The 5th Annual PAMRO Conference

The South African Advertising Research Foundation (SAARF) says that they will be flexible with the early bird registration cut off date, originally intended for 30 June, "for some time" as they are aware of quite a number of delegates who have not registered due to a variety of factors such as delays in getting approval from their employers, with foreign exchange transfers, etc. If you haven't registered yet, please visit the www.pamro.org website and do so as soon as possible.

The objectives of PAMRO include the creation of a forum for industry bodies, media research providers, media owners, marketers and advertising agencies in various African countries to exchange knowledge, to learn from one-another's successes and failures, to ensure the highest quality and to harmonize African research methodologies, all of which will eventually contribute to a continental media research database. This will make Africa the leader in the world in providing a single research database for the growing number of global media owners, marketers and advertising agencies.

African countries that are PAMRO participants include Zimbabwe, Kenya, Mauritius, Namibia, Botswana, Tanzania, Uganda, Nigeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Benin, Burkina Faso, Zambia, Mozambique and South Africa. Organizations such as the BBC and Canal France International (CFI) have continental representation.

PAMRO's organiser and vice-president, Piet Smit, said, "this year the event will be held on the island of Mauritius at the elegant Le Mauricia Hotel, Grand Baie, from Sunday 3 to Wednesday 6 August. The theme for this conference is 'Going beyond basics'."

Smit explained that in the first four years of its existence, PAMRO had concentrated its conference efforts on getting the basics of media research right. He said the PAMRO Board had now decided the time was ripe to move ahead with more advanced topics and techniques, including, for example, designing better sampling methods and resolving specific problems.

"We have negotiated a special travel and accommodation package," advised Smit, "comprising return air ticket and 3 nights accommodation at the conference hotel on a dinner, bed and breakfast basis and including the opportunity for delegates to extend their stay at favourable rates. For more details about the package, contact Donna Isaacs at .

For further information on the conference, contact Mluleki Ncube at . You can also contact him via the Website.

This year's event will be hosted by Alchemy Ltd and Analysis Research.