lunchtime the

sprawling car parks at the Coca-Co-la dome were full, and people were squeezing past each other in the aisles to look at 320 stands displaying all kinds of wedding paraphernalia.

It will be the same story in Sep-tember when the twice-a-year Wedding Expo returns, with 70% of exhibitors taking part in both shows each year.

Director and founder Amanda Cunningham never expected the shows to grow this large when she started in 2002. Her first event at-tracted 77 exhibitors and 3,200 visitors. This year’s expo attracted 15,000 people to the two-day fairs, a record breaking figure.

“The growth in the industry in the last five years has astounded me. Years ago a lot of brides were youngsters coming out of school or university, leaving home and getting married and they didn’t have a job. Now all the girls are working nine to five and they need someone to help them plan their wedding.”

The average wedding costs about R150,000 and with at least 200,000 weddings a year in South Africa, that’s a R30 billion industry, Amanda says. Yet her only real competition is the smaller Bridal Indaba held at the Indaba Ho-

tel and Oakfield Farm Bridal Expo north of Johannesburg.

Most brides spend six months to a year planning their wedding, which is why in 2005 the exhibitors asked for a second event later in the year to cater for those marry-ing in the summer months.

“The visitors used to be brides with their mums but now it’s very much brides with grooms, maybe with a mother tagging along,” Amanda says. “Grooms now want to be involved in the planning. I think they’re realising it’s quite fun and it’s their day too.”

The average bride is 22-32, and they’ll change their minds 100 times as they look at all the differ-ent options on offer. Older brides in their late 30s or mid 40s tend to know exactly what they want and go straight to the stands that can give it to them.

The Wedding Expo stages fash-ion shows four times a day, two of them for imported gowns and two purely for local creations to en-courage the local industry.

This year a new Wedding Cake Competition attracted 30 entries, and a coffee area run by Annica’s Designer Cakes let visitors linger over elegant refreshments rather than the Dome’s usual fast food selection.

Cakes by Pat produced the winning cake both from a taste and aesthetic point of view. The beautiful lace embossed cake with intricate flower work im-pressed all three of the judges. “The iced Arum Lilies were realis-tic and true to nature. The design was clean, uncluttered but very sophisticated. The taste and skill used in the baking of this tradi-tional Baumkuchen cake was of an exceptional standard,” says judge Franco Lambiase represent-

ing South African Cake Decorators Guild (SACDG).

In 2010 Amanda tested the Cape Town market by staging a Wedding Pavilion as part of the Women’s Show, but that experi-ment hasn’t been repeated.

“We’d love to do Cape Town and Durban, but the markets aren’t as big as in Gauteng. We have a very successful formula here and we’d have to make cer-tain those markets are ready for it and find the right venues for it.”

Cape Town seems to be suc-cessful with events held in shop-ping malls, but the Bridal Expo doesn’t attract casual foot traffic. “These people are here because they are getting married – they’re not here because they have noth-ing else to do today.”

Originally a small magazine was handed out to visitors, until

Amanda realised it had the poten-tial to be a success in its own right. Now that magazine, Wedding In-spirations, is published four times a year at R49.95. The magazine host-ed two workshops during the Expo to discuss trends in décor, flowers and fashion.

As for fashion trends, this year it’s back to the traditional look. “A few years ago we saw some very wacky dresses with polka dots, minis and black. This year there’s no doubt the British Royal Wed-ding is having a knock-on effect. The dresses are all terribly elegant and feminine, although there’s quite a lot of bling.”

About 95% of the exhibitors are entrepreneurs, including one-man bands and some that have grown into bigger teams over the years. “I’m always astounded by how cre-ative they are with their unbeliev-

able stands,” Amanda says. “There’s something new every time and they make the show spectacular.”

The stands really did look stun-ning, with exhibitors ensuring their displays offer the glamour young brides are seeking.

There were dresses and cakes, outfits for the groom, venues and honeymoon destinations, wed-ding planners, car hire, caterers and gifts for the guests.

There was even a stand hand-ing out advice on pre-nuptial con-tracts, but it wasn’t doing a roaring trade from the love-struck ladies.

Lesley Stones

Scandinavia creates world’s first Sus-tainable Meetings RegionCONVENTION bureaus, destination marketing organisations, venues and agencies from the five Scandinavian member countries of ICCA (the In-ternational Congress and Conven-tion Association) signed an Accord to create the world’s first sustainable meetings region.

The Accord is the first of its kind in the world, and aims to advance sustainable development within the meetings and events industry.

The Accord was signed at the annual meeting of the ICCA Scandi-navian Chapter in Tampere.

EIBTM sees record breaking attendanceEIBTM has announced record break-ing attendance following the official results of their ABC Audit – confirm-ing them as the largest audited exhi-

bition in the meetings sector.The Total Unique Attendance for

EIBTM tipped an all time high with 15,219 industry professionals (6.9% in-crease on Total Unique Attendance for the previous year) attending the show over the three days.

Reed Exhibitions acquires stake in All-Energy AustraliaREED Exhibitions has acquired a majority stake in All-Energy Austra-lia, Australia’s single largest clean energy event, taking place in Mel-bourne from 10-11 October 2012.

All-Energy Australia joins the re-cently launched Australian Sustain-ability in the Energy/Sustainability portfolio at Reed Exhibitions.

Gdansk CB first In Poland with Four-square and Google+THE Gdańsk Convention Bureau claims to be the first Polish conven-

tion bureau to sign up to the social media portal based on geo-location, Foursquare.

The bureau has also recently joined search engine Google’s own social networking site, Google+ with the aim of attracting the attention of the international meetings industry.

The bureau says social media is an effective tool for communicating with professional meeting planners and delegates in Gdansk and that it allows the bureau to conduct an intensified promotion for both busi-ness products and destination them-selves.

Pacific World appointed agency for IFRA ExpoPACIFIC World has been appointed the official Destination Management Company (DMC) for IFRA Expo 2012, the leading international exhibition for the newspaper industry and its

suppliers, which takes place from 29-31 October 2012 in Madrid. Around

10,000 visitors from over 90 countries are expected to attend.

QNCC

16 | The Event

EVENTING AS EASY AS ABC

LIVE EVENTS

WHAT do you do when concert or-ganisers keep bringing the same old has-beens to South Africa year after year? You book the bands yourself, of course.

THAT’S exactly what Andrew Berry and Mark de Menezes did when they contacted the booking agent for American in-

die rock group Clap Your Hands Say Yeah with the idea of bringing the band to Cape Town to perform for an intimate crowd of fans.

Andrew Berry co-founded the photo-blog ‘We-are-awesome’ with Sean Sassen in 2007 as a way of documenting the Cape Town indie scene. The website was an overnight success, with party-goers clamber-ing to get their faces featured on

the site. Soon Andrew started adding pages devoted to fashion, the inside of notable Capetonian’s homes and popular eateries for the artistically inclined. We-are-awesome receives thousands of unique visitors a month, and the numbers keep growing.

Most recently, Andrew slotted in video and events tabs to the site, adding event organiser to his list of achievements.

“We-are-awesome create our own original content. This drives a stronger presence online and also takes the brands we work with into a different space. The scene is too big for just a blog. We want to be outside of that,” he says.

Andrew believes the next logical step is events, not only to set himself apart from other blogs, but to make a shift in the industry.

Andrew teamed up with Mark de Menezes, member of The Dirty Skirts and co-owner of the now de-funct Your Friends (the company that brought indie rocker The Tallest Man on Earth to South Africa) to form We-are-awesome Events, with the idea of running their own events targeted at the alternative market.

The team approached adidas All Originals and pitched the idea of hosting a series of events over 2012 featuring top international artists. The brand was keen to collaborate as they had worked with We-are-awesome before on smaller scale events, and cater to the same alter-native market, traditionally a hard nut to crack.

Andrew and Mark believe that collaboration is key when organising events. “Its very hard to do events in South Africa without sponsors be-cause of the expenses involved,” says Andrew. Naturally maintaining good relationships with partners and sponsors is essential.

The first We-are-awesome Event will see Clap Your Hands Say Yeah performing in Cape Town, a band which most people would never have heard of, but as Andrew ex-plains, these events are targeted to-wards a niche market often ignored by big band promoters.

“We want people to experience new music,” adds Mark, who goes on to explain that a lot of people mis-understand the term indie. “The term describes independent thinkers, mu-sic, and design,” he says.

Andrew says these events, of which four are planned for 2012, will be about the experience, rather than making money. “Its not about the numbers, its about the audience. We want to explore the overall look and feel of things and how that comes through to the audience. We’re do-ing things from a different angle and take a holistic approach to incorpo-rating music into the experience.”

To achieve this, the team will look at different types of venues, ways to add depth, intimacy and experience as well as the overall vibe.

Drawing on his tour experience with The Dirty Skirts, Mark believes the best venue the band ever played was the intimate Armchair Theatre in Observatory, where the audience formed part of the show.

“It’s about taking people out of their comfort zones,” adds Andrew, whose long term goal is to grow We-are-awesome into a fully-fledged media company where creatives have the room to do new things.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah will perform at the Wittebome Civic Centre in Wynberg on 13 April 2012 to an audience no bigger than 2500 people.

Sally Fink

Mark de Menezes & Andrew Berry

NEWS HIGHLIGHTSGENERAL INDUSTRY


ICCA President at SAACI congressARNALDO Nardone, president of the International Congress and Conven-tion Association (ICCA), will address delegates at the 2012 annual SAACI congress in July.

To be held at the Indaba Hotel in Fourways, Johannesburg from 29-31 July 2012, the theme of the congress is ‘Shifting Paradigms’.

Congress chairman Wayne John-son of SAACI’s Northern Territories Branch says Nardone’s acceptance to address the congress is indicative of South Africa’s stature in the inter-national meetings industry. “We are truly pleased that he will address us. Delegates will get an accurate glimpse of the state of the industry worldwide.”

ELICC hosts NASATHE East London International Con-vention Centre (ELICC) managed by Premier Hotels and Resorts hosted The Annual Congress of the Neurological Association of South Africa (NASA) in March 2012.

This was the first ever NASA con-ference to be held in the Eastern Cape. The NASA membership is esti-mated to be between 100 and 130 neurologists.

The 650 seat auditorium proved ideal for plenary discussions while the high ceiling in the convention hall proved perfect as exhibition space. The Annual Congress featured break-fast symposiums, cocktail receptions and a gala dinner grand finale.

The ELICC was awarded Best Congress & Convention Centre, Af-rica in the prestigious Business Travel Awards 2011, awarded by interna-tional publication Business Destina-tions with the category criteria in-cluding the range of services for the business traveler, quality of facilities and reliability as well as environmen-tal awareness and overall support for sustainable business.

New CMP board membersCERTIFIED meetings professional (CMP), Mandy Barrell, who is em-ployed as manager – Co-ordination at Gallagher Convention Centre has joined the CMP Network SA Advisory Board.

Mandy commenced her CMP programme in late 2010 and was seated for her CMP exam at Promet-rics testing facilities in Johannesburg in July 2011.

Arnaldo Nardone

The Event | 17

3D DESIGN STAND INSPIRES GLOBAL STANDARD

Stand InnovationsSponsored by 3D Group

A STAND designed and construct-ed by 3D Design has inspired a major global motor industry group to develop a similar look-and-feel as standard for all exhibitions and trade shows around the world.

ESTABLISHED in 1995, 3D De-sign is a group of strategic business units specialising in the supply of a comprehen-

sive range of products and servic-es for exhibitors and exhibition and event organisers alike.

These include furniture hire, ex-hibition stands, lighting solutions, portable displays and more. It has the capacity to design, construct, project manage and execute up to 400 events, or exhibitions, or ex-hibits a year.

The stand at the centre of at-traction is one it developed for SAF-Holland, a leading supplier to the local commercial vehicle industry and their customers, the transport companies.

A relatively young company, SAF-Holland was established in 2005 as SAF Axles South Africa (Pty) Ltd, a branch of the Germany-based Otto Sauer Achsenfabrik, to supply axles and suspension sys-tems for trailers and semi-trailers. It has quickly made a name for itself among domestic manufacturers of trailers and semi-trailers.

In 2006, SAF and Holland Group Inc joined forces worldwide. To-day, as the local subsidiary of the global group, it has expanded its product line to include king-pins and landing gear, as well as fifth wheels for trucks, high quality components and perfect system solutions for vehicle manufacturers and their customers the transport companies.

The SAF-Holland tradeshow booth by 3D Design made its de-but at the Johannesburg Interna-tional Motor Show.

The dramatic design, high im-pact and ease of use so impressed the group’s head office team in Germany, it inspired the look-and-feel as its global stand standard, which it then debuted at the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louis-ville, Kentucky.

“This is a feather in our cap for 3D Design,” said sales director, Conrad Kullmann. “It’s a tough environment out there currently, and everyone is looking for ways to stretch their marketing budgets.

“Having a striking stand that cuts through exhibition clutter is one way ... and we’re delighted that our extra efforts for SAF-Hol-land locally, which worked well for the team here, have been picked up by the global group.

“Recognition of this kind makes the long hours and hard work

worthwhile,” he said.March was a busy month for

other companies in the group as well, particularly at the Power-Gen Africa Expo. Here, 3D Shell provided the infrastructure – shell scheme, electrics, furniture, etc – for 223 exhibitors totalling 2300 me-

tre squared. Impressively, 3D Design built 12

design stands in the space of two days with most of the tireless crew working solidly for 48 hours.

At the same time, other crew members were in Mthata in the Eastern Cape for the Telkom ICT

Careers Expo. Here, 3D Exhibitons & Events hosted, for the Telkom Foundation, 1200 learners from the rural areas in the province to an exhibition on the importance of mathematics and science.

Petra Peacock

18 | The Event

IMEX TURNS TEN OPPORTUNITIES

EXHIBITIONS

IMEX takes place from 22-24 May 2012 in Frankfurt, Germany and is expected to attracted 3 500 visi-tors from 150 countries.

IMEX is considered by many to be the essential global exhibi-tion for incentive travel, meet-ings and events. With a total

exhibition space of 17,500 square metres, who’s going to argue?

Last year’s show boasted some interesting statistics, such as 3 887 hosted buyers from 68 countries, and 5 057 trade visitors from 81 countries.

For its special tenth year dei-

tion, organiser Ray Bloom and his team have announced further growth in the hosted buyer pro-gramme, a strong and diverse exhibitor line-up plus new features for the Imex Vision programme.

The show’s hallmark hosted buyer programme is set to bring almost 4000 hosted buyers to the event.

The technology area of the show will be 10% larger than in previous years with a sold out Tech Tap, plus the IMEX technology pa-vilion showcasing products and services from Amiando, ATIV Soft-ware, EventMobi, Evenium, Kon-nect and Video Tattoo.

A new iPad Bar, sponsored by

QuickMobile together with PSAV, will provide hands-on education on Apps for events. In addition, the Imex App will be available for iPads for the first time.

To commemorate its tenth an-niversary a special ‘Celebration Hour’ will take place during which exhibitors are being invited to provide entertainment, food and drink to help create a party atmo-sphere on the show floor.

South African Tourism (SAT) has identified Imex as the platform for participation on the international arena. Scan On Show, who organ-ise Meetings Africa for the associa-tion, manages the national pavilion.

GENERAL INDUSTRY

IF you have any opportunities to share please visit our web portal www.theevent.co.za and load your own stories for consideration in next month’s edition.

Early bird registration for SAACI Conference openTHE Southern African Association for the Conference Industry (SAACI) Annual Conference will be held at the Indaba Hotel in Fourways, Jo-hannesburg from 29-31 July 2012.

The deadline for early bird regis-tration closes on 4 May 2012.

Members can also register on-line on www.saaciconf2012.co.za.

Positions available at National Convention BureauTHERE are a number of vacant posi-tions available at the recently estab-lished National Convention Bureau (within South African Tourism). These are:•Coordinator: Business Develop-ment & Research•Coordinator: Sales & Marketing•Manager: Marketing Services•Senior Manager: Meeting & Con-vention Sales•Manager: Meeting & Convention Sales - Europe

For more information contact Ishara Paparam on [email protected]

Loeries Call for EntriesENTRIES for the Loerie Awards open on 15 March 2012. All category in-formation, preparation guidelines, entry deadlines and fees will be available from this date on the Lo-eries website www.theloerieawards.co.za.

Event Management CoursePRISA is offering an Event Manage-ment programme that will focus on a range of event management is-sues including strategic alignment with business objectives, operation-al planning and implementation, event risk management and event evaluation and measurement.

Questions will be answered on how to align events to the vision and the business objectives of the organ-isation and how to ensure a return on investment. Case studies will be used as illustrations.

The course will take place from 7-8 May 2012 at ProComm House in Randburg.

For more information please email [email protected]

Reputation Management CoursePRISA is offering a one-day work-shop reflecting on the traditional views of reputation management before switching the focus to the im-pact of the web on organisational reputation.

The workshop will take place on 11 May 2012 at ProComm House in Randburg.

An early bird rate will be offered to those who book and pay before 13 April 2012.

For more information please email [email protected]

Loeries announce new Africa and Middle East category THE Loerie Awards has introduced a separate category for entries from outside South Africa - the rest of Af-rica and the Middle East.

Work in this category will be judged separately.

For more information visitwww.theloerieawards.co.za.

Sally Fink

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DIRECTORY LISTINGS

DIRECTORY LISTINGS - ADVERTISERS

DESTINATION MARKETING COMPANIES COMPANY REGION TELEPHONE EMAIL WEBSITE9T9 Events Johannesburg +27 11 789 6900 [email protected] www.events9t9.co.za

Accor Services Johannesburg +27 11 535 5521 [email protected] www.accorservices.co.za

Actual Events Johannesburg +27 11 888 8020 [email protected] www.actualevents.co.za

Adventure Works Cape Town +27 21 790 9015 [email protected] www.adventureworks.co.za

Africadabra DMC Cape Town 086 1000465 [email protected] www.africadabra.com

The Business Tourism Company Nationwide +27 82 820 2265 [email protected] www.thebusinesstourismcompany.co.za

Cape Destination Management Cape Town +27 21 886 7457 [email protected] www.cape-dmc.co.za

Creative Incentives Johannesburg +27 11 463 0759 [email protected] www.creativeincentives.co.za

Crystal Events & Incentives Cape Town + 27 21 555 3617 [email protected] www.crystalevents.co.za

The Destination Marketing Organisation Cape Town +27 21 426 5639 www.tourismcapetown.co.za

Destination Marketing Services Cape Town +27 21 5562254 [email protected] www.destinationmarketingservices.co.za

Dragonfly Africa Johannesburg +27 11 219 5600 [email protected] www.dragonfly.co.za

Giltedge DMC Nationwide +27 21 713 0296 [email protected] www.giltedgedmc.com

Green Route Africa Cape Town +27 21 447 4021 [email protected] www.greenroute.co.za

Grosvenor Tours Cape Town +27 21 460 4888 [email protected] www.grosvenortours.co.za

Incentive World Durban +27 31 764 6977 www.incentiveworld.com

Kuoni Destination Management Cape Town +27 21 528 2200 Email form on website www.kuoni-dmc.com

Leading Incentives and Events Johannesburg +27 11 022 9264 [email protected] www.leadingincentives.co.za

Mint Productions and Destinations Johannesburg +27 21 422 5742 [email protected] www.mintproductions.co.za

Nutshell Travel and Incentives Port Elizabeth +27 41 379 5424 [email protected] www.nutshelltravel.com

Ovation South Africa Cape Town +27 21 532 0880 [email protected] www.ovationdmc.com

Platinum Africa Johannesburg +27 11 465 8666 [email protected] www.platinum-africa.com

Scatterlings Johannesburg +27 11 463 5084 [email protected] www.soafrica.com

Siyabona Africa Cape Town +27 21 424 1037 Email form on website www.siyabona.com

Terra Nova Tours Cape Town +27 21 4489965 [email protected] www.terra-nova.co.za

Travel Ease Cape Town +27 21 709 0463 [email protected] www.travelease.co.za

Travel Motives Johannesburg +27 11 679 3344 [email protected] www.travelmotives.com

Uwin Iwin Incentives Johannesburg +27 11 557 5700 [email protected] www.uwiniwin.co.za

Uyaphi Cape Town + 27 21 788 3580 Email form on website www.uyaphi.com

Walthers DMC Johannesburg +27 11 467 8867 [email protected] www.walthers.co.za

The Winners Group Cape Town +27 21 447 0551 [email protected] www.thewinnersgroup.com

Zabwino African Travel Cape Town +27 21 671 2880 [email protected] www.zabwinoafricantravel.com

TOURISM AUTHORITIESCOMPANY REGION TELEPHONE EMAIL WEBSITECape Town Tourism Cape Town +27 21 487 6800 [email protected] www.capetown.travel

Johannesburg Tourism Johannesburg +27 11 214 0700 Email form on website www.joburgtourism.com

KwaZulu-Natal Tourism Authority Durban +27 31 366 7500 [email protected] www.zulu.org.za

Malawi Tourism Johannesburg +27 11 2348577 [email protected] www.visitmalawi.mw

North West Parks & Tourism Board North West +27 18 3817340 [email protected] www.tourismnorthwest.co.za

Zimbabwe Tourism Authority Johannesburg +27 011 6169534 [email protected] www.zimbabwetourism.net

COMPANY REGION TELEPHONE EMAIL WEBSITE3D Design Nationwide +27 11 608-1588 [email protected] www.3ddesign.co.za

Antelope Park Marketing Cape Town +27 21 785 4319 [email protected] wwwantelopepark.co.zw

Arcadia Hotel Pretoria +27 12 326 9311 [email protected] www.arcadiahotel.co.za

Bertuzzi Cape Town +27 21 552 2948 [email protected] www.bertuzzi.co.za

Bidvest Johannesburg +27 11 731 7600 Email form on website www.bidvest.com

CTICC Western Cape +27 21 410 5000 [email protected] www.cticc.co.za

ICC Durban Durban +27 31 360 1000 [email protected] www.icc.co.za

Expovent Gauteng +27 11 553 5200 [email protected] www.uniquelyspectacular.co.za

Folio Translation Cape Town +27 21 426 2727 [email protected] www.folio-online.co.za

Gearhouse South Africa Nationwide +27 11 216 3000 [email protected] www.gearhouse.co.za

Gift Bucks Nationwide +27 860 392 737 [email protected] www.ewards.co.za

Heli Cape Town +27 21 935 1619 [email protected] www.heli.co.za

iKapa Cape Town +27 21 508 1106 [email protected] www.ikapa.co.za

IMEX Frankfurt +44 1273 224956 [email protected] www.imex-frankfurt.com

Intercape Nationwide +27 861 287 287 [email protected] www.intercape.co.za

Litha Gauteng +27 11 480 4922 [email protected] www.litha-communications.co.za

Oasys Nationwide +27 83 413 1908 [email protected] www.oasys.co.za

Premier Nationwide +27 43 705 5000 [email protected] www.premierhotels.co.za

Presclean Johannesburg +27 11 796 0000 [email protected] www.bidvestprestigegroup.co.za

Sandton Convention Centre Gauteng +27 11 779 0000 [email protected] www.saconvention.co.za

Shamwari Group Cape Town +27 21 418 5072 [email protected] www.shamwarigroup.com

Tshwane Events Centre Gauteng +27 12 327 1487 [email protected] www.tshwane-events.co.za

Vineyard Hotel Cape Town +27 21 657 4500 [email protected] www.vineyard.co.za

Webtickets Western Cape +27 861 2255 98 [email protected] www.webtickets.co.za

The Event April 2012

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