International A-list blogger roadshow for SA

Simon Barber from the International Marketing Council (IMC) of South Africa and Brand South Africa is putting together a South African roadshow of big-name international, mostly US-based, bloggers, writes Matthew Buckland, outgoing GM of the Mail & Guardian Online, on his blog.

The brainchild of Barber, who is based in Washington DC and is the US IMC country manager, it is anticipated that the roadshow will take place around about the end of November/beginning of December this year under the auspices of the IMC. It is being planned by local journalist Graeme Addison.

“It will be great to see local bloggers and media networking with some of the world's top bloggers here. We saw Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales in the country last year and Lawrence Lessig from Creative Commons the year previous to that and those turned out to be inspirational,” Buckland told Bizcommunity.com yesterday, Monday, 21 July 2008.

“Planning is at an advanced stage. Budgets have been approved and the trip is being arranged by Blodgett Communications in San Francisco, who put together a similar bloggers' tour to Israel earlier this year.”

According to Buckland, Barber who blogs on his own blog IZWI and Thought Leader, previously organised a tour here of well-known US journalists.

Buckland, who has been assisting Barber with ideas, names and contacts, is calling for suggestions of who should participate on his blog. “Also, if you're interested in getting involved in this in any way, then please also let us know here too,” he writes.

• Adapted from original blog post on 21 July 2008