EDITOR’S COMMENT

Never miss an opportunity to learn

More than ever before, people are craving experiences.

Experience can mean various things. When I think of experiences, I think of how something makes me feel, it is something that leaves me inspired, something that makes a mark, and is stored in my memory bank. No, I am not talking about social media posts. Honestly, I think that can take away from an experience.

Business events is, without a doubt, experience driven; one could even say they’re a creator of lifetime experiences.

Be it a conference, an exhibition and – even more so – an incentive that facilitates experiences.

The legacy a business event leaves is by far the biggest ‘experience’ one can have, and this experience can go both ways. The social impact an event has on a destination, its long-term social economic benefits through various programmes left by the conference, exhibition, event or incentive is definitely life-changing.

As a destination, the beauty is part of an experience, but it goes so much further. From the natural beauty, the culture, the location, the attractions, to the heritage and the food, glorious food. There is something about food, the smell, the flavour, that can ignite memories of old and new. Service is in the heart of most experiences. Service comes down to people.

South Africa experienced a brain-drain during the pandemic. What this means is we saw a number of our industry experts leave the industry and, in some cases, the country.

Service levels in South Africa have hit a hurdle. It is by no means dire — in fact, it can be seen as a positive. As the business events industry, this gives us an amazing opportunity to bring in new people and upskill students to the standards we expect in our industry. The youth are our future, with new perspectives and enthusiasm.

Recently, I was invited to attend the IELA Winter Seminar (page 10) at the Century City Conference Centre in Cape Town, South Africa. The event offered thity-one students a high-quality educational programme focused on the daily responsibilities of exhibition freight forwarders and on-site operations businesses.

During my time at the seminar, I was impressed by these 31 students from all corners of the world. Their enthusiasm for the industry was contagious, and their gratitude for being invited to participate in this seminar was palpable. They took every opportunity to network and engage with fellow industry colleagues. The delegates I chatted to were all very excited to learn from the exhibition freighting stalwarts and newcomers, like themselves, who were in attendance. And, of course, they were so enthralled to be in South Africa and get to ‘experience’ Cape Town during their stay and, for some, a post event. For most, Cape Town is an undiscovered ‘country’, and hopefully they visit again as tourists, due to this one event.

Our local industry associations could learn a lot from IELA with regard to youth development. Maybe there is an opportunity to collaborate with IELA regarding their youth development?

What I learnt from IELA, is never miss an opportunity to learn and experience new things.