conference

I’ve been looking at audiences in 22 countries from the platform for 16 years, and it’s incredible what one can tell about them just from how they react. I find out even more about them during lunch breaks and dinners – particularly since my area of expertise is “the business of people”, and they are, after all, people! Here’s what I see going on in their heads when attending a conference.

There are more than 1 million meetings in South Africa per day. These are not just three or four friends getting together over a beer – these are formal gatherings ranging from budget discussions to conferences, conventions, training sessions and motivational sessions for under-performing employees. According to Gillian Saunders at Grant Thornton, there were 101 000 conferences held in South Africa in 1999. From these figures, it doesn’t take rocket science to extrapolate the need for high quality, top class speakers.

I recently met with Bruce a company owner and MD intent on growing his already-successful company. He’s in the process of employing Regional Managers, Sales Managers and devising an aggressive sales and growth strategy. He is looking to partner with me as a coach and mentor to his company – but what I discovered was astounding. Bruce has decided to cancel company conference. He’s cancelling the very bastion of motivation and team-building. I think he’s doing exactly the right thing.