MAMMOTH BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE (BI) NAMES LAUREN SHANTALL (PTY) LTD AS ITS PREFERRED COMMUNICATIONS AGENCY FOR BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE AND BIG DATA CONFERENCE

Lauren Shantall (Pty) Ltd is proud to be managing the social media and communications for the two-day Mammoth BI Conference held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) on November 17 – 18, 2014. The two-day conference and workshop will house some of the world’s foremost thought leaders in Business Intelligence, Big Data and Analytics.

The Lauren Shantall (Pty) Ltd stable of clients also include top local décor and lifestyle brands such Plascon, Inhouse Brand Architects, Willowlamp, Indigenus, GreenFin/MediFin and Probio. Lauren Shantall (Pty) Ltd provides an integrated communications offering, spanning social, digital and traditional marketing and perception management, also focusing on design and environmental clients.

Head of Business Intelligence at Saratoga, Mammoth BI Founder and Curator and self-proclaimed alchemist at TEDx Cape Town, Jason Haddock said, ‘The focus for the Mammoth BI Conference is to build a strong BI community in South Africa, dispel myths around conventional ideas on Big Data, create, and harvest a local community understanding in Business Intelligence’.

PRESS RELEASE ISSUED BY: Lauren Shantall (Pty) Ltd

What has Talent Management and Organisational Energy have in common?

Well, Service delivery for one thing! And Service Delivery is a Hot Topic because it impacts all of us! Organisations worldwide are currently experiencing a complex and dynamic environment in which most businesses must compete to remain sustainable. Most of these organisations realise that their competitive advantage lies within their intangible assets, namely employees (Chabault, Hulin & Soparnot, 2012; Collings & Mellahi, 2009; Kaye &Smith, 2012). Talent and brainpower are thus becoming the predominant currency in the new era of globalisation (Cheese, Thomas and Graig, 2008; Tymon, Stumpf & Doh, 2010; Sahai & Srivastava, 20

‘Act Local but think Global’ was Professor Nicolene Barkhuizens' crisp reply to my question ‘What makes this Year's Talent Blueprint Conference organised by Northwest University, Mafeking Campus so special?’

'We all aspire to Global Best Practice on Sustainable Talent Management, but each industry and organisation and even Country has its own unique challenges. We invited internationally acclaimed thought Leaders to speak at this conference like Professor Lidewey van der Linde as well as Local Experts, like Dr Lynne Derman, who is a renowned expert in the field of organisational energy and whose Doctoral Study was the first to investigate organizational energy in the South African context.’

‘In her study Lynne also found that Organisational energy can enhance the well-being of employees in South African organisations. Since completing her PhD Lynne has done a lot of consulting in organizational energy and has also validated a measure thereof for the South African context. Her research as well as her expertise in organisational energy makes an important contribution towards creating new knowledge in field as well as important practical contributions for organisations.’

The Talent Blueprint Conference is being held on 16-17 October at the Sunnyside Hotel in Parklands, Gauteng. Nicolene has about 100 scientific publications which include books, chapters in textbooks, journal articles and peer reviewed conference proceedings. Nicolene regularly participate as keynote speaker at various business conferences. She is a registered industrial psychologist and global remuneration practitioner.

If you haven't heard about it let me tell you more. Cybatar is a new social networking and collaboration application that allows users to send SMS messages to mobile phones for free. The network also allows users to share document files besides media files which is uncommon with all available social networks.

The company responsible for this product has developed their first application, being made available on stores and only available on Android devices for now. The development team on Red Diamond World is confident that it has developed an awesome product which will go viral a soon as the public becomes aware of it.

Cybatar comes as a more innovative service, on a different market with common social networking websites Facebook and Twitter and is not looking to substitute them but co-exist with them as the are very important especially for companies and professionals to increase their online presence which is a contribution Cybatar will make to users. This shows that Red Diamond World is in this for the long-run like big internet companies Facebook, Amazon and Google.Users can find the application on various Android application stores from today.

The application will reach more stores as time goes by and more application for Apple and Windows devices will be developed. Cybatar is currently available on HTML5 for all devices with internet access on http://www.cybatar.com and users are able to access all features.

09 October 2014 | Durban, South Africa

Social By The Sea presents

A social media evening  for Durban #SocialByTheSea  

Coming soon is a social media evening for Durban.  Delegates will be able to learn best case practices. This event is perfect for those in advertising, marketing experts, ceo’s, government departments, school heads, ngo’s, entrepreneurs, small business and anyone who wants to learn about social media.  The workshop will feature leading industry speakers, including Fred Felton (Falconscove) and Nazareen Ebrahim (Socially Acceptable). Emma Sadlier –Media law consultant and speaker will be joining us.  She is the co-author of ‘Don’t’ Film yourself having Sex’.  Mike Wronski will also be joining us via Skype to chat South African Internet and Social Media Stats.

Date: 15 October 2014    

Time: 6:30pm  Cost: R50 (Discounts to IDEA Members)
Venue: IT Varsity, 8th Floor, Sage Life House, 21 Joe Slovo Street (Old Name – Field Street)
DurbanTopic: State of Social Media in South Africa for Business                                                                                                                

Please RSVP by 14 October 2014

Tickets and more info: www.socialbythesea.blogspot.com 

About Nazareen Ebrahim Socially Acceptable is headed by Nazareen Ebrahim who has a long career in media & communications. The agency, under the umbrella of Naz Consulting – Corporate.Media.Academia, offers the core services of digital media content, PR and Media liaison.  Socially Acceptable has worked with: Topco Media, Picasso Inline, DUT, South African Institute of Chartered Accountants, Harbour View Super Spar, Radio Al-Ansaar, The Journey Foundation, Durban Chamber of Commerce, Newsclip Media Monitoring, BWA, immedia, among many others.

About Fred Felton Falconscove is headed by Fred Felton who owns this media agency based in Durban.  With over 10 years in the business you can be assured of professional work.  The agency provides services such as digital media, social media, copywriting, pr, publicity, blogs, media consulting and communications strategy.  Falconscove has worked with:  Durban Chamber of Commerce, Native, Twitter Blanket Drive, PSASA among many others.  

For more details or sponsorship enquiries: 

Website: www.socialbythesea.blogspot.com
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Cell: 076-977-5788
Twitter: @socialbythesea
Facebook: Social By The Sea
#SocialByTheSea

Media Enquiries and Interview Requests: Fred Felton, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , phone 076-977-5788, twitter @fredfelton  

17 and 18 November 2014 will be key days for not only South Africa’s Business Intelligence community, but for anyone who wants to learn how Big Data and Analytics can bring big business results. These are the dates set for Cape Town to host Mammoth BI (http://mammothbi.co.za), a dynamic 2-day conference themed ‘Big Data in Action’ that will see global thought leaders and local experts share their insights in an exciting new IT conferencing model!

The conference aims to myth-bust conventional ideas of Big Data and Analytics and to create an informed local community understanding the latest in Business Intelligence. Speakers include prominent local business leaders and global industry heavyweights including a trio of top PhD’s - Marc Smith (Chief Social Scientist at Connected Action Consulting Group in Silicon Valley), Eric Siegel (author of best-selling publication “Predictive Analytics”), and Data Warehousing Analyst Barry Devlin (author of the book “Business UnIntelligence”). They’ll be joining a significant line-up of handpicked heavyweights that sees Anthony Miller (CEO of Lightstone Group) and Dr Jasper Horrell (General Manager for Science Computing at the Square Kilometer Array, or SKA) sharing insights from their wealth of industry expertise. 

Jason Haddock, founder of Mammoth BI and a member of the TEDx Cape Town team, will ensure that this is no ordinary conference. Drawing from his experience with TEDx, he has implemented an unconventional, interactive approach to the event. Speakers will need to deliver key thoughts in no more than 20 minutes and workshops will be held throughout the conference. The workshops will facilitate networking and a practical understanding of Business Intelligence and Analytics. 

With tickets selling for only R700, the conference aims to appeal to not only IT specialists and general businesses but also to students. Education, collaboration and the desire to make the notion of Big Data accessible has been the organizer’s focus. What’s more Mammoth BI is giving away 100 free tickets to students as further evidence of its commitment to boosting education.

The conference is a must for anyone who wishes to know how to practically adopt Big Data, BI and Analytics to work towards their competitive advantage. Keynote presentations will take place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, with breakaway workshops to be held at other venues in the city, to be announced as part of the conference programme. Watch http://mammothbi.co.za for real-time updates on speakers and venues. And remember; don’t think big, think MAMMOTH!   Tickets are available online at MammothBI or through Quicket.

EVENT DETAILS:

Date: 17 & 18 November 2014 Main Programme

Venue:  Cape Town International Convention Centre Workshop

Venues: To be Announced as part of the conference programme

More info: http://mammothbi.co.za

[ENDS]

About Mammoth BI:

Mammoth BI - http://mammothbi.co.za - is a two-day ‘Big Data in Action’ Conference. The event, hosted in Cape Town on the 17th and 18th of November 2014, will bring global industry experts together with local leaders to share the latest in Business Intelligence.  

PRESS RELEASE ISSUED BY: Lauren Shantall (Pty) Ltd

Contact:
Leon Jamarie
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Tel: 021 685 1382

A new innovative technology company has been born in South Africa, from the capital city or let me say the silicon city Pretoria. Pretoria is one of the first cities to provide free internet access through wifi to its residents and it is no surprise that one of the world's social networks has been created there.

A South African internet start-up, Red Diamond World has partnered with other companies in the launch of Cybatar, a new social network available to everyone with internet access on mobile or computer. The website launches on 07 October 2014 at midnight and they invite everyone to sign up for accounts. This social network will run from trusted servers and and the company assures users of security as they use the site. A unique feature that the social network comes with is the ability to also share .PDF and .doc documents which Facebook, Twitter and other social networks do not do. This means that users will not have to use email to leave the social network to email websites and other file-sharing sites to share files making life easier.

The social network also brings solutions for companies and professionals to increase their online presence. Social and online marketing experts advise companies to utilize website and social platforms to reach more people and Cybatar comes as another website that will have a great impact on you online presence.

Be part of the first group to register for accounts. Visit www.cybatar.com and register today.

Companies of all sizes and in every industry are quickly adopting video conferencing as a way to stay connected, increase productivity and cut costs in these difficult economic times. As prices on conferencing equipment drop and the technology becomes easier to use video conferencing is gradually becoming an efficient way for business to communicate with employees,customers and sales prospects. Below are a few benefits of adopting videoconferencing as part of your everyday operations. 

1. Increases Productivity Most conferencing systems now have features that allow users to share and edit documents, PowerPoint, Visio, etc., in real-time.The ability to easily share and collaborate within various formats has added another dynamic to video communications previously not possible. Decisions are made faster, products or services are brought to market quicker, and your sales cycle can be reduced. These benefits help increase sales, improve operational efficiency and allow businesses to stay ahead of their competitors.
   
   
2. Saves Money An additional tangible benefit of video conferencing is businesses can start saving money by reducing travel expenses. With a videolink your employees can maintain relationships and conduct business globally without increasing your carbon footprint or spending money on airline fare,lodging and meals. Adopting a video conferencing program is a great way to promote your company is “going green”
   
   
3. Keeps Employees Connected Video communication helps retain valuable employees who have to relocate or need to work from home a few days. This definitely saves on costly retraining or recruiting fees associated with hiring a new employee. It also allows those employees who are on the road a lot to quickly keep track of new policies, developments and add insights to the day-to-day operations. Being limited by geography is a thing of the past
   
   
4. Improve and Maintain Business Relationships Unlike traditional conference calls, emails or texts, a live video conference allows the participants to see facial expressions and body language; meetings become a lot more personal. Most video conferencing solutions offer recordings and storage solutions which allows businesses to save and archive important online meetings. These recorded sessions can also be used as future training tools or for compliance regulations.
   
   
5. Improve Work-Life Balance Whether long distance or just overnight travel, excessive traveling can burn out employees and put strain on their families. It’s common to have a flight delayed or even cancelled, and traffic in most metropolitan areas is just as unpredictable. Video conferencing is more reliable and ensures your meetings take place on time. Avoid the headache and stress of planning the entire day to travel to a meeting and instead, just point and click. Set up a video conference and give it a try! We think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how easy it can be.

To learn more on how video conferencing can save your business contact us now.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Rick Crouch
Regional Director
Cell Phone: +27 73 418-6996
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Web: www.atlantic.co.za

During the last year, Tonya Khoury, MD of ROi Africa, has established herself as one of the most credible sources for media monitoring statistics in South Africa. Since the funeral of former president Nelson Mandela, to date, Tonya is a regular face on some of the foremost media like, SAFM, Carte Blanche, ANN7, Beeld, Associated Press, Rapport and 702, providing reliable and insightful statistics on the Oscar Pistorius Trial, the 2014 FIFA Soccer World Cup, the 2014 Elections, the Olympics, the Nkandla debacle and many more leading news stories.  

Khoury recalls how she initially started providing statistics to the media. “I was surprised by the amount of coverage the death of former president Nelson Mandela yielded and decided to share these statistics with the media. After that I started following and analyzing coverage of the Oscar Pistorius Trial I followed it from the start, devoting hours every day to finding new angles to cover to keep publishers and readers engaged, providing them to journalists, and feeding content to social media sites. Every morning and some evenings, daily stats were sent to a growing list of contacts,” she recalls.

At the beginning of the trial, she reached out to the four main media houses who own most of the channels in South Africa. The first publisher to pick up her stats, 702, asked Khoury to read them each morning on the radio show set up to cover the trial. The media quickly contacted her for more information, so they began emailing stats updates once or twice a day. “From there the demand got bigger and bigger, as new news stories and global events broke,” she adds.

According to Mathapelo Matjokana, the producer of the Afternoon Talk with Ashraf Garda Show on SAFM, one of the first media to use Tonya’s statistics on a regular basis, says that, “With the arrival of Khoury’s statistics people were able to understand, for example, the Oscar Trial better as complex legal matters were broken down into simpler terms. It also allowed them to follow the World Cup and Olympics through a bird’s eye view with these analyses.”  

Amalia Christoforou, Managing Editor of the Oscar Trial Channel (Carte Blanche) adds that Khoury’s analysis offered a simplified and entertaining comparison, giving a local and global assessment of news around the trial, as compared to other breaking news. Joshua Carstens, producer of Afternoon Drive on Radio 702, says, “It helped me focus on what is important and what the audiences are talking about. In essence it made the scene less cluttered.”   

The producer of the Jenny Crwys-Williams Show on Radio 702, Gary Oberholzer, added that, “Certainly for our #OscarExtra presenters to be able to frame the growing or waning media interest, to describe the trends from a bird’s eye view, Tonya’s statistics were crucial. Especially on something as lengthy as this trial.“  

Christoforou agrees adding, “”The ROi Africa analysis graphically depicted the way in which the OP trial narrative and news was able to sustain local and international audiences and media attention, which is unusual for a story that has spanned so many months with so much dipping and peaking of elements of interest . A large focus of the Oscar Pistorius Channel was depiction of the way in which the narrative of the trial was digested online through digital media platforms and social media platform users. The ROI Africa stats gave us in-depth analysis of this world and the way in which it was ingesting and delivering the trial story.”

The statistics of ROi also provided the media with new avenues to generate content. Matjokana adds that, before ROi they never used to have a roundup of stories that have made headlines globally throughout the week and when she and presenter, Garda, saw the value that Khoury brought on to the show with updated and reliable statistics, “we realised that it could be of interest to our listeners”. 

Garda concurs and adds that, with the detailed, colourful, credible and immediate statistics Khoury set herself above the rest by delivering this information regularly and on the turn. “To add, Khoury was not just the communications spokesperson for the information - she was the embodiment of the statistics. She literally ‘lived’ the statistics, which showed in the way she presented her statistics over the radio. She delivered the stats in a most engaging, spontaneous manner and that's really important when dealing in the radio and TV space where information must not only be credible but it has to be delivered in a most entertaining way.”  

Laura Wiener, 702 Producer, add that what made Khoury’s statistics so crucial is the fact that it was credible – “It is important for us at the Oscar Extra channel that the statistics be credible and accurate as we would not want to be disseminating inaccurate information and statistics to our listeners,” she stresses.    

Catrine Malan, freelance journalist of the SABC, echoes this, adding that finding statistics for a case like the Oscar Pistorius Trial, isn't that hard. “What is hard is finding the experts, who are able to explain and put these statistics into context in a manner that is understandable to even a teenager sitting at home. We found that expert in Khoury. She has the ability to summarise and compare not only the most important but also most talked about statistics out there.”    

Garda concurs, adding, “I love the fact that Khoury is adept at delivering the contact via email, then chatting about in air and at the same time tweeting the information. That synergy and convergence of platforms is really important to what I do on air,” he emphasises.   Malan concludes that Khoury’s work has always been spot on. “Especially on the trending topics like Oscar / World Cup, etc. her opinions and analysis was a top quality expert opinion that we will definitely use in the future,” she concludes.  

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Tonya Khoury                                        073 874 5377
E-mail:                                                 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Twitter:                                                @tonyaroi / @roiafrica
Facebook:                                            Facebook.com/roiafrica      
Website:                                              http://www.roiafrica.com 

Companies are rapidly seeing the benefits of social media. In fact, social media is becoming indispensable for business, but with all the benefits come threats and risks as well for the workplace. Frost & Sullivan’s Global Workforce Study found that 64% of respondent companies limit employee access to social media through content filtering and website blocking technology, 51% restrict access by setting and enforcing policy and 25% have no restrictions on the use of social media by employees.  

Businesses should define clear social media usage policies, specifying who can access social media, what sites they can access, when they can access them, where they can access them and what devices they can use to access social media during work hours. There should be no room left for confusion. Policies should be clear, well defined and communicated to employees.  

Professionals who would benefit by attending include HR Managers, Digital Marketers, Chief Risk Officers, Social Media Strategists, Office Managers, Marketing Managers, HR Consultants, Employee Benefit Managers, Legal Advisors, Digital Projects Managers, e-Commerce Managers, Risk Managers to name a few...  

Rosalind Davey and Khomotso Makapane will facilitate the workshop, teaching all attendees how to understand and and mitigate the risks of social media in the workplace. Both of the facilitators are qualified attorneys from one of South Africa’s top law firms Bowman Gilfillan and specialise in employment law and Rosalind is one of the few attorneys specialising in social media law.  

During the half day workshop social media statistics, constitutional rights, RICA, freedom of expression and the law of defamation, liability for defamatory content on social media and vicarious liability, handling social media misconduct, loss of confidential information and contacts as well as mitigating the risks of social media will be addressed. View full agenda and download registration form at www.aoevents.co.za

Workshop registration fee: R800 pp. Groups of 3 or more receive 10% discount.

Email the completed registration form to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to secure your seat.

Clem Sunter, the now legendary futurist and strategist, is the keynote speaker at the 2nd Annual project and Construction Project Management Professions conference on the 20- 22 October 2014. Sunter will provide unique insights into the latest global economic scenarios and the possibilities they hold for the South African construction industry.  

This event is the industry’s only Project and Construction Project Management event endorsed by the department of Public Works where you will hear from industry thought leaders about the latest construction and project management trends, the role of built environment professionals in Infrastructure development and the 2014 construction regulations.  

The 2014 conference will address growth , development, and transformation of the Project and Construction Management Professions in South Africa and the continent.   Clem will offer the delegates his view on the world & South Africa beyond 2014 and the implications for the construction industry, how a fox sees it!  

For conference registration and information visit www.events.sacpcmp.org.za     

Event Information:

Date: 20 – 22 October 2014

Venue: Gallagher convention Centre, Midrand  

Contact

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Tel: 011 318 3402   Book your seat to the conference!