BUSY TIMES AT GLOBAL CONFERENCES AFRICA

The months of June and July have proved to bring more times of frenzied activity at Global Conferences Africa  and we couldn’t even blame the FIFA Confederations Cup!

NEW APPOINTMENTS On the HR front, Elizabeth Zongo has moved on to pastures new. 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 a few months ago has enabled us to welcome back a prodigal son, Riedwaan Jacobs. Riedwaan not only worked for Global from 2005 - 2008 as a Senior Conference Co-ordinator, but also brings with him 13 year’s worth of industry experience. Congratulations and a warm welcome to Riedwaan from the Global Conferences Africa team! The growth of Global Conferences Africa has continued further  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. And finally, the latest addition to Global Conferences Africa is Caroline Banda. Originally from Zambia, Caroline came to South Africa in 2005. She has previously worked for Procter & Gamble in the Customer Logistics, the Shipping and the Data Analysis Departments. From the 1st of June she has been employed by Global Conferences Africa in Johannesburg as a Central Services Co-ordinator. Everyone at Global Conferences Africa welcomes Caroline and wish her all the best in her new position.

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 the 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 climates 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.)

One of the unplanned social events was the wine tasting sponsored by South African Tourism that took place on our stand from 4pm - 6pm daily. 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!

GLOBAL CONFERENCES AFRICA GROWS IT’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 Deputy Chairman 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).

With events totalling in excess of 10,000 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 were served and were all up to the usual standards you’d expect from Moyo.

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 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 already 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 a market leader in the conferencing industry. Going forward, we can only go from strength to strength.