I survived #INDABA2015! Seriously, this is huge.
This was my third INDABA and I was convinced I’d be coming back to Johannesburg in a coffin.
Here’s the story why ...
At my first INDABA, I got caught in a rainstorm, running around between speed-marketing sessions, and then had to sit in the media centre dripping wet, putting out content for our client, South African Tourism.
I got back to Johannesburg and promptly ended up in hospital with bronchitis.
Last year I spent all of five minutes at INDABA before being admitted to the Entabeni Hospital in Durban, with a parasite who’d taken residence in my intestines.
So you see, this year the odds were pretty slim for my survival.
But I’m glad I did survive – least of all because dead is such an unattractive colour.
For us at Flow, INDABA is huge – it means more than half the Johannesburg writing studio is away in Durban, along with the entire Durban office (okay, okay it’s just one person), content producers from the Cape Town office, plus a plethora of project managers, heads of departments and Flow’s CEO.
You’ve probably seen us on the N3; we’re usually the ones in the minibus packed to the rafters with laptops, cameras, tripods, video cameras, people, the loud Abba soundtrack and the equally loud pink Flow T-shirts.
We usually stop for lunch at the Wimpy in Harrismith, where we use up all its bandwidth checking in with clients and doing online work for them – social media doesn’t stop just because Flow has to get to INDABA (this year, though, we flew to Durban as it was more cost-effective with our biggest Flow team yet – 13 members).
Then we hit the ground running (in a very orderly fashion) when we arrive in Durban. Each of us has a specific task/area or client to cover.
For the next four days we run around INDABA for about 12 hours a day, meeting clients and prospective clients; attending CEO breakfasts; holding team meetings; making videos; live-tweeting events; taking pictures; interviewing exhibitors and buyers; covering speed-marketing events; visiting stalls; making sure hashtags trend; getting interviews with VIPs and VVIPs; attending live TV broadcasts and panel discussions; pulling together analytics reports for clients; and Facebooking, Instagramming, YouTubing and Flickr-ing.
This year we covered work for clients including South African Tourism, South African Airways, Maropeng, Welcome South Africa, SAB World of Beer, the Tourism Grading Council of South Africa, the South African National Convention Bureau, Rhulani Safari Lodge, Jaci's Lodges, Northern Cape Tourism, Gauteng Tourism Authority, Sauti Sol and Kruger Lowveld.
Oh, it’s not all hard work; we’re from Flow, after all, so we find time to play too – there are dinners with clients or prospective clients; adventures like bungee jumping at the Moses Mabhiba Stadium, shark cage-diving and Segway tours; or just sitting on the beach enjoying ice cream.
We live on copious amounts of chocolate, bunny chow, curry, a few lettuce leaves, beer (I discovered watermelon-flavoured beer at the #ITBC bloggers' conference), wine, litres of Coke Light, coffee, tea, biscuits, vitamin C, immune boosters and pure adrenaline.
It’s hard work. But it's awesome.
A little bit of fun on the beach before we head home. Thanks for a great time, Durban! pic.twitter.com/8KlpR0YyXc
— Thabs R (@Thabsizzle) May 12, 2015