The Sign Africa 2010 Landgrab.. legendary
Hi.. Arthur here..
On the evening of Thursday, 12 November 2009, Practical Publishing held their annual year-end event where they launch dates and floorplans for the following year’s series of Signage & Graphics exhibitions. The event was held at the Q.ba Caffe in Stoneridge Centre, Edenvale. Stunning venue.
After doing the kulula.com thing to Lanseria, a 30 minute rest at my accommodation, a meeting in Sandton and a Ster Kinekor press preview, I headed for Edenvale. It took me and Khetha (the guy who runs Yeahbo) about 30 minutes just to find a road that leads to Edenvale, and we eventually rocked up at Q.ba Caffe at 7:45. 
We were greeted at the door by Dyelan and Tumelo (the new guy). I introduced Khetha to them, being the courteous person that I am. We were told to grab a drink and then find a place to sit. Khetha had a glass of red wine and I the normal – White Grapetiser. We found ourselves a seat next to the guys from Big Media.
The event went smooth.. very smooth.. lots of changes coming too. Charnia kicked it off with how the company started and how far they’ve come. She ran through a number of slides (that could have been done better since they have access to an entire industry of creatives) that explained briefly every point she was talking about at the time. Then Dyelan went through the changes. The one I like the most is that their website will undergo an overhaul soon. The new one looks like a WordPress or Joomla site. I love the fact that they’re building a site that plugs into the social tools available online. Dyelan proceeded to explain that the 2010 show will now become a “roadshow’ and will be hosted in Polokwane and Nelspruit as well. Dates for the 2010 Sign Africa events are as follows:
(a bit disappointed that PE is not included, since we’re opening an office in PE soon)
There are a few name changes to the events as well. Their Signal online property will change its name to VISCOM and Print Update will change to AFRICA PRINT.
Then came the landgrab. No sooner had Dyelan explained that the floorplans were stuck on the window and that each company had to take their pick and most of the big kahunas were up and darting towards the floorplans. I remember seeing the head honcho of GSW finding and marking their space before anybody else could. I myself made a beeline for the floorplans and was like 3 places behind the GSW guy.
All in all, things went orderly. Everybody managed to get their space booked, after which dinner was served.
I had the Chicken Arabiata, which was an OK pasta dish – very filling too. Then it was on to socialising.. after which Khetha and made plans to leave.. but not before I downed 2 more grapetisers and Khetha another glass of wine. I was there, the company’s space was booked. (and man did we get ourselves a premium site this time around) All’s well that ends well.
Oh.. Charnia.. Dyelan.. Linda.. Saralee.. Tumelo.. thanks for a wonderful evening.. My kids loved the nougat.
