The state of South Africa's not-so-fly conference Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi - or lack thereof - is often a sore point in SA. For example, yesterday I asked my friends on Facebook, "Wi-Fi in South Africa? Good, bad or ugly? (Please discuss)".

Answers ranged from "The Wi-Fi in my office is borderline pathetic; at home though, it's brilliant," to "It's iffy in most cases", and "if we were on a par with UK and USA it would be wonderful, why are we not the same?"

Why not, indeed. But poor quality Wi-Fi's even more of a pain point when it comes to the marketing and media industry. Particularly when you're attending an event and the Wi-Fi is so spotty you just can't live-tweet/blog and have to tag your photos with '#latergram'.

Conference organisers, here's why your media attendees need good Wi-Fi

Just this week, Liron Segev, Editor of TheTechieGuy, winner of best SA tech blog 2012 and 2013 as well as best advice blog in Africa 2014 at the South African Blog Awards, tweeted:

"One day. in the future. we will have working Wi-Fi at an event... one day..."

This really hit home for me. Just a few months ago I attended one of the biggest local tech events (name withheld to protect shoddy Wi-Fi provider). It was highly hyped due to the fact that we were having a special guest speaker over conference call. Sadly, the conference call was spotty at best, with patches of poor video and audio.

Segev agrees that it's all the more disappointing when official event 'Wi-Fi sponsor' is punted and just doesn't live up to the promise. But that's not all...

Conference attendees of today live on their laptops, smartphones and tablets

Segev asserts that all-day events should not be based in theatre-style auditoriums, but rather in venues with ample tables and power plugs, as he's "tired of balancing everything on my lap."

It's a valid point, because once the laptop dies down you're left with a frantic, often illegible scribble in the semi-dark.

Sadly, it's not just the conference attendees who are affected by poor quality Wi-Fi.
Mike Stopforth, CEO at Cerebra (@cerebra) and author of BrandSchizo, is a regular speaker at local media and marketing conferences.

When I tackled Stopforth on the topic, he explained that from a conference speaker's perspective, "bad Wi-Fi is a lose-lose situation. Speakers lose exposure, organisers lose brand awareness." And the reason? It's all because: "Audiences want to broadcast their experiences."

Are you listening, conference organisers?

Click here for a reminder of other conference organisation tips from Terry Sutherland, founder of RSVP Agency.