Looking at leadership in tough times and news skills to drive industries formed the main theme of the Third Annual National Directors’ Symposium which took place at the UKZN Westville Campus recently.

In attendance were various South African University senior leaders coming together to share valuable information in marketing, advancement, and communication as well as an opportunity to network with peers. This year, (2017), the MACE Board again included a wide range of speakers on a variety of topics relating to various aspects of leadership.

Highlights at the conference were a dynamic brand analyst, Dion Chang, who spoke about macro trends that affected social dynamics, how to re-assess the business and social landscape and formulate new, forward thinking, marketing or business strategies.

He added that technology such as Google Home will begin to dominate homes and change how we use technology at home, in business or education. “Google Home is powered by the Google Assistant, which you can ask it questions to, tell it to do things such a restaurant booking or flight booking, and it will follow through. It is so high-tech it can distinguish your voice from others in your home so you get a more personalised experience,” he said.
He reiterated that such technology will help to plan one’s day and curb the issue of time management.

Another dynamic speaker was marketing guru, Brand Pretorius, former CEO of Mc Carthy, who has won several awards and accolades throughout his more than 40-year career. He has also written books and delivers motivational talks around the country. He spoke about effective leadership in tough times, guidelines for effective leadership and how to optimise passion, motivation and commitment in the work industry.

Vasantha Govender, the Marketing Manager at DUT, said she found the speakers to be very inspirational, especially now with the workplace experiencing transformation at universities.

Pictured: Trend Analyst, Dion Chang, at the symposium.

Waheeda Peters