INNER OUTER WEST REGIONAL BUSINESS FAIR – ETHEKWINI MUNICIPALITY (BUSINESS SUPPORT, TOURISM & MARKETS UNIT)

Project Brief

Splendid Marketing and Communications was appointed by eThekwini Municipality’s Business Support, Tourism & Markets Unit to organize, coordinate and manage the Inner/Outer West Regional Business Fair on the 28th – 30th March 2014 at Hammarsdale Junction Mall. The idea behind the fair was to provide businesses with the opportunity of showcasing their prospective businesses to the community and visitors and also to empower and further educate them about opportunities available to SMME’s in the City and beyond.

Implementation Strategy

Our approach was to ensure that we attract a balanced variety of exhibitors which are representative of key economic sectors, and ensure that the Business Indaba attracts relevant speakers who will address key economic and developmental issues. Part of our strategy was to engage with relevant business organisations in order to attract the right calibre of delegates who will benefit from discussions at the Business Indaba and network with exhibitors.

 

Execution

  1. Exhibition:
  • The venue was booked accordingly at Hammarsdale Junction Mal Shop 72.
  • After call for registration open, information was circulated to databases of SMME’s.
  • Forms were available at SEDA eThekwini, Smart Xchange, BSTMU Offices, Councillors Offices in Hammarsdale and Sizakala Centres in Pinetown, Claremont, and KwaMagaba. There were also available on the Durban Business Fair website.
  • We facilitated an exhibitors briefing session on the 27th of March 2014 at 14h30 to unpack the dos and don’ts of an exhibition.
  • The venue was able to accommodate 73 exhibitors and a total of 63 exhibited.

2. Best Stand Competition

CRITERIA
POINT SYSTEM 1 – Poor 2 – Fair 3 – Good 4 – Very Good 5 – Excellent
Display
Utilisation of space
Creativity
Interaction
  • We had three winners, 1s, 2nd and 3rd Prize Winners

3. Business Indaba

  • The Business Indaba took place in a Marquee opposite the exhibition venue.
  • 28th of March 2014 – 289 attended.
  • 29th of March 2014 – 321 attended

 

Evaluation

  • This exhibition attracted a good number of exhibitors with an equitable representation of key sectors.
  • The Business Indaba was well attended and it featured speakers who address key and relevant economic and developmental issues.
  • The exhibition was well attended by the public and the quality of products and services on display was impressive.

 

Durban Tourism’s Indaba Beach Party 2010

Project Brief

We were appointed by eThekwini Municipality’s Durban Tourism to organize, coordinate and manage the Indaba Beach Party, which is part of Africa’s Premier Trade Show – the Indaba Tourism Conference. We only had two weeks to conceptualise and coordinate a spectacular and unforgettable Beach Party for more than 8000 local and international delegates. The main challenge was that the site of the event (Blue Lagon Beach) had no infrastructural resources such as electricity, water, ablution etc, and within a tight schedule we had to put everything in place for the staging of a splendid event. Another challenge was that we still needed to source service providers within a short space, taking into consideration that an event of this magnitude required a long list of suppliers.

IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY

Splendid Marketing co-ordinated all service providers in order to ensure that they complied with all the Terms of Reference as set out by our client, to this effect we convened regular consultative meetings with service providers and relevant stakeholders in the build-up until the staging of the event. The programme of the event was well laid out ensuing that the audience remained captivated throughout the evening.  All the entertainers were excellent and were very well received by all guests.  The Programme Director was excellent.  She had an exceptional rapport with the guests and was able to entice them easily into participation, and the variation of entertainers catered for all cultures. With 2010 being the year of the Soccer World Cup, the entire event style and décor was strategically themed around “2010” and “soccer”.

Implementation tools

  • We came up with a dazzling theme, which created a refreshing and longlasting ambience for all guests. The theme was well complimented and captivated by the stunning décor at the event venue.
  • Splendid laid out an accommodative and flexible floor and site plan, which ensured that there was a free flow of all guests both inside and outside the marque. We added a transparent marquee for the VIP section, which gave the area a feel of being out in the open air and a spectacular view for our VIP’s, but provided the necessary protection against the elements.
  • The connection of water to the site was simple and easily done with assistance from the City’s Water Department.
  • The event ran mostly on generator power.  Two additional back-up generators had to be sourced to ensure adequate supply in the event of an emergency.
  • Excellent speed fencing made the area extremely secure and nothing was stolen during the build-up and during the process of dismantling.
  • The food and drinks service was excellent.  Guests commented on the excellent variety and taste and the free drinks made guests very welcome.  What was good was that no one abused the free alcohol and no incidents of drunken guests had to be dealt with.
  • The VIP area was very impressive and very well presented.  VIP guests were made to feel very special and all their needs were catered for by the Splendid team, as well as the hostesses.
  • Emergency Evacuation plan was prepared and presented to all the service providers ensuring that all staff members were well informed on the process of action should there have been an emergency.

Evaluation

  • After hosting the most splendid Beach Party, Durban was offered the rights to host the Indaba Tourism Conference until 2015, which is a huge economic injection for the City of Durban.
  • An astonishing 8000 local and international delegates to the Indaba Tourism Conference and esteemed VIPs attended the Beach Party.
  • This was an incident free event and that was great.  No one got injured in any way.