The conference ran over three days and the chosen theme was ‘The 4th Industrial Revolution’ which was very relevant to how the higher education sector and FM providers need to change to meet the challenges of the future, including different knowledge and skills sets.
The delegate count was approximately 110 and their conference format is quite different to TEFMA's, with all delegates assembling in one room to listen to one presentation at a time.
On day one they relied heavily on pre-recorded presentations, including the official welcoming address and keynote address from the host VC who could not attend in person as he was called to a last minute meeting with the Namibian President.
Overall the presentations were as relevant to our Australasian sector as they were to the Southern African delegates and I came away thinking, that discounting the local political issues, how very closely aligned we are with the challenges and opportunities we face as facilities managers in our respective sectors.
On day three there was an interesting panel conversation around insourcing which turned out to be controversial and generated a number of very emotive responses from the floor by several of the delegates. It became clear to me that the issue of insourcing for many indigenous Southern Africans was more about the negative impact it was having on their ability to attain and/or maintain a social structure that supported human dignity than it was about efficiency and cost savings.