The Governance Institute for Sustainable Development (GISD) facilitated a Conference for Communication, Marketing, and Public Relations practitioners on 22-23 March 2023 at Khutsong Lodge, Thaba-Bosiu.

The platform was created for practitioners in the fields of Communication, Marketing, and Public Relations to share their experiences, challenges that they face and opportunities that they exploit in these fields as they execute their mandates. The Conference was intended to be a grand platform for robust dialogue and exchange of information among communication, marketing, and public relations practitioners on how to survive the tide of swift changes in an era of rapid communication and media disruptions.
In the Conference, the practitioners deliberated on the posture and influence of their Communication, Marketing, and Public Relations portfolios within their organizations. They pondered on whether they play a supportive or enabler roles. The practitioners shared their experiences in their various fields on how they are perceived and the resultant degree of influence they have in their areas of operation. They observed that most organizations do not understand the roles of communication, marketing and public relations functions.

The practitioners further deliberated on the influence of the rapid changes in the communication, digital and social media platforms. They felt that they need to leverage on the digital and social media platforms so that they do not lag behind as the swiftness of these moves at a faster pace than their ability to adapt. However, they also agreed that employees within their organizations are important internal stakeholders, whom they referred to as internal customers. They said that organisations need to treat their employees well by communicating effectively to them as their are the ones who deliver on their organisations' mandate.
The Conference ends today, Thursday, 23 March 2023.