Events & Conferencing News South Africa

Events Summit rescheduled

First it was called Events Indaba, then it was renamed to Events Summit and the date shifted from end of October 2008 to November. Since then, it has been rescheduled to 21 - 23 July 2009, based on input from both event buyers and suppliers, to take account of completed school holidays plus two important sports fixtures at Coca-Cola Park.

These are the 2009 Confederations Cup and the third and final test between the British Lions and the Springboks in early July, which will be part of the summit's debriefing panel. Both these high profile sporting fixtures will provide feedback on the surrounding events that will have taken place, as well as this high capacity (60 000 +) stadium's preparation and readiness going forward.

Theme

The main theme of the summit is to “Establish a Recognised Credible SA Events Industry”. To achieve the theme, the workshop sessions allow for the supplier industry to register for inclusion on a database. Also, the inclusion for the most experienced and professional suppliers to complete an RPL (Recognition of Prior Learning) will be decided by the supplier industry.

The corporate event managers' collective decision is for the Events Summit to initially revert to an online familiarisation and participation build-up, with regular email reminders to check the latest on its website, www.eventssumitt.co.za.

Commented one senior events manager, who has agreed to be on the Summits Advisory Panel, “The importance of the Events Summit outcomes is of such a pivotal nature that the many different types of suppliers should be communicated with online in regard to their understanding of the tremendous advantages for establishing a credible events industry... then the summit will have a far greater impact both nationally in particular as well as internationally.”

Survey

According to organisers, a recent in-depth one-on-one SA event survey has revealed a more realistic picture regarding the size differentials between the private and public sector event spend. The large staging and production suppliers, plus the well-known event production and management organisations, confirm that the corporate sector is where the big ticket annual event spend is placed.

While the public sector is indeed the larger spender on events - the private sector is by far the greater consumer of event products and services.

The SA government and their agencies spend more on the hospitality products and services such as air travel, accommodation and food and beverage, and the spend of event products and services is not significant in comparison to that of the corporate market.

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