Africa’s smartest convention centre

The Durban ICC is providing an offering that positions it as one of Africa’s top convention centres. T he Durban ICC has consistently aimed to position itself as ‘Africa’s Leading Convention Centre’ and, having invested in the latest, cutting-edge meeting technology, the venue is reinventing itself as the continent’s leading high-tech convention centre.

“Without moving away from our existing market positioning, we are adding this competitive edge and aiming to also be recognised as ‘Africa’s Smartest Convention Centre’,” says Lindiwe Rakharebe, CEO, Durban ICC.

The centre offers a range of innovative solutions such as hybrid events, live-streaming, video-on-demand, and remote-presentation events. For the uninitiated, a hybrid event is

simply the combination of a traditional faceto-face event with an online component, which extends the reach of the conference to a wider audience using technology like live-streaming.

The best part is that, even during the lockdown, companies are taking advantage of this kind of event solution by using the technology on offer and not having to wait until live events fully start up again. By taking their events online, some are even able to reach much larger audiences than they would have with their traditional live event.

VIRTUAL BENEFITS The Durban ICC’s virtual events offering provides a range of benefits; for instance, the digital delegate can: • get all the content of the live event from the comfort and safety of their homes • watch the speakers via the video feed and view any presentations via the picture-inpicture mode • engage remotely with the event in real time via the event’s chat or social media channels • share the content with others in their organisation directly without having to repeat it themselves second-hand to their colleagues • choose to consume the event content at a later time, if that suits their schedule • view selected elements from the event programme that pertain to their area of interest. The Durban ICC hosted its own live-stream event in September 2019 and has subsequently run several successful events of this kind for its clients.

INCORPORATING INNOVATION “There is no shortage of innovations out there, but it’s our job to incorporate the meaningful ones that make our clients’ lives easier into the Durban ICC customer experience”, says Scott Langley, director: Marketing, Sales and Events, Durban ICC.

The Durban ICC boasts the country’s fastest convention centre Wi-Fi network, which is also able to support the most concurrent users. Leading the way, it was the first convention centre in the country to offer indoor Google Maps and to incorporate the ‘whatthreewords’ navigation system into the complex.

The centre has also invested heavily in its massive video screens and interactive digital totems in the past year and takes pride in being on the leading edge of the latest developments in this space, with the latest addition to its ever-evolving range of tech offerings available at the Durban ICC.

No wonder it is now also being recognised as Africa’s smartest convention centre.

No one could have predicted how the Covid-19 pandemic would impact the MICE industry or the economy as a whole but, during times of crisis, business flexibility and the ability to adapt and modify product and service offerings ensure survival. As a venue on the frontline, the JEC has once again demonstrated its versatility.

ADAPTABILITY DURING CRISIS TIMES

As part of the international GL events group venues network, the Johannesburg Expo Centre (JEC) was privileged to have visibility of the looming crisis through group venues in Japan and Europe early in 2020.

Assessing the possible impact and being cognisant that it was only a question of time before Covid-19 reached South African shores, we rallied the teams to start working on the design of new offerings to sustain the venue through the possible downtime.

After many weeks of planning and proposing various solutions to the Gauteng Departments of Health and Infrastructure, we received confirmation that the venue

would be used as an isolation and quarantine facility. Even though we continuously remained hopeful that the pandemic would not escalate drastically in South Africa, we were thankful for the opportunity to offer our support while sustaining the venue.

THE PLAN The first phase of the facility will be accommodated in the spacious Hall 6, where 12 300 m 2 of space allowed for the configuration of more than 400 beds and multiple isolation rooms. The facility includes the installation of shell scheme partitioning, electrical configuration, beds, consultation rooms and ablution units. Leveraging off our strong existing supplier relationships, we managed to conclude the installation in record time and provide much-needed income to companies in our industry that would have otherwise been on complete shutdown.

We all know the expression ‘last-minute dot com’ in the events and exhibitions space, and it is exactly this rapid response mentality that placed the venue and its suppliers in a position to deliver on a project of this scale in a short period.

The JEC is always referred to as a truly unique events and exhibitions centre, and the Covid-19 project reaffirms the flexibility of the venue. The design and construction of the venue more than 30 years ago were done with a long-term vision in mind. Today, this foresight enables us to configure the venue to suit almost any purpose.

We are thankful to support the greater good by facilitating space for people in need during this critical time, offering work to sustain companies in the MICE industry, while been able to ensure the continued employment of our teams. The project has been a welcome challenge and we applaud our staff, subcontractors and everyone involved for their dedication and commitment to date. It has truly been a great experience to see how our teams and the teams of our subcontractors collaborated to meet the deadlines.