While the exhibition portion of Futurex, held at the Sandton Convention Centre last week, went well enough, I was disappointed by the conference part of the event.
This is not a criticism of the speakers, who did well enough under challenging conditions. It's a strong criticism of the conference organisers, who wasted the billed speakers' time.
I attended the second day of the conference, which promised Neotel MD Ajay Pandey, Sentech CEO Sebiletso Mokone-Matabane and iBurst CEO Thami Mtshali would share their thoughts on the South African telecoms industry.
The three CEOs are always sure to provide an interesting perspective on the telecoms industry, so I was looking forward to hearing their individual presentations and listening to them debate some issues in a panel discussion.
I also expected ICT industry players to take the opportunity to ask them some challenging questions about their operations and future plans.
This is especially relevant for Pandey, who is leading a new player in the ICT market and whose plans in some key areas (such as WiMax, SAT3 and exclusive national backhaul from Infraco) remain unclear.
Waste of time
Unfortunately, the conference was not sufficiently marketed, and these executives ended up making their presentations to an empty room. To be more precise, they made their presentation to no more than 30 people, including the other speakers.
The whole discussion lacked heat. The questions were few, and not probing enough.
Damaria Senne, senior journalist, ITWeb
Following his presentation, Pandey left. I wonder if it was out of disgust at the complete waste of his time. I know if I were him, and had a pile of work at the office and people demanding my attention, I would have left too.
Troopers that they are, Mokone-Matabane and Mtshali soldiered on and took part in the panel discussion. But the whole discussion lacked heat. The questions were few, and not probing enough.
The conference programme organisers will have to work hard to convince speakers at Futurex Equip Cape, taking place in September, that they will not suffer the same fate.
If they would like to attract a strong media attendance, they will have to provide stronger clarity on what the conference agenda will entail.
Stating that a number of ICT CEOs will share their thoughts and failing to elaborate on specific areas that could be interesting to the sector is not good enough to attract a journalist looking for a strong story.
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