By Alex Kotler

Mission: Learn, learn, learn
A quiet night ushered in a graceful start to the morning. I readied with more care than usual, trimming, clipping, scrubbing, washing, brushing, tucking and fastening with an eye to detail. Nevertheless, as I stepped out in my sharpest suit and tie, I’d left a follicle or two under my nostrils less smooth than desired. The price of perfection is still beyond my skill level.

I walked to the SCC, following the same route, noting yesterday’s progress on the Radisson. Cement had been poured and the sidewalk was nearly complete. The workers were installing vents and raising mini-lampposts for the driveway. I acknowledged the scene with a nod and a pouty lip posture that conveys that I’m impressed. They’ll get it done (ie, construction for the World Cup), I thought.

Arriving at the convention with ten minutes before opening remarks, I decided to stroll through the upper exhibition hall to survey the vendor stands. To be certain that I was in performance mode, I stopped in the lobby at the booth for the Sandton City Centre. In true promotional fashion to appeal to the mostly male crowd, the stand was fronted by ten attractive women clad in form-fitting black outfits reading Personal Shopper on the shirt-backs. I have no idea what this is all about but I like it, I announced to all of them. Ten giggles in response. The ‘top shopper’ explained that each girl was available to assist delegates in finding whatever their shopping appetites required. All one had to do was come over and ‘grab’ one of the girls - the verb choice leading to more flirtatious exchanges. I promised to return for a proper ‘grabbing’. And with that, I was ready to begin.

I rounded the stands of Exhibition Hall 1, taking particular note of the scale of some stands like SONY and the PSL’s Kaiser Chiefs, as well as the illumination of Mitsubishi Electric’s sign screens. After one loop I exited and summited the escalator to the Soccerex Studio for the opening remarks.

Takeaways from: Opening Remarks
Three speakers addressed the crowd in a packed amphitheater, backed by live videocams and a massive stage projecting Soccerex and its partners’ brands. Tony Martin, Chairman of Soccerex, took the microphone first, detailing the historical development of Soccerex and acknowledging the parties involved in making this year’s happen. Now in its 12th year, Soccerex has grown from a humble showcase in Manchester, England to a 4000+ delegate, multi-tiered exhibition with representatives from over 95 countries.

Mr. Martin was followed by Dr Irvin Khoza, Chairman of the South African LOC, and Paul Mashatile, Premier of Gauteng Province, both of whom promised that construction of the stadia would be complete by June 2009. Misters Khoza and Mashatile (MA-SHA-TEE-LAY) also spoke of the impact of the 2009 Confederations Cup and the 2010 FIFA World Cup on the South African economy. The events would create new jobs and opportunities for South Africans and raise country morale. It is also hoped that the tournament in 2009 will provide the Bafana Bafana, the South African national football team, with a chance to compete against world-class opponents prior to the 2010 FIFA World Cup, a competition that many fear will see the home team bounced out of embarrassingly early.

The crowd roundly greeted the panelists, Jérôme Valcke, General Secretary of FIFA, Dr. Danny Jordaan, CEO of the South African LOC, and Horst Schmidt, Consultant for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, as well as the discussion’s moderator, Jeff Powell, a journalist at the Daily Mail, who introduced each with a pointed question. The men, professionals divulging only what was already known, informed the audience on the obvious concerns - meeting target objectives for stadia construction, installing necessary security measures, and ensuring proper infrastructure and logistics. No man revealed anything unknown, but it would have been naive to expect otherwise. Two points, though, did come out of it that I recorded in my notebook, both of which came from Mr. Jordaan. First, he mentioned the need to pursue “social cohesion”, referring to South Africa’s racial tensions. Following my observations of the previous two days, it pleased me to hear this raised - even if it was solely an acknowledgement of the problem. Second, was the goal of achieving a lasting legacy for the country of South Africa and the continent of Africa.

Following the panel, I returned to the first floor to begin meeting vendors. It would be my second opportunity to work on the delivery of my pitch, following some practice the day before at the Kasigo Football Festival. It started as: Football Partnerships is a business-to-business network and resource for companies within the football industry. Through our online community, we increase the exposure of football-related opportunities and facilitate relationships between potential partners. Further, we feature original articles and host an informative podcast directed at our niche audience, the football industry. As I would learn, the need to adapt and explain our revenue model - which is still early in its development - arrived with expediency.

To me, this was particularly fascinating. I’d always assumed that in business people wanted to know more about what was in it for them rather than what was in it for me. With that in mind, I went to my second lecture.

Takeaways from: Communicate your brand in South Africa - Mobile Marketing the key to 2010
In this fascinating panel that featured Niclas Ericson, Director of FIFA’s TV Division, a representative from MTN, and Robin Berglund, Business Development Manager at Ericsson, and moderated by Andrew Croker, Executive Chairman of Perform, the topics of convergence and the direction of the mobile industry as it pertains to football were explored. The mobile communications market is seen to be the future of football business, particularly in emerging markets like China and India where there are possibly more mobile handsets than people. As convergence continues, operators are looking at new ways of aggregating, packaging and distributing football content throughout the world for profit. MTN, the South African-based mobile company and a sponsor of the 2010 FIFA World Cup faces its own challenges, particularly throughout the continent where mobile infrastructure is not as developed as elsewhere in the world. To address this, MTN is working on interactive packages to engage Africans and World Cup visitors using existing technology.

After a mouthful of information, all on an empty stomach, I descended to the first level to request a lunch recommendation from the Sandton City Centre girls. I was offered my choice of girl, but declined to choose and, instead, asked for a volunteer. Forward stepped Tamzen, a 20-something blond with flattering curves and a mild temperament, who escorted me across the Skywalk and into the mall. She’d worked as a camp counselor in Colorado last summer, and missed her friends and the chance to ski the slopes of the Rockies during winter. She brought me to a restaurant called Walnut Grove, in place of the recommendation she’d originally made, since she couldn’t find it.

After lunch, I met with John Gakau, a member of Football Partnerships and the only small business owner of our group to exhibit at Soccerex. His company, VG Media Group has developed GoalFace, a resource for current football news and scores from around the world. It brings together extensive coverage from more than 200 professional leagues and tournaments - statistics, real-time scores and news coverage - adding depth and diversity to its coverage of the world’s greatest sport. We’d spoken by phone about the product prior to the convention, and I’d been waiting for a chance to review it. GoalFace is currently in a late development phase, with an advanced prototype that prospective clients and users can peruse. What’s gripping about it is its comprehensiveness and its ability to harness a massive amount of data which doubly serves to inform a universal fan base and provide marketers with access to highly targeted local audiences.

Later, I attended a panel on Financing the redevelopment of stadia in the International Football Club Summit (IFCS) studio with Matthew Clark, Partner and Chairman of Hextalls Sport, Stefan Heim, Director and Board Member of VfB Stuttgart, and Michael Siebold, Senior Partner at Arnecke Siebold. Prior to the discussion, a question was posed to the audience on what the ideal ownership structure of a football club was. The choices were (a) 100% private, (b) Majority private, minority public, (c) Minority private, majority public, and (d) 100% public. Interestingly enough, the polls results showed that over 40% of us chose (a), over 40% chose option (b), and the rest (c) and (d). Clearly, the public’s stake was subject to debate. Mr. Siebold was, in my opinion, the most dynamic of the panelists and a terrific source of knowledge on the Bundesliga. Using the German league as an example, he highlighted the cases of Hoffenheim FC, currently first in the table and privately owned and clubs like Stuttgart and Hamburger SV, which are run via member associations. The notion of the public’s stake (ie, the fans’) featured prominently in a later presentation by, perhaps, the most prominent man in English football: David Dein, formerly of Arsenal FC, the FA, and G14.

Takeaways from: Where is Football Going? Foreign Ownership for a Global Game
Mr. Dein’s talk, delivered in a focused, organized manner, used statistics and multimedia to convey several messages. The most poignant, after an historical overview on the Premier League - of which he is one of the architects - disproving that foreign ownership is a bad thing, and establishing his deep connection to Arsenal FC, were the importance of the fans and the need for technology to assist referees. On the fan point, Mr. Dein reminded the audience that players, coaches and owners change. Fans do not. Geographically - and in a sense umbilically - fans are connected to their home club, and must be considered majority stakeholders regardless of whether they are proper owners or not. As for technology, he showed videos - first of referees making questionable calls in reference to added time, second of goals or non-goals called, as evidence proves, unjust, and third of fouls in a similar fashion. He is a proponent of technology; however, only as a means to reduce the pressure on referees. To add humor and abstraction to his argument, he showed an advertisement promoting bicycle safety, for the purpose of demonstrating the difficulty of paying full attention to detail (ie, with referees in mind).

To close the day out, Fashion TV, a restaurant and bar across from the SCC hosted a happy hour reception for Soccerex delegates. There, I continuing to network and met many more attendees, including freestyler Billy Wingrove. I remained until later than necessary, but not past my welcome. And, as for details, what happens in Jo’burg stays in Jo’burg.