The African Way

In the week of August 18th, the first ever AIPC Africa Academy was held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC). The 25 percipients covered all functional areas – from sales to operations – allowing to exchange knowledge on the full convention centre value chain. It was also a unique opportunity to get a better understanding of the South African market landscape. Below are some key learnings.

The events industry in South Africa is in good shape and is continuously increasing the quality of its services. While there are regional differences, South Africa has some world-class infrastructure, meeting the requirements of the most demanding customers. 

At the same time, the country does face several real and perceived challenges. The real challenges are mainly related to ‘hardware’: the quality and reliability of energy supply, communication networks or transport infrastructure is not consistent throughout the country. The perceived challenges are a different story. Often based on completely incorrect information and amplified by mainstream and social media, the wildest stories go viral (e.g., civil war going on in South Africa). 

During a panel debate with three South African event organizers, other challenges became clear. Like long haul destinations like, for example, Australia, South-Africa is seeing lower attendance figures when it comes to international meetings, mainly related to travel costs, combined with an increased awareness around sustainability. This means that in order to attract more meetings, even more attention needs to go to the needs of the client and its international delegates. Obviously, this is something which can only be achieve if all parties involved closely collaborate. 

Interestingly, there was also a consensus that clients need more guidance when it comes to making their events successful, also on the financial front. So instead of asking a 120 percent service level at a 60 percent cost, it would be in the interest of all parties involved to make sure that there is a realistic view on expected outcomes and the services required for making this happen. Venues play a key role in this. Sustainability is another topic where clients and service providers need to come to clear agreements. For example: opting for water stations without cups, whereby delegates are expected bring their own refillable bottle, might sound nice but does not work as well as it sounds. 

There are of course opportunities as well. In an environment where values such as inclusiveness and community engagement are becoming ever more important, due to the rise of value-driven generations, the events industry has an opportunity to become an employer of choice, if – and that is the key success factor – the employers walk the talk. Another opportunity, specifically for PCOs, is to become a regional or even global centres of expertise and excellence. Technology now allows one to leverage the expertise of South African event professionals on a global scale, with the relatively low labour cost as a clear advantage. Already, South African companies are doing graphic design, registration, et cetera for event organizers globally, and this is expected to expand going forward. This can be of significant benefit for the South African events industry on different levels: from revenues generation to becoming a global knowledge hub.

In short, the South African events industry is active and agile, seizing the opportunities as they come along and making full use of all the assets it has. This makes it a fascinating environment and provides a world of opportunities for upcoming talent. Events like the AIPC Academy are therefore necessary to bring all stakeholders together and learn from each other. We look forward to the next edition.

 

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Taubie Motlhabane
CEO of Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC)

Sven Bossu
CEO of the International Association of Convention Centres (AIPC) 

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