CS Forum 2012 is happening – in a big way

• We’ve been busy here in the Mother City. The venue’s all set, the workshops have been announced, and the speaker line-up’s just about complete. CS Forum 2012 Cape Town is shaping up to be HUGE.

  A global gathering

  So far, we’ve had attendees registering from five different continents. Our speakers also hail from across the world – you’ll even get a taste of the mobile-heavy content industry in Brazil.

  Content strategy is starting to get accepted as an essential discipline here at home, too. We’re encouraged by the number of South Africans that are registering, and we’ve been lucky to get some fantastic speaker proposals from local content experts. Also, there’s a great deal of interest from local businesses – Kalahari, Cerebra, Native, New Media Publishing, BSG Africa, UCT and the Western Cape Government all have their tickets already.

  Big names, big companies

  Our speakers know their stuff. The line-up includes authorities from Twitter, Facebook, Opera and MailChimp, as well as people who have content strategised for Coca-Cola, Yahoo! and CERN. These are the guys we should all be listening to.

  You’ve seen that Luke Wroblewski  and Kristina Halvorson* are headlining. Our full speaker line-up is almost complete; we still have just one or two surprises to add.  The speaker page is up and ready for you to peruse the pretty mug shots and bios, though.

  * Aside: we’re banking on a “what comes first” food fight between Luke and Kristina. Why? This. And this. Come prepared.

  Hot topics

  Strategy is to content as content is to the future of business (and life, the universe and everything). We all know this. But while we know it and wear the T-shirts, our biggest challenges often lie in the very things we rely on most – collaboration and change management. At CS Forum ‘12, we’ll be getting elbow-deep in sessions on how to learn from each other, how to talk content, and how to structure and plan for it best as agents of change.

  You’ll also take away some intensely practical tips, and get insider info on the methods and deliverables used by large, successful companies.

  Here’s a sneak peek at the kind of discussions you’ll witness and take part in:

  • How much content strategy actually costs, and how to define its value to clients
  • How to turn mobile and cross-channel content into an opportunity to get the highest levels of your organisation to talk about content – and then create the change it needs
  • Why a top South African publishing stable relies on the power of content to build relationships and influence perceptions
  • A focus on people who are responsible for implementing a content strategy but often don’t have the benefit of a professional content strategist’s knowledge, weight or experience – why they are important, and how they can make it work

  An event of elephantine proportions

  Tickets are selling fast – for both the conference and the workshops. (More about these in our next blog post. For now, all you need to know is that they are huge – you could get a degree after attending them. And you need to hurry.)

  It’s too big to miss. If you haven’t already, go register.