Design Africa

The gift of the business gab - 5 Oct 2015

By Leigh Andrews

We start off with an exclusive from Louise Marsland...The Mail & Guardian has appointed seasoned journalist, editor and digital strategist Verashni Pillay as its new Editor-in-Chief. It's hoped that Pilllay will reinvigorate the brand and steer the publication "back to its roots", following a raft of retrenchments, recent cutbacks and falling circulation.

On the topic of professionalism, Marion Scher shares tips that'll make the difference between a brilliant or boring speech, especially with today's ever-distracted audience, such as keeping the speech short, keeping it personal and using humour - but not starting with a joke.

Daniel Munslow adds his views on the evolution of business communication, with feedback from the recent International Association of Public Relations' Congress, where he was one of a handful of speakers at the largest PR conference of its kind hosted in Africa. Key changes are the need for in-house communication development, as well as more strategic planning and thinking training.

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Leigh Andrews

Leigh Andrews

Andrews was on the inaugural Marketer of the Year (MOTY) jury for the 2019 Marketing Achievement Awards (MAA) as well as an #Inspiring50 2018 nominee herself, and judged over 500 entries for the most recent Epica Awards - the only creative prize awarded by journalists working for marketing and communications magazines around the world. She's also serving on the IAB (SA)'s #Bookmarks2020 Publisher panel.

Responsible for keeping a finger on the pulse of the latest happenings in the marketing and media industry, this is an almost 24/7 role that involves keeping one eye on your inbox with the other on your social media feed, to write breaking news stories and interviewing key people in the B2B space.

All made easier by 13 years of working for companies such as Microsoft, Kagiso Media, Fleet Street Publications, the Mail & Guardian Online, Caxton Community Newspapers and Newsclip's media, marketing and PR publications.

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