The concept of hosting an industry-wide conference in a remote location where executives can interact without the nagging pressures of everyday life has taken off in the IT industry.
The Forum on Advanced Strategies and Technology for e-Commerce (F@stec) brought some of SA`s prominent solution providers and e-commerce executives together at the Wild Coast Sun last week.
It provided a networking platform for all participants to formulate and reassess their e-commerce procedures and re-examine solutions that best suit their business needs.
Event co-ordinator marcus evans (previously the International Communications for Management Group), which was also responsible for the Ignite IT conference at Sun City earlier this year, has taken the model developed internationally and applied it to the local arena.
Vendors pay for the delegates to attend the conference and in turn are guaranteed meetings with delegates who can peruse vendors` offerings.
"Judging by the positive feedback we have received from vendors and delegates alike, it is clear that an event of this nature was long overdue in the e-business arena," says Gavin Mayfield, GM of marcus evans South Africa.
The participants` evaluations reflect the enthusiasm with which this event was met:
"Well set up, good delegates, relevant vendors and a pleasant location led to several revenue-generating opportunities converting into agreements. Our investment has been recouped four times over," said Tim Bacon, executive of sales and marketing, XPS.
"The method of a multi-buyer forum, whose delegates are well qualified and all in one place at one time, is extremely effective," said Tim Collis, MD of Opal Systems.
When not in one-on-one meetings, delegates can listen to local and international industry players explain their experiences in the e-commerce fields as well as join in on workshops on the subject.
Marcus evans will host a customer alliances and relationship engineering summit at the same venue in March 2001, as well as a conference for finance executives at the Lord Charles Hotel in Somerset in May next year.
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