As we reached out to our Members with the assistance of our Branch Chairperson and Branch Committee members, the impact of COVID-19 cannot be more felt with the experiences that have been shared. We do, however, wish to express our gratitude to our members, who have demonstrated their commitment to the Association. The National Office Team has been able to continue the work we have shared weekly due to your unwavering support.
Continued work on improvements to SAACI Member Benefits and the Member Experiences have been our focus these past few weeks. One aspect has been revamping the Associations’ website, as well as engaging with partners to enhance the Member Engagement even further in 2021.
A new feature that our website will have is a BUSINESS-2-BUSINESS, and CAREER’s CORNER section. With the support of Alshanthé Smith, our online community will bring active members closer together. More details about this online engagement community will be released once the feature is activated. Please feel free to contact Alshanthé on members@saaci.org for further details.
Our Industry Pulse survey continues to provide key insights we were hoping for. We continue to encourage members and the industry to participate in the survey, by clicking on this link. The survey closes on 15 December 2020 and we implore you to have your feedback counted. A full report will be shared with everyone once the results have been analysed.
One of the key themes emanating out of the survey is that the first half of 2021 will see a combination of Hybrid and smaller in-person Business Events. The latter part of Quarter 1 and early Quarter 2 will see some steady movement in the medium to large sized Business Events scheduled for Quarter 3 and Quarter 4 2021.
With the above initial indicators and seeking to provide our industry with some clarity on what will happen in the first Quarter, industry came together this week under the guidance of the South African National Convention Bureau and our colleagues at the Department of Tourism to discuss what we will do to aid the recovery for our industry.
Once we have agreed on the activities and the dates for these activities, we will share with our Members. With many partners involved, we do believe that these discussions will ensure and bode well for our members and the Business Events Industry.
As many of us yearn for a moment away from 2020, which had its fair share of challenges and before we tackle next year, which may be even harder; we all must acknowledge that we embraced change in many areas of our lives. Through sharing knowledge and experiences, we hope that your Association has provided our whole community with clarity in these uncertain times.
We look forward to the 2021 journey with you, as we know that we will incorporate the lessons learnt from this year!
Stay Safe,
The SAACI Team
The National office will be closed from Friday, 18 December 2020 – Monday, 4 January 2021.
