AAXO & EGF

MORWESI RAMONYAI is the chairperson of the Event Greening Forum (EGF).

If you missed our recent Green Venue Workshop – which explored the value of green venues and the practice of event greening in general – then we have some good news for you! A recording is available on our Facebook page (@EventGreeningForum), so please make some time to check it out!

As well as gaining fascinating insights into what makes Hotel Verde and The Vineyard Hotel sustainable venues, you’ll be able to listen to the panel discussion and the thoughts and feelings that sustainability stirs up in our industry.

My big takeaway was that many event professionals want to be more sustainable (often passionately so) but don’t know how to make the transition. Clearly, we as the EGF have a lot of work ahead of us to better share our event greening resources and knowledge.

‘Green hushing’ certainly isn’t helping, though. This new trend is keeping companies quiet about their sustainability goals and efforts for fear of being publicly criticised. Unfortunately, this restricts conversations about going green, which limits the opportunity to share ideas, challenges, solutions and more. We need to change this. We need to talk more…

Which brings me to membership. Although the EGF makes many of its resources and events freely available, we also have the option for companies to join us for a small fee. Becoming a member does not require that you are a green accredited business (although if you are, we want you too!). It requires a desire to become more sustainable, and to share, engage and grow in this regard.

Members benefit from being able to use our logo and becoming a preferred service provider. They also receive a listing on our website and Green Database, as well as access to information, events and networking with likeminded businesses.

Are you ready to join the movement and the conversation in 2023? If so, please contact lynn@eventgreening.co.za for more information or visit www.eventgreening.co.za.

Best wishes for a healthy, happy and restful summer break. I look forward to connecting with you in the new year!

DEVI PAULSEN-ABBOTT is the chairperson of the Association of African Exhibition Organisers (AAXO).

As key economic enablers, the MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) industry contributes enormously to South Africa’s annual GDP. According to Statista, revenue generated from the events industry is projected to reach over R4 billion by the end of 2022 and, with an annual growth rate of 6.25%, the booming industry’s projected market volume is expected to reach over R6 billion by 2027.

With these figures in mind, exhibitions are a recognised component of a business’s marketing mix and form an integral part of face-to-face marketing strategies due to the sheer volume of captured audiences in attendance. Likewise, event professionals seek marketing to amplify their offering to their desired target audience and drive delegate attendance.

To educate and upskill members of the events industry on the right marketing mediums for their events, as well as highlight the importance of exhibitions in marketing strategies, AAXO recently launched its new Lunch and Learn series of training sessions, which will cover a range of topics – from Google advertising, through to PR and communications.

These sessions provide an opportunity for members to meet, hone their skills and learn from experts across a number of functions, such as content, marketing, digital, PR, communications, leadership, public speaking, advertising, sales, operations, finance and more.

The inaugural session, held on 25 November 2022, saw Remy Bazin, analytics consultant, and Jeremy Abbott, head: Consulting at Sprout Performance, discuss the new feature releases in Google Analytics 4 as well as how and when to make the switch.

Upcoming topics will include metaverse marketing, writing winning event sponsorship proposals, out-of-home (OOH) advertising, PR for exhibitions, and how to use TikTok to share content.

For more information on the AAXO Lunch and Learn series, and how to join, visit www.aaxo.co.za.