Issued by: SA Convention Centre


The venue was transformed into an Eastern delight of pinks and purples, with food stations laden with sushi, curries, Thai delights and delicious sweetmeats. The guests enjoyed a musical interlude from Steve Newman on the guitar and Japanese Koto, Ashish Joshithe on the Indian Tabla and Preeyish on the Indian flute.

Says Alex Granger, General Manager of Sales & Marketing, SCC: “Following on the success of our inaugural Spring Celebration last year, we decided to repeat the event and get in early with our year-end function, to catch up with friends, old and new, in a relaxed environment.”

Speaking at the event, Mati Nyazema, Executive Director of SCC, stated that Sandton Convention Centre had enjoyed a very successful year thus far. “This evening, which is a celebration of new beginnings, new awakenings, gives us an opportunity to thank our clients and customers, our suppliers, the media and all the staff here at SCC, for their sustained support during the year.

“It is important for us to celebrate this new season with everyone who makes our business tick here at SCC. Talking about making our business tick, we have been extremely fortunate to have enjoyed an exceptional year thus far - despite challenges following the predicted economic downturn, load-shedding and power cuts, and the ever-increasing interest rate and petrol price hikes. And, with a number of exciting new projects in the pipeline, we expect this positive trend to continue,” commented Mati.

SCC has recently relaunched their website and is very pleased with the new-look and ease of navigation around the site. A number of areas within the building have also been upgraded including the carpeting and some major refurbishments within the Ballroom and the VIP Suites.

On the technology side of the business, the convention centre is launching a state-of-the-art online booking system early in the new year. SCC has acquired the internationally renowned Delphi Booking System. This system will have real benefits to clients such as quicker response times to enquiries, quotes and contracts. Besides sporting a CRM management programme, where client's details are stored on the system for quick access, the system allows mobile access to ensure that SCC sales staff can connect to the booking system via their mobiles and book and quote a customer at a touch of a button. Other benefits include e-proposals and colour drawings and floorplans.

SCC has recently bid for and been awarded some impressive tenders - including Miss World 2008 which the venue will host together with the City of Joburg and the Johannesburg Tourism Company, in December. The Miss World event is the third most-watched television event around the world following the Olympic Games and the Soccer World Cup. “Hosting this event presents the SCC, our city and South Africa as a whole with a fantastic opportunity to promote ourselves and what this country has to offer as a tourist destination, to the rest of the world. It serves as an excellent pre-cursor to the 2010 FIFA World Cup.”

Following on the successful hosting of the SADC Heads of State Summit in mid-August, which presented its own challenges such as a last-minute parallel summit focusing on Zimbabwe, the African Diaspora Summit is scheduled to take place in October. This event will see more than 100 Heads of State descend on SCC, and the security around the Diaspora will be extremely tight. The annual Soccerex expo returns to SCC in November, and incorporates the draw for next year's Confederation Cup which will result in the arrival of many of soccer's major stars making an appearance.

Said Alex: “We have wonderful spaces to work with on all five levels within SCC and, being able to transform these spaces into something magical, fantastical like this venue tonight, is what the team strives to attain on behalf of our clients. We are all passionate about this industry and, together with our preferred suppliers, we continually build on previous successes to make SCC the meeting place of choice for international and South African clients alike.

“As a country, South Africa has much to offer. By hosting international events, we are able to showcase our skills and the talents that abound within our country. We face an exciting and challenging future fuelled by the current growth in both the tourism and business tourism markets, and the country's economic development within that our country is enjoying. We look forward to these challenges and opportunities together with our clients and colleagues in the industry,” concluded Mati.

Visit our PRESS OFFICE: Sandton Convention Centre - a world- class venue offering the most advanced conference, events and exhibitions technology, over 22,000m² of space which can accommodate up to 10 000 visitors simultaneously.- more....

[22 Sep 2008 15:10]

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