Conference Schedule

Gareth Knight (Technovated)

There is a lot of hype around the new undersea cables into Africa, and the fibre networks going up in the larger cities, but what does it actually mean for business and consumers? A state of play panel with industry leaders.

Panel: Chaired by Duncan McLeod (Techcentral), Stafford Masie (Seacom), Angela Gahagan (MTN Business), Pieter Uys (Vodacom), Dave Smith (Broadband Infraco)

#bandwidth

The need for scaling is a problem that every web or mobile product should aspire to, but it's not all roses. Learn from someone who has, and is now doing it at a global scale.

Joe Stump (SimpleGeo)

#scalingtoinfinity

"The Cloud" is a hot topic internationally, looking like it will reshape the IT landscape, but as this phase emerges how is it relevant to African business and the average consumer, and what should businesses be on the lookout for in order to avoid making mistakes when taking the plunge?

Panel: Chaired by Simon Dingle (simon.co.za), Rob Gilmour (RSAWeb), Chris Norton (VMware), Graham Watts (Core), Duane Scott (IBM)

#africancloud

Starting with the question "What was your hardest challenge, and how did you overcome it?", each of the speakers will talk through their own personal experiences, challenges and solutions, leaving the audience with enough time to ask some tough questions of their own. Not to be missed by anyone technical!

Andy Budd (Clear Left), Dustin Diaz (Twitter ), Joe Stump (SimpleGeo), John Resig (Mozilla Foundation), Jonathan Snook (Yahoo!)

#questions&answers

Adrian Schofield

Mobiles become ubiqitous, useful and engaging with real content delivery, but content on mobile is not all about ringtones and cute games. From banking to weather alerts, learn where the industry is at, and where it's going.

Panel: Steve Vosloo (Shuttleworth Foundation), Patrick Kayton (Cognician), Fritz Ekwoge (iYam.mobi), Stefan Magdalinski (Mocality), Bright Simons (mPedigree)

#mobilecontent

In a continent where there are more mobile users than computers, it makes sense to enable payment via mobile devices. But why has this taken so long, what opportunities are there, and how do I get started?

Panel: Chaired by Ivo Vegter (The Daily Maverick), Agosta Liko (PesaPal), Tayo Oviosu (Pagatech), David Reynders (Pocit), Paolo Zambonini (FNB Commercial)

#mobilepayment

Gareth Knight (Technovated)

A panel of leading practitioners takes you through the thinking and output for a redesign of a well known, high profile, local website.

Panel: Chaired by Allan Kent (Saatchi & Saatchi AtPlay), Rian van der Merwe (Yola), Mike Lewis (Origin Interactive), Basheera Khan (PlayNice.ly)

#redesign

Javascript, when used in the right way, enables incredibly rich and engaging user interfaces through the browser. Learn best practice to stay ahead of the curve.

Dustin Diaz (Twitter )

#unobtrusiveinterfaces

New wisdom has it that traditional media is declining, and that real journalism is the last remaining bastion of the cultural elite. But is it? And is it affecting African media? Will Africa follow the rest of the world with regards to advertising and content? Which channels are relevant in this new economy, and how fast will this all happen?

Panel: Matthew Buckland (24.com), Jason Norwood-Young (Mail&Guardian), Chris Roper (Mail & Guardian Online.), Elan Lohmann (AVUSA Media), Jon Tullet (Inflixion Media)

#traditionalmedia

User experience is often the difference between an insanely great product and mediocrity at best. Given the choice, users will always pick easier to use products over better architected products. Why you should pay attention to user experience and what you can do about it.

Andy Budd (Clear Left)

#ignoreuserexperience

Adrian Schofield

Lets take a reality check, and go through the issues – opportunities and local African relevance of the virtualisation and cloud computing phenomenon sweeping the world of IT. Will everything really, change ? Will it change in Africa, and what decisions will business need to make to take advantage of the new solutions available in the market, and will it want to?

Fred Baumhardt (Microsoft South Africa)

#acontrarianview

Building a tech business based in Africa for the overseas market is not as easy as it may seem, but it can and is being done. Insight and experience from entrepreneurs who have spent time at the coalface.

Panel: Chaired by Toby Shapshak (Stuff), Malcolm Hall (Open Box Software), Leila Chirayath Janah (Samasource), Sheraan Amod (Personera)

#globalmarkets