2014 Conference is a mindshift

Now in its second decade, the PURCO SA Annual Conference is the must-attend event for higher education procurement professionals and their suppliers.

Coming together in a new format designed to maximise collaboration and engagement, delegates and their supplier partners will be exposed to interactive presentations, workshops and case studies that demonstrate actionable solutions to the challenges facing procurement in the current economic and technological environment.

The Conference runs over 3 days from Wednesday 22nd October to Friday 24th October and is closely integrated with an Exhibition of more than 40 supplier partners providing solutions, products and services to the sector.

Theme: Mindshift - be the Change



The 2014 PURCO SA Conference is premised on the theme of ‘mindshift - be the change’.

The theme is reflected in a new collaborative event format as well as a strong programme tailored to challenge delegates’ perspectives, broaden their outlook and provide them with tools to drive productive change in their workplaces.

The overarching concept underpinning the event is the acknowledgement that often, when people look at things differently, everything changes and possibilities for problem solving are easier to discover. Human beings often wait until forced rather than choosing to change when they know it makes sense - everything about the 2014 conference is designed to give delegates the impetus and the tools to Be the Change in their own workplaces.

Attendance

The event attracts more than 250 procurement practitioners and professionals from 42 southern African public universities, FET Colleges, private higher education institutions and related organisations.

Programme

The conference programme has a strong focus on using technology to drive engagement and collaboration, and will include sessions dealing with both hard work issues as well as the softer personal issues that determine how delegates (and their teams) approach and interact within their work world.

The programme will offer interactive, innovative and mind- challenging presentations and workshops, interrogating issues such as:

• Using social media to collaborate and drive procurement innovation
• Practical lessons, challenges and successes in implementing e-procurement
• BEE is your business - implementing supplier and enterprise development to derive improved BEE scores
• Confronting the elephant in the room - finding common purpose between buyers and suppliers
• Strategies to upskill the current and future generation of procurement professionals
• Government’s legislative and policy plans, including the POPI Act and centralised public procurement.

“Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds, 
cannot change anything” – George Bernhard Shaw