Newsletter May - June 2013

With the year almost half way done, we are pretty amazed at how fast 2013 has gone by – and it’s no wonder, our team has been in high gear for the past four and a half months and there’s no slowing us down now.

In this newsletter, we catch up with Thoriso Maloka, winner of our Women in IT bursary, report back on events like TechEd and the 4Afrika launch, plus we find out why event management was listed in the top 10 most stressful jobs.

On top of that, we feature the beautiful Emoyeni Estate and details of upcoming projects our team has to look forward to in the next few months.

Women in IT news

In Women in IT related news, we caught up with the recipient of our annual bursary, Thoriso Maloka to see how her final year of studies in IT have been going.

Thoriso has expressed her immense gratitude to the programme, saying that the financial aid has given her the breathing space to really concentrate hard on her studies. Says Thoriso, “Women in IT has given me hope the field of ICT isn’t a gender specific field, but that it accommodates both men and women who are driven to be innovative and are looking to find solutions for problems that are yet to arise. Being in the final year of my studies has introduced me into a whole new world of finding the need to apply everything that I have learned in the past three years, and knowing that my fees have been taken care of allows me to do that in great depth.”

Event management listed in the top 10 most stressful jobs

We recently stumbled across a very interesting report from 2012 which lists the most stressful jobs of 2012. The report, found on CareerCast, listed event coordinator as one of the top 10 most stressful jobs!!

The CareerCast study examined how event coordinators not only go through the stress of the logistics as well as all event activities, but they also carry the stress of knowing that, for their client, each event may be a once in a lifetime occasion – and that’s with every event they work on.

There are many aspects of an event coordinator’s job that contribute to such a high stress factor. For one, the personalities of event planners include traits such as obsessive attention to detail and a “type A” personality. This makes even the smallest task stressful as it’s not good enough until it’s perfect.

The unpredictable nature of events is also another aspect. If something can go wrong, it will – and that’s something event coordinators and planners have to prepare for as well as adapt to.

Events are also once-off productions. There’s no practice run, there’s no dress rehearsal. If it goes wrong, there’s no do-over. Event coordinators have to plan and work knowing that this is it – the stakes are high and there’s no turning back!

Add to these stress factors a non-stop, high pressure, gruelling hours lifestyle and you’ve got the recipe for one of the most stressful jobs out there – and it’s no surprise after looking at these factors.

In spite of the pressure, we love what we do and continue to aim to please our clients!

Venue Feature

EMOYENI ESTATE

Each quarter we feature a venue that truly blew us away. This quarter we’re featuring the beautiful Emoyeni Estate, based in the lovely suburb of Parktown.

With its sweeping, panoramic views of Johannesburg North all the way out to the Magaliesberg, Emoyeni Estate is perfect for banquets, gala dinners, and even more intimate events.

It has a range of rooms and facilities on offer, and with its old-style charm exudes an air of sophistication at every turn. It was originally built for the Honourable Henry Hull in 1905.

www.emoyeniestate.co.za

2013 so far...

We’ve had a very busy and exciting first quarter of 2013 and beyond. The range of

promotions and events we’ve been a part of have been diverse and plenty.

·         We managed the launch of 4Afrika for Microsoft at the stunning Randlords. Over 165 guests attended, all of which enjoyed the fantastic food and breathtaking views. Our MC for the event was Bongani Bingwa, and guests were entertained with the jazz band Imbewu as well as South Africa’s Dancing Puppeteer. 4Afrika is Microsoft’s continent-wide initiative to drive economic growth and opportunities across Africa. The initiative represents a new chapter of investment for Microsoft in Africa, and is built on the principle that no-one can do a better job of creating a brighter future for Africa than Africans themselves. The event was attended by Microsoft representatives, their partners and clients from the private and public sector as well as the Honourable Deputy Minister of Communications, Stella Tembisa Ndabeni-Abrahams (MP). Click here to view the photos from this fabulous event.

·         One of the highlights of this year was undoubtedly our involvement in Microsoft’s TechEd conference. We were sub contracted to manage the content for the event, and with 110 speakers and over 200 sessions, this was no trivial task. It was a major learning experience for us and a great opportunity  to stretch our legs and see what we’re made of. We have had nothing but positive feedback for the work we did for TechEd 2013 and we would just like to tip our hats to our team for this major achievement.

2013 has also seen us hard at work with many other events to keep us busy, including:

·          Two team building events, including a wine blending event as well as a Thai cooking course;

·          We were onsite at the Dimension Data Pro AM golf tournament at Fancourt, assisting Microsoft to promote their latest technology;

·          We have also organised a number of events for Axiz WorkGroup and Adobe in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town;

·          Plus we had the opportunity of hosting an Axiz Workgroup, IBM and SUSE breakfast at the magnificent Serene Boutique Hotel in Rivonia

·          Being onsite at the Sandton Convention Centre recently assisting ITWeb with Security Summit. We have coordinated the exhibition participation for 32 of the sponsors who participate in the event.

Upcoming projects

We have some fantastic projects coming up for us in the future, including:

·          The Microsoft Women in IT event on the 30th May

·          We are also delighted that PennWell Corporation has renewed our contract to assist them in the planning of POWER-GEN Africa and DISTRIBUTECH Africa to be hosted at the Cape Town International Convention Centre in Cape Town in March 2014