Building Competence. Inspiring Excellence.
Event Management Training & Professional Development Since 1999
Introduction and History
Conference Consultancy South Africa (Pty) Ltd (ConfSA) has a proud and longstanding experience of building capacity and developing competence within the event industry. What began as a two-day short course in basic event management, written and presented by Pieter Swart to just eight participants at the former Villa Sterne in Pretoria on 1 & 2 September 1999, has grown into a recognised and respected training legacy.
Over the years, ConfSA’s commitment to knowledge sharing and professional development has evolved into sophisticated learning experiences within the Event Architecture® series of training programmes (a registered trademark of ConfSA). These programmes have earned ConfSA several global industry awards and are widely regarded as the Gold Standard for event management short courses.
To date, more than 600 industry professionals have participated in and benefited from these impactful learning experiences across Africa and some European and Asia Pacific destinations.
The training programmes have been developed from our collective real-world experiences in more than 400 event management assignments across 40 international destinations on 5 continents. Our lifelong learning keeps us abreast with local and international industry developments, essential for the development and continuous updating and improvement of our learning experiences, which include the achievement of the following designations:
Certified Event Associate (CEA)
by SACIA Council for Event Professionals in Africa
Certified Event Practitioner (CEP)
by SACIA Council for Event Professionals in Africa
Digital Event Strategist (DES)
by Professional Convention Industry Association (PCMA)
Certified Event Professional (CEPA)
by SACIA Council for Event Professionals in Africa
Certified Meeting Professional (CMP)
by Event Industry Council (EIC)
Certificate in Meeting Management (CMM)
by Meeting Professionals International (MPI)
In the past five years, Pieter Swart obtained post-graduate qualifications in Breakthrough Innovation and Design-Thinking from prestigious international business schools such as MIT Sloan, Columbia University and Tuck at Dartmouth, which inspired a complete revision of our strategic event management programmes.
Popularity and interest has grown in ConfSA’s event management short courses, to such a degree, that it became the 3rd pillar of our business alongside full event management services and international business event consultancies. We therefore decided to group our training products in our School for the Art and Science of Event Management www.eventschool.co.za
PROGRAMME OPTIONS
TACTICAL PROGRAMMES:
- Event Architecture® Principles of Event Management in Practice (*) (6-Months Digital Platform)
- Event Architecture® Fundamentals of Event Management in Practice (**) (3-Days in-Person)
- Event Architecture® Risk Mitigation (2-Days in-Person) in association with GLA (**)
STRATEGIC PROGRAMMES:
- Event Architecture® Strategic Event Management for Decision Makers (**) (2-Days in-Person)
- Event Architecture® Beyond Space, a Bespoke Innovation Intervention for Facilities (***) (4-Months Mixed)
INTERNATIONAL MASTER-CLASSES:
- To be announced – 2026
- Breakthrough Innovation by Eli Itin, Omnivati, Israel – 2020
- Neuroscience of Event Design by Janet Sperstad CMP Fellow, Madison College, USA – 2018
- Meeting Design by Maarten Vanneste CMM, Meeting Design Institute, Belgium – 2017
- H.U.N.G.E.R. Games, Special Dietaries by Tracy Stuckrath CMP, Thrive USA – 2017
- Power Sponsorships for Meetings, Events & NGOs by Shawna Suckow CMP, SPiN USA – 2016
- Festival Design by Paul Gudgin, Festival Director of Edenborough Fringe, UK – 2015
Key:
(*) Open enrolment attendance only.
(**) Open enrolment OR private in-house (closed per company/organisation).
(***) Private in-house (closed per company/organisation) only.