Some of the country's top business experts and design professionals will lead Business of Design in Johannesburg and Cape Town in October. The two-day conference, while being inspirational, also offers practical tools to affect immediate growth.
Business of Design founders Cathy O Clery, Laurence Brick, Trevyn McGowan and Julian McGowan. Photo: Greg Cox.
Founded by The Guild Group’s Trevyn and Julian McGowan, and Platform Creative Agency’s Laurence Brick and Cathy O’Clery, it takes place 11-12 October at Red & Yellow, 97 Durham Ave, Salt River and on 18-19 October at Vega School, 444 Jan Smuts Ave, Randburg.
“Business of Design appeals to anyone who feels they need a business boost,” says programme manager, Tracy Lynn Chemaly. “We have had over 1,000 delegates in both cities over the course of four conferences, ranging from entrepreneurs and business owners to architects, marketing managers, retail staff, web designers and event planners. A great testament to what we are doing is that many of our delegates return year on year for more lessons and inspiration.
“The alumni network has grown, with many success stories of collaboration and exchange coming from the networking sessions held at the end of both days of the conference. Even our speakers benefit from this interaction.”
The network of alumni speakers now spans 116 of South Africa’s top designers, business experts and industry consultants who have provided delegates with an insight into what it is to grow a successful business in this country.
Speakers
The speaker line-up so far includes (see website for speakers in each city):
- Adrian Morris/partner and MD, Design Partnership/The Physical Reboot: responding to a changing landscape
- Ann Nurock/Africa partner relationship audits and management/Case Studies and Trends from Cannes International Festival of Creativity
- Chris Weylandt/founder and CEO Weylandts/The Basics of Retail
- Christine Strutt/partner, copyright and trademark attorney, Von Seidels/Building Blocks and Learning Curves from the LegoTape Case
- Craig Bright/co-owner Vic Falls Carnival, co-founder Rocking the Daisies/Less is More: refining your core focus
- Dave Scott (The Kiffness)/meme-generator, planet-shaker, thought-leader and music-maker/Going Viral on Social Media
- David Krynauw/Furniture Designer/Material Ambition
- Gordon Cook/co-founder Vega School/Rethinking Almost Everything About How Business Should Operate
- Hannerie Visser and Marc Nicolson/founder Studio H and founder Thinking/Creating Engaging Experiences for Brands
- Jeremy Stewart/founder and executive director Source IBA/The Art of Presentation
- Josef Talotta/executive head: Commercial, Retail & Precinct Development South Point/Curating a City
- Justin Letschert/CEO Bio-Oil/Taking a Local Brand Global
- Laduma Nxgokolo/founder, MaXhosa by Laduma/Keys to Success
- Lufefe Nomjana (Spinach King)/founder, Espinaca Innovations/Keys to Success
- Macio Miszewski/co-founder VDMMA / Reimagining a Forgotten Silo District: the architecture of an urban precinct
- Mduduzi Simelane/co-founder BlackNation Media/The Future of Content Creation in the SADC Region
- Nicola Cooper/trend researcher, Analyst and Cultural Strategist/Trends That Shake Businesses
- Rob Stokes/chairman, Red & Yellow/Why Creative Thinking is the Most Important Skill of the 21st Century
- Thando Hopa/model, lawyer and activist/Talk title TBC
- Thebe Ikalafeng/founder and CEO, Brand Leadership Group, Founder and Chairman, Brand Africa, deputy chairman, South African Tourism/Talk title TBC
- Yehuda Raff/founder and director iPartners Africa/Scaling Up: taking your business to the next level
- Zurika Nabbi/head of HR, Direct Axis Group/Managing Talent
Costs
Business of Design alumni R3,000
Students R2,500
IID and SACAP members R3,500 (SACAP & IID member CPD credits apply)
Full price R3,950
BizCommunity readers qualify for a discount, making their tickets to the two-day conference only R3,500. To take up this offer, email
az.oc.ngisedfossenisub@ycart with BizCommunity as the subject. Group discounts for five or more.
For more information on which speaker is in which city, click here.
