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Alison Barnard, Product Owner
 


African Kaleidoscope Events

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WHEN the team at African Kaleidoscope Events (AKE) start planning the nitty gritty of an event they ask themselves: how are we going to engage each of the five senses?
They ask each other: what will guests see, what will they hear, what will they taste, feel and smell? “But,” laughs AKE founder Alison Barnard, “it’s our sixth sense that sets us apart. That’s our competitive edge.”

The six people who work at AKE (which is based at a business park in Little Mowbray near Cape Town’s world renowned Red Cross Children’s Hospital) never do “just another event”. They’re exceptionally good listeners, says Alison, and in the events business you need to be able to really listen and understand just what it is that the client wants to achieve with his or event. “Whether it’s a conference, an exhibition, a year-end function, a gala event or a team-building exercise, every event is different and everybody wants everyone to have a special experience. You need to get inside the mind of the planner to know just what they expect. Then we set out to exceed those expectations.”

Being based in Cape Town, AKE has an unfair advantage over similar companies elsewhere: the incredible beauty and nature of the Cape Peninsula forms a stunning background regardless of which particular venue is chosen. (The company does events anywhere in South Africa but Cape Town is understandably and enduringly popular.)

AKE, says Alison, is spoilt for choice when it comes to venues in Cape Town. From the giant Cape Town International Centre to the smaller Old Mutual Conference Centre to intimate meeting places in, for instance the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden or the incomparable Cape Winelands, Cape Town event organisers have plenty of venues to choose from.

AKE plans and executes events including conferences, parties, gala dinners and tours for both the corporate and government sectors.

A conference can be a massive logistical undertaking. It can involve venue booking and constant liaison with venue management, decoration, planning menus and entertainment, overseeing technical equipment, arranging transfers and accommodation for dozens or even hundreds of people, database management, payments, delegate bags, caps and T-shirts, in fact everything down to name tags and the sharpness of the pencils. And of course all the other things that those not in the business aren’t even aware of but which Alison and her colleagues know can make or break a function.

“If you have a plan, with plenty of back-ups, there is actually very little that can go wrong,” says Alison. “In this business you learn to anticipate things, for instance when the programme changes at the last minute, or things don’t get delivered, or the weather suddenly changes. There really is nothing like experience.”

Experience is something that Alison, 48, has in spades. For ten years she worked at Kirstenbosch. She started at the 500-hectare garden, one of Cape Town’s tourist must-sees, as a receptionist, working her way up the ladder until she was co-ordinating all staff and other events. During this time, for five years, Alison was part of the Kirstenbosch team that exhibited at the Chelsea Flower Show in London.

Later she moved to the Robben Island Museum, spending two years running events at the Nelson Mandela Gateway at the V&A Waterfront, the so-called front door of the island experience.

In 2002 Alison took the plunge into self-employment, believing that she had all the experience she would ever need to run her own events business. Seven years later, in 2009, she was named the City of Cape Town’s women in tourism events-manager of the year. Before that she was a semi-finalist in the prestigious (national) Emerging Tourism Entrepreneur of the Year awards.

But you won’t hear Alison talking about her awards. Rather she wants to tell you about one of the things she says all her clients experience: the camaraderie of a team that all pull together. “We treat everyone the same, whether they are the security guard or the cleaner. We have a passion and an enthusiasm that set us apart.”

Alison is grateful for the help AKE has received from TEP in a number of ways. The partnership, she says, has helped train her staff to the highest levels and assisted with marketing materials. “They also partner with a lot of organisations that are doing some really good work in tourism. This has helped us to create new relationships and partnerships. We’re fortunate to have TEP on our side.”
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