Global Conferences Africa l

Following hot on the heels of the 57th Session of The International Statistical Institute, the SITA GovTech 2009 took place at the International Convention Centre in Durban from 13-16 September. The conference’s theme was ‘Doing ICT for the Citizens’, aimed at exploring the worldwide trend towards greater communication and cooperation between government agencies, enabled by information and communication technology and driven by the citizen-centric paradigm of governance.

Although Global Conferences Africa were “only” responsible for the registration process, this conference attracted around 2,500 delegates, so once again resources were mobilised from all branches of GCA . And once again, the conference concluded with yet another satisfied customer. This was largely due to the fact that a record number of 1900 on-site registrations were processed by the GCA team using it’s state of the art Events Pro database management system in just 12 hours. This was achieved with no delegate having to queue for longer than 15 minutes. A truly impressive feat! Conference Communications had also hooked up a Dashboard in the PCO office that enabled Global Conferences Africa and it’s client to view the delegate registration numbers live and in real-time. This conference is an annual event and according to the client this year’s registration process was a vast improvement on the 2008 conference, which was handled by one ofGlobal Conferences Africa ’s main competitors.

Well the 1st of September was the official start of Spring and with the dark, cold winter mornings a distant if vivid memory, Global Conferences Africa would like to extend a warm welcome to the following staff members who have just started in the Jo’burg office:

Central Services Johannesburg Bookkeeper:
Oscar Babuseng (pictured right) joined us on Monday 28 September. Oscar reports directly to Filomena van Diggelen and falls under the Central Services Department.

Tender Coordinator:
Richard Masoga (pictured below) joined us on Wednesday 30 September. Richard reports directly to Jim McIntosh and has had experience in tender proposals, having even taught the subject to aspiring SMME’s.

Junior Coordinator:
Lishen Pillay, who hails from Durban, will be joining us on Monday 5 October. Lishen will report to Donne Holmes. Lishen, who was employed as a part time student during ISI 2009 and GovTech 2009, impressed hugely during these two events, which prompted us to employ him as a Junior Coordinator.

National Central Services Supervisor:
Paul Vinagre will be joining the GCA Central Services Team on Thursday 1 October, reporting to Jeff Sillince. He has had many years in the Design and printing industry. The plan is for Paul to fill two roles at GCA; as 2/IC and a succession plan for Jeff; he will also supply a web site design facility for future conference web sites (and our own) which will bring in major revenue for the company.

Two years in planning and co-ordination (including one week’s notice in which to plan & organise a delegate-boosting trip to Lisbon), the 57th Session of The International Statistical Institute, held at the ICC in Durban and hosted by Statistics South Africa has finally taken place. Much to the relief of everyone involved, everything ran smoothly and according to plan, this inspire of (or maybe due to!?!?) many sleepless nights, late night phone calls and excruciatingly protracted meetings with the client.

The conference was a huge success, the extensive social programme, that included but was not limited to, an Opening Ceremony, a Beach Party and a Gala Dinner left our delegates and our client (Statistics South Africa) overawed and hugely impressed, GCA living up to our motto of “Military Precision With Theatrical Flair”!

President Jacob Zuma and Minister in the Presidency, Trevor Manuel both spoke at The Opening Ceremony, following a stirring rendition of N’kosi Sikelele by The Soweto Gospel Choir.

Due to the size of this conference staff were provided from all three regional operations branches of Global Conferences Africa, this was in addition to the impy of casual staff that were employed as ushers and registration staff.

As the saying goes, there is no rest for the wicked, as our next big event, the SITA Govtech 2009 (also to be held at the ICC, Durban) for which we are expecting around 2000 delegates is just around the corner.
Watch this space for the next instalment!

With events totalling in excess of 5,000 delegates fast approaching their final, critical stages July was yet another month that has flown by for everyone at Global Conferences Africa and it has been all hands on deck.

SAACI ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Organised by the SAACI Northern Territories Board the SAACI Annual Conference was held at the CSIR International Convention Centre in Pretoria from the 26th – 28th of July. With the theme of T.A.S.K. (Tenacity, Accountability, Sustainability & Knowledge), the conference opening ceremony was held at The Freedom Park in Pretoria, preceded by a sneak preview of the (still under construction) Moyo in Fountains. Finger food and wine was served and were all up to the usual standards you’d expect from Moyo.

As mentioned in the June newsletter, Global Conferences Africa is now represented in three of the four regional branches of SAACI; namely Kwazulu-Natal (Gwyn Glaister-Heaton), Northern Territories (Jim McIntosh) and Western Cape (Riedwaan Jacobs) and it seemed fitting that all three representatives were there to attend the conference and man the exhibition stand.

Pictured here in front of the Global Conferences Africa exhibition stand are Gwyn Glaister-Heaton (KZN Operations Manager, GCA); Laura Saeger (SA Tourism, USA); Tina Herold (SA Tourism, Europe); Riedwaan Jacobs (Western Cape Operations Manager, GCA); Eric Lewanavanua (SA Tourism, Australia); Donna Abberley (SA Tourism, UK); Jim McIntosh (National Sales Manager, GCA) and Taubie Motlhabane (SA Tourism, SA).
The conference was hosted by professional MC & Motivational Speaker Michael Jackson and (eventually) opened by the Mayor of Tshwane, Dr Gwen Ramokgopa (the one who’s daughter was arrested a few months ago for alleged possession of dagga and biting a police officer).

The Awards Ceremony was held at The Barnyard Theatre at Menlyn on the Monday night and Global received excellent exposure. A R10, 000 cheque was presented to the Chairman of the SAACI National Board to help fund the SAACI Student Bursary Programme. In case anyone is wondering about the leather jacket, the theme of the evening was 1987, which is the same year the jacket was purchased.

Having just donated R10k to the Student Bursary Programme, the image, reputation and status of Global Conferences Africa was given a further boost as Gwyn Glaister-Heaton was presented with the coveted Fellowship Award. This is in recognition of Gwyn’s unerring dedication, commitment and hard work as a mentor to SAACI bursary students.

All in all the SAACI Annual Conference was a resounding success for Global Conferences Africa. We not only received great exposure, but we forged new friendships, reinforced existing ones and as a patron member of SAACI we have further established our position as market leader. Going forward, we can only go from strength to strength.

The month of June proved to be yet another month of frenzied activity at Global and we couldn’t even blame Sepp Blatter of Danny Jordaan!

NEW APPOINTMENTS
On the HR front, Elizabeth Zongo has moved on to new pastures. Consequently Kgomotso Moreki has been transferred from Office Administrator to Accommodation Liaison, reporting to Filomena van Diggelen.

Kgomotso’s transfer has paved the way for Unathi Mvana (pictured here) to join the Global team on a permanent basis. Unathi joined the TIO Academy on the 12th of June 2008 and has been at Global under Donne Holmes’ mentorship for the past 12 months. She has now successfully completed her Tourism Certificate, has graduated from the TIO Academy and has taken over from Kgomotso as the Johannesburg branch’s Office Administrator. Everyone at Global would like to give Unathi a warm welcome and congratulate her on her appointment.

Belinda Lamprecht’s departure from the Cape Town branch has enabled us to welcome back a prodigal son, Riedwaan Jacobs. Riedwaan not only worked for Global from 2005 – 2008 as a Senior Co-ordinator, but also brings 13 year’s worth of industry experience. Congratulations and a warm welcome to Riedwaan from the Global team!
The growth of Global Conferences Africa continues with the appointments of Fazlin Adams as the Central Services Co-ordinator for the Cape Town branch and Raeesa Hoosen as the Delegate Liaison for the Durban branch.

DELEGATE BOOSTING
The Global Conferences Africa staff have also been busy travelling to all points of the globe in a bid to boost delegate numbers for forthcoming international conferences that we are organising.

Johannesburg Senior Conference Co-ordinator Charlene Malama was first to pack her bags and hop on a plane to Israel’s capital city, Tel Aviv.

Global Conferences Africa have been appointed as PCO for the Financial Services Board hosting of the International Organization of Securities Commissions Annual Conference for 800 delegates in Cape Town from the 17th – 21st of April 2011.

As a result of this appointment the FSB decided to invite Charlene to International Organization of Securities Commission Annual Conference in Israel – Tel Aviv to invite delegates to South Africa for the IOSCO 2011 event and meet the International Organising Committee. GCA handed out flyers of the IOSCO 2011 conference.

What an experience!!! There were social functions every night from the 8th – 11th of June 2009. These included:

Israel: A Cultural Mosaic in Gan Hapisga, Old Jaffa (outdoors)
Walk, Wine & Dine, Sightseeing Tours and inner around Tel Aviv (option of different restaurants)
Gala Dinner at the David’s Tower Museum – honorable guest Mr. Shimon Peres, President of Israel (outdoors)
Dinner & Dancing a Farewell Event at the Arca Club, Tel Aviv Port

The Financial Services Board together with Global Conferences Africa will be doing a live invitation at IOSCO 2010 in Montreal from 6 – 10 June.

Next to pack his bags for warmer climes was National Sales Manager Jim McIntosh. Global Conferences Africa have been appointed by The Paediatric Cardiac Society of South Africa as PCO for the 6th World Congress on Paediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery to be held in Cape Town from the 17th – 22nd of February 2013. The 5th World Congress was held in Cairns, Australia from the 21st – 26th of June. Cairns is home to the Great Barrier Reef, The Cairns Convention Centre and not very much else.
The Conference organisers kindly gave us prominent space for our stand right next-door to the Registration area and not “lost” in amongst all the other exhibitors.
The social events programme consisted of an opening ceremony on the first night and a “Beyond the Barrier” experience on the final night. This evening consisted of:

A live band
An aboriginal dance show
A trip around the rainforest in an amphibious vehicle left over from World War 2
Food stalls offering various types of international cuisine, Including “Ozzie Tucker” (i.e. meat pies and steak rolls)
Some animal enclosures (crocodiles, kangaroos, koalas etc.)

There was no real structure to the evening and definitely no sign of a Gala Dinner or closing ceremony.

Much to the conference organisers’ disgust the undoubted highlight of the social events was the (SA Tourism sponsored) wine tasting that took place on our stand from 4pm – 6pm on a daily basis. We had a nice choice of a Lourensford merlot or a Rietvallei sauvignon blanc, together with genuine, 100% South African biltong (bought in Brisbane, nogal!)

Anyone who has ever tasted beef (or kangaroo!!) jerky will attest to the superior taste and quality of South African biltong. An Italian delegate even said he preferred it to carpaccio!

Apart from the obvious popularity of the wine and biltong, Cape Town as a tourist and conference destination was also particularly well received and did not need the “hard-sell” to any of the international delegates. Given the remoteness of Australia in general and Cairns in particular, Cape Town and indeed South Africa as a whole is seen as a much easier journey for most international travellers. Negative perceptions of this beautiful country were few and far between, the biggest challenge was making sure the home-sick expat South African cardiologists didn’t hog all the wine and biltong!

From a PCO perspective Global Conferences Africa have little to worry about if this is the best that Australia can offer in terms of Professional Conference Organising. This conference was organised by one of the top 3 PCO’s in Australia, was 8 years in the planning and was so inferior to the Global way that it is scary!

INCREASE IN GLOBAL CONFEENCES AFRICA'S SAACI REPRESENTATION
The Northern Territories Board (NTB) of SAACI held it’s Annual General Meeting on the 18th of June. We are delighted to announce that after some careful lobbying by Brian McDonald, Jim McIntosh was nominated, seconded and subsequently elected to join the SAACI NTB Committee.

This means that Global Conferences Africa is now represented in three of the four SAACI branches; namely Kwazulu-Natal (Gwyn Glaister-Heaton), Northern Territories (Jim McIntosh) and Western Cape (Riedwaan Jacobs).

The weekend of 27th – 28th March saw Global Conferences Africa hold it’s inaugral annual conference, meticulously planned and run by Donne Holmes, the Regional Operations Manager for Gauteng, ably assisted by Esmare Cloete, one of the Gauteng branch’s conference coordinators. Donne’s negotiating skills saw the Conference facilities provided free of charge by Southern Sun at The Riverside Hotel in Vanderbijl Park.

The conference got underway with a light finger food lunch at the GCA office on the 3rd Floor of the TIO Head Office. This was not only a free lunch but was also an excellent opportunity for the GCA regional staff to meet some of the key players in the TIO team and to see where GCA sit in the larger scheme of things. Introductions were made by Martin Wiest, Belinda Pedersen-Smith, Bryan Coetzee, Dieter Holle, Chantel De Ridder, Tracey Salvadori and Julian Janssen. Even one of the Tourvest Directors, Khehla Mthembu (pictured here with Belinda, Melanie & Martin) took time out of his busy schedule to come and meet the team.

Transport to The Riverside Hotel was kindly provided by Future Coaches, a long time supplier and partner of GCA. Unfortunately the Jo’burg Friday afternoon traffic ensured that the conference didn’t exactly start with the customary military precision you’d expect from a GCA conference but there were copious amounts of theatrical flair!
The conference opened with Al Pacino’s rousing team talk from the movie ‘Any Given Sunday’. The conference budget didn’t quite have the provision for the man himself but the soundclip did a great job!

Melanie then went on to welcome everyone and introduce the conference theme ‘ Back To Basics’ and an outline of the programme ahead. She then gave a brief explanation about Angels Over Africa and the various charities that TIO support. Until now, GCA have not really gotten involved but that is definitely going to change. The Easter Egg collection was used as an example of what can be achieved and it was also suggested that the Cape Town & Durban branches find charities that they could support in their regions.

We then got down to the nitty-gritty of the conference with Key Performance Areas and Work Flows being the main items on the agenda.
The Conference closed for the day promptly at around 5.45-ish, giving the male minority enough time to get a head start in the bar before meeting for a Cocktail Party hosted by The Riverside Hotel. What we didn’t realise was that the cocktail party was part of a Bridal Expo, consequently GCA’s attendance was limited. The ODI between South Africa and Australia being shown on the bar’s big screen TV may have also played a small part in this change of plan.
The braai organised by our hosts at The Riverside Hotel suffered from no such competition. A magnificent feast was laid on for GCA on the banks of the Vaal River – plenty of food, plenty of beverages and lots of fun. For those staff members who weren’t warming themselves up from the inside, there was even a bonfire that would have got Guy Fawkes rushing for his fire extinguisher.

Saturday started too early for some with breakfast in the restaurant at 07h30, followed by a site visit of the property at 08h15.
Donne’s excellent negotiating skills were once again put to good use, as she was able to secure the services of Michael Goldman, a senior lecturer from the University of Pretoria’s the Gordon Institute of Business Science, for the cost of a tank of petrol. He lectures, researches and consults in the area of Marketing, including topics such as Marketing Strategy & Management, Customer Centricity, and Sports Marketing and Sponsorship. He is a regular commentator on marketing-related issues in the media and has published widely.

A team building activity involving an imaginary bird, paper clips, plastic straws, a box of matches and an egg followed an informative, interesting and entertaining presentation by Michael. Needless to say the results of this activity varied a great deal and were both fascinating and entertaining.

Melanie then gave a detailed and personal presentation on herself, where she comes from and how she got where she is today. A question and answer session followed this very personal and in-depth presentation that was doubtless very challenging for Melanie, but that was of enormous benefit to the staff and the company as a whole.
Prior to lunch the group again split into teams, with the object of the session being to share one another’s life experiences and explaining how each team member ended up in their current position.

The afternoon session involved a group activity called “What are you awesome at?” This was another very enlightening session where everyone learnt something new about his or her friends and colleagues, sometimes surprising, sometimes shocking but always interesting!

The afternoon session ended with a Supplier Workshop attended by Conference Communications, Sketch Advertising, Southern Sun, Legacy Hotels, NichePro, Future Coaches and American Express Foreign Exchange. Each supplier was given 10 minutes with each team of four or five people, in order to showcase their products and/or services.

The afternoon ended with a few drinks in the bar with the suppliers and the Big Screen TV. It’s a dirty job but somebody has to do it and the GCA team was resolute in it’s willingness to take on this arduous task.

A long and busy weekend came to a close on the Saturday night with an excellent formal dinner in the hotel’s restaurant, a few bottles of wine, a few words from Donne and a few words from Melanie.

Given all the changes and turmoil of recent months, the timing of this conference cold not have been better. Everybody learned alot about themselves, about each other and about the company. As both a team-building exercise and a learning experience the event was a resounding success and the positive energy that was generated is still in full flow!

The next conference is planned for 2010, to be planned and managed by the Cape Town Operations branch, venue to be announced, destination Cape Town!

The year has started off with a flurry of activity at Global Conferences Africa as a major restructuring takes place.
Melanie Campbell has been appointed Managing Director of Global Conferences Africa, the events and conferencing division of Tourvest Inbound Operations.

Campbell, who has over 20 years experience in the conferencing industry, was the company’s general manager of Gauteng. She has worked for Global Conferences Africa since 2006, following Tourvest’s acquisition of Event Dynamics Africa, where she served as Managing Director.

Over her 20 years in the industry Melanie actively pursued, won and managed many large conferences including the International Anti Corruption Conference for 1 500 participants, the World Seed Congress for 1 200, two World Criminal Investigation Conferences each for 1 000 participants, the International Association of Agricultural Economists for 900 participants and the Department of Labour National Skills Development Conference for 3 500 participants. She also won the tender to stage the opening ceremony for the 2006 International Diabetes Congress that was attended by 12 000 delegates.

Belinda Lamprecht, Gwyn Glaister-Heaton and Donne Holmes have been appointed as Operations Manager for Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg respectively in a move designed to improve synergies and communication between these three branches.
At the same time, Jim McIntosh has been appointed National Sales Manager in order to give the company a fresh approach to its sales and marketing strategies.

“With this well calculated move we have created an organisation that is now well poised to move into 2010 and beyond with well trained, highly motivated staff that are willing to assist any event organiser with their event requirements, whether they be in the corporate, government or association industries”” said managing director Melanie Campbell.

Global Conferences Africa’s empowerment has been further strengthened since Tourvest was purchased by Robert Gumede’s Guma Tourism group. Both Tourvest and Global Conferences Africa have now achieved Level 2 Contributor Status as rated by the Department of Trade and Industry’s BEE Balanced Scoreboard.
New Business acquisitions so far this year include:

The SANRAL PIARC International Seminar & Technical Committee Meetings at the Cape Town International Convention Centre
The ASSA and the TWAS Academy of Science and Technology at the Durban ICC
The 2nd World Security Conference at the Cape Town International Convention Centre
The SITA Govtech 2009 to be held at the Durban ICC.

We have also been awarded the contract as Housing Bureau for The Loerie Awards 2009 to be held in Cape Town.
Global Conferences Africa held it’s own inaugral annual conference on the 28th/29th of March, flawlessly planned and managed by Donne Holmes and Esmare Cloete in just a matter of weeks. Watch this space for more details……………….