Council of Events Professionals Africa to become part of SACIA
The South African Communications Industries Association (SACIA) has announced that the Council of Events Professionals Africa (CEPA) will be reconstituted as a special interest group under the SACIA umbrella.
CEPA was established in 2014 as the events industry’s Professional Body to develop and award professional designations to individuals working in the events industry. Originally formed as a three-way partnership between the Exhibition and Event Association of Southern Africa (EXSA), the International Festivals and Events Association (IFEA) Africa and the Southern African Association for the Conference Industry (SAACI), the Council (CEPA) has broad buy-in from members of all three associations, and the CEPA Board members appointed by the founding associations will continue to oversee activities through their appointment to a governing council.
SACIA has been instrumental in establishing and implementing professional standards and ethical business practices across the Communications Industries for the past 10 years. The journey has included the development and roll-out of professional designations for practitioners in the Audio-Visual, Broadcast and Live Events sectors – traditionally areas in which experiential learning is more prevalent than formal qualifications. SACIA’s objective is to provide clearly defined career pathways for individuals working in these areas, to encourage a commitment to lifelong learning, and to protect the public against unethical and/or unprofessional behaviour from certified members.
Along with the professional designations already available, SACIA will now proceed to develop and register new professional designations for the Event Management sector as well. This will provide for a formal recognition of competencies for professionals working as Event Co-ordinators, Event Managers and Event Directors, including related service providers across both small- and large-scale events in southern Africa. The events industry includes conferences, exhibitions, festivals and awards functions but also extends to weddings, funerals, sports days, social excursions, fund-raising events and much more. The baseline standard outlined in the various Professional Designation levels can be applied to all industry professionals working in the events industry, thereby creating new opportunities for individuals who may have been marginalised and/or denied access to commercial opportunities in the past.
Events practitioners will soon be able apply for a designation to suit their level of expertise by submitting the relevant documentation and undertaking an online competency assessment through SACIA. Demonstrable proof of competency affords their clients’ peace of mind, knowing that they will receive a professional standard of delivery.
“This is a fast-growing industry and we are excited to be moving forward with SACIA’, says Sue Gannon, ex GM of EXSA and now Director/Treasurer and Chair of the Skills, Certifications, Ethics and Disciplinary Committee for CEPA. “Many of the people working in the events industry do not have a formal qualification but they’ve built up their core knowledge by attending short courses and learning on the job. Why should they not have a formal designation if they have the competencies required? We need to recognise the value of prior learning and provide for career paths within our industry.”
Melanie Sillince, Director and Chair of Marketing & Secretariat, CEPA, says, “I believe that joining SACIA will fast track our dream of certifying our industry, offering a platform for creating jobs and providing much needed skills transfer and development without it costing those who wish to professionalise themselves, time and large sums of money.”
According to Glenn van Eck, CEPA Board Chairman, the pioneering work done by the Board of CEPA has created a wonderful foundation for its successful incorporation under the SACIA umbrella. “At the end of the day, our primary objective is to give events customers a greater opportunity to be assured of world-class delivery for their investment in professional businesses. It will also provide an opportunity for first-time entrants into the industry to be exposed to the knowledge and experience of mentors in the Events Industry and enable them to fast track their expertise as a new generation of event professionals.."
The merger with CEPA positions SACIA for coverage across the full spectrum of the events industry – including technical, operations and management, and opens up opportunities for SACIA members to tackle new challenges and prepare for industry advancements with a unified voice. The Association’s expanded structure will deliver enhanced value to all its stakeholders across the broader events industries, including live sound, audio-visual, event safety, cinematography, outside broadcast operations, lighting design, film and television, content creation and events management.
“Incorporating CEPA into our existing SACIA structures will allow us to expand our footprint and deliver real value to all stakeholders working in the events industry, from event organisers through to the technical crew responsible for turning dreams into reality,” concludes SACIA executive director Kevan Jones. “It’s about an entire industry sector coming together in the shared pursuit of excellence.”
The 2017 Confed Cup Comes Alive
The future of the FIFA Confederations Cup looks uncertain and it is possible that next years event in Russia will be the last – but Russia will do everything possible to make it a memorable event.
This was evident as the host pulled of an entertainment packed event, which brought many famous Russian musicians to the stage. Two-time Olympic gold medalist Yelena Isinbaeva and five-time Russian Premier League winner Sergey Semak drew the teams of the World Cup warm-up tournament into two groups.
Group A – Russia, New Zealand, Portugal and Mexico
Group B – Champion of Africa, Chile, Australia and Germany
The opening match will be played on Saturday, 17 June 2017, with Russia taking on New Zealand in St Petersburg. Known as the ‘Cultural Capital’ of Russia this city will also host the final on 2 July.
The Cup winner will receive $4.1 million, with the runner-up still taking home $3.6 million. The huge prize money should guarantee great performances of the teams.
Russian President Vladimir Putin promised that all the stadiums would be built in time, ready for both events, Confed and World Cup.
Khaya’s management attended the Draw and confirmed that the FIFA World Cup’s ‘little brother’ will see a number of Khaya clients sending exploration teams to the event, as a ‘training exercise’ ahead of Russia 2018.
Global Sales Director, Rafael Sperotto noted: “The choice of Kazan for the Draw was very important to our clients. The city, being the least structured of the four Confed Cup host cities, allowed for a first impression of facilities and brainstorming of their plans.”
Today Khaya has a great selection of hotels with easy access to the Kazan Arena where the city will host Portugal vs Mexico, Mexico vs Russia and Chile vs Germany during the group phase, as well as one of the semi-finals.
Khaya Russia’s Country Manager, Elena Anaclerio, revealed: “We concluded major deals with various hotel groups in preparation for both the 2017 Confederations Cup and the World Cup in 2018. We are ready, right on track, to offer our clients a wide variety of accommodation as well as transport options in all the host cities. We will make it happen… We are wherever you are!”
Zinto mentors aspiring marketers at ‘Tuks’
The Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences at the University of Pretoria (‘Tuks’) recently invited the Zinto Marketing Group (Zinto) as guest speaker to address young marketing enthusiasts studying Honours in BCom Marketing Management.
Part of the curriculum requires learners to organise an event and create awareness to raise funds for a non-profit organisation. As experts in the field of brand activation, entertainment and events, Zinto was requested to provide the students with the necessary background information needed to run a successful campaign.
The module included a general overview and introduction to events management as well as highlighting the challenges and providing possible solutions to overcome obstacles in the event space and improve marketing efforts.
Dr Liezl-Marié Kruger, Senior Lecturer: Department of Marketing Management commented, “Zinto’s experience in events management greatly benefited the students in their endeavours to organise and complete their non-profit event(s).”
Zinto selected account executive and project manager, Jolanda Payne (26), to attend the course-related event organised by the university. She has worked at the brand agency for the last eight years and is passionate about event management and seeing her ideas come to fruition.
Jolanda relished the interaction with the students, “You feel that you are doing something good to unlock the potential in people. It is about drawing on experience and I would really encourage people to take up the opportunity because it is good to give back and share the knowledge that we have acquired.”
Earlier this year, Zinto launched Zenzele Educational Doorway, a brand ambassador training academy and incubation centre for future client service professionals. The three-month pilot project aims to provide informal training programmes to produce proficient brand activators and storytellers using visual narrative in the marketing and events industry.
For more information visit www.zinto.co.za
Cape Town events company Spintelligent awarded Level 2 BBBEE contributor rating
“Rating will influence and shape the future of the business as we continue to evolve”
Spintelligent Pty, the leading Cape Town-based publisher, trade exhibition and conference organiser, has been awarded a Level 2 BBBEE Contributor rating. “We are absolutely thrilled with reaching this important milestone”, says David Ashdown, Spintelligent Managing Director, adding: “it has been a strategic goal of the business and we achieved it following 6 months of diligent work”.
Ashdown says the BBBEE rating allows the company to “secure and strengthen current institutional business with influential government organisations, parastatals and NGOs, whilst also positively influencing spending by South African corporates who need to engage with BBBEE rated businesses to improve their own contributors score. This in turn will open the door for many new companies to do business with us, therefore increasing our reach to relevant markets within which our sponsors, exhibitors and delegates operate, which will also provide them with more opportunities to conduct business.”
He continues: “a BBBEE rating allows us to open new revenue streams and drive greater revenues from existing relationships. More importantly it ensures that we have a cultural and moral commitment to our employees and the operational nature of our business. A BBBEE rating will influence and shape the future of the business as we continue to evolve.” Spintelligent is the African office of Clarion Events Ltd which is based in the UK. It has become recognised as a highly successful African event organiser and publisher, with flagship projects in the power, mining, agriculture, defence and education sectors such as African Utility Week, African EduWeek, Agritech-Expo, Land Forces Africa and the iPAD franchise.
Upcoming Spintelligent events:
- iPAD DRC Mining & Infrastructure Indaba, Kinshasa, DRC: 22-23 October 2014
- Katanga Mining Week, Lubumbashi, Katanga, DRC: 28-29 October 2014
- iPAD Rwanda Power & Infrastructure Investment Forum, Kigali, Rwanda: 3-4 November 2014
- West African Power Industry Convention (WAPIC), Lagos, Nigeria: 18-19 November 2014
- AgriBusiness East Africa, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: 28-29 January 2015
Contact:
Communications manager: Annemarie Roodbol
Telephone: +27 21 700 3558
Mobile: +27 82 562 7844
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Web: www.spintelligent.com
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About Spintelligent
With over 15 years of working with Sub-Saharan African government ministers and the region’s leading businesses, producing hundreds of events and publications and helping thousands of companies secure multi-million dollar contracts, we’ve learned what it takes to be a competent and confident builder of a successful and prosperous company in Africa.
Spintelligent is your principal, local based, knowledge partner and events coordinator for Sub-Saharan Africa. We provide you the best in class Sub Saharan African multi-media resources to help you expand your operations and achieve your business ambitions across the Power, Mining, Education, Agriculture and Defence industry sectors.
Spintelligent is part of Clarion Events, a global business-to-business event organiser with offices in South Africa, UK, Netherlands, Germany, United States, Brazil, UAE and Singapore.
