Taking conferencing into the information age

In April this year The Innovation Hub welcomed its Conference Venue Manager, Anita Masuku, on board. With over ten years of experience in the hospitality industry, Anita has never been one to turn down a challenge and looks forward to taking the Hub's Conference Venue to new heights.

Anita holds a Diploma in Hospitality Management from the American Hotel and Lodging Association in the USA and a Certificate in Public Relations from the London Chamber of Commerce Institute. During her time abroad she worked as Assistant Conference Centre Manager at the Sheraton Hotel & Towers in New York. She returned to South Africa with extensive training and experience in conference and events management to join Caesars' Conference Centre. This was followed by an appointment as an Events Coordinator at Dimension Data. She is currently studying towards a Diploma in Marketing Management through the IMM Graduate School of Marketing.

Spurred by her exposure to world-class standards at conference venues, Anita was determined to find a way of contributing to aligning standards in the South African hospitality industry to international levels of excellence. According to Anita, the Hub's positioning as the only internationally-accredited Science Park in Africa makes it an imperative for the Conference Venue to meet and exceed international standards. As manager in charge of operations and marketing, it is a challenge that Anita and her team are looking forward to.

The Innovation Hub Conference Venue consists of fourteen rooms for which an operational system and processes had to be developed. "This a new venue for which we had to develop everything from scratch, from booking systems to a rates structure," she said.

The Hub's state-of-the-art facilities and cutting-edge technology successfully integrates the most advanced elements of conferencing technology, enabling increased functionality and 'touch-of-a-button' conferencing convenience. She stresses however, that the high-tech functionality does not detract from the personalise service offered to client and believes that the venue's size, which by industry standards may be considered relatively small, facilitates this service approach.

The venue is equipped with adjoining auditoria that can be combined to create seating space for up to 230 people. Available in the auditoria and boardrooms are large mechanical screens, full PC connectivity, satellite television and innovative touch-screen remote control units that provide centralised control over every electronic feature. A popular feature of venue are its four 'hot offices', which come with all the fixtures and equipment need in an office and can be rented at an hourly, daily or weekly rate by clients and visitors to precinct.

The venue also houses a Knowledge Centre, which is a University of Pretoria initiative to provide visitors with access to a research library with information archives and a host of e-resources such as Internet and email access.

Anita has indicated that visitors to the Hub generate a significant amount of enquiries for the Conference Venue, such as those received after a recent forum for the Department of Science and Technology Partnership that was held at the Hub. "I anticipate that the traffic that the Hub attracts will lead to significant business for our venue," she concluded.

For more information contact Anita Masuku at +27 12 844 0036.

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