The Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture is one of Flow’s most important (and exciting) events – and the latest one, featuring billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates, was even more so than usual.
Not only were we there for one of our oldest and most esteemed clients, the Nelson Mandela Foundation, for which the Annual Lecture is one of its highest-profile events, but for one of our newest clients, too: the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The Flow team, therefore, had to be particularly on point. For the Nelson Mandela Foundation we handled online coverage, including articles, audience reactions and photography; for the Gates Foundation, we managed media attendance, social media and video coverage.
Our contributions to the event were planned months in advance, to ensure everything went smoothly, and we put together a Flow dream team: CEO Tara Turkington and MD Tiffany Turkington-Palmer; writers and photographers Stuart Dickinson, Carina van Wyk, Nthabiseng Shongwe, Edwina van der Burg and Willem Steenkamp; PR exponent Lee-Ann Collingridge; project manager Gail Cameron; social media guru Melanie Feris; videographers Thrishni Subramoney and Stuart Buchanan; and technical experts Richard Frank and Alex Cowling.
This year’s lecture, held in the late afternoon of 17 July at the University of Pretoria’s Mamelodi campus, drew 3 300 audience members, ranging from dignitaries to interested members of the public and representatives of the local community – the lecture was staged where it was, to specifically recognise the contributions of Mamelodi residents to South Africa’s struggle for freedom.
Speaking to the theme of “Living Together”, Gates told of the work that his foundation does on the continent, and the priority areas for action: the youth, health and nutrition, education, productivity.
He made a clear call that it is incumbent on all of us to work together in realising Nelson Mandela’s dream for a better world, saying: “Let’s do everything within our power right now to help [people] build the future that Nelson Mandela dreamed of – and the future that we will achieve together.”
At a press conference after the lecture, Gates said that his foundation will spend $5-billion in Africa in the next five years, focusing mainly on health and nutrition, followed by agriculture, digital financial inclusion and sanitation.
“We continue to spend the majority of our money on health-related issues, so [on] tuberculosis, HIV, diarrhoea, pneumonia – all the things that affect kids under the age of five. Malnutrition is a huge area of increased investment for us, and how people run healthcare facilities,” he said.
Before, during and after the speech, the Flow team was all over: welcoming dignitaries and media outside, conducting audience interviews, covering the address and press conference, tweeting, and then putting content together for posting on the night.
The Nelson Mandela Foundation was very pleased with the results. Says its director of communications and outreach, Neeran Naidoo: “Team Flow. Thanks for all the work on the lecture. It was a huge success by all accounts. Well done to all who supported today's event.”
The Flow team also loved working on the Annual Lecture.
Says Stuart Dickinson, who works closely with the Nelson Mandela Foundation: “I've covered three Nelson Mandela Annual Lectures since joining Flow in 2011, and this was by far the best. The address from Gates was thought-provoking and inspirational, and the Flow team was again brilliant in covering all facets of the event. Such a pleasure!”
Melanie comments: “It was my first annual lecture. Pretty amazing that we could cover the event for two clients – NMF and Gates Foundation. It was really nice that ordinary residents from Mamelodi, where so many of the struggle heroes like Solomon Mahlangu hailed from, were part of the audience.”
“It was such a privilege to be part of such an important event! I heard the EWN headline news about the speech [the next] morning on the radio and feel so proud to be able to say, ‘I was part of that event,’” says Gail. “The Flow team were such a great unit. They worked so seamlessly together, while still having fun and supporting one another. I'm already looking forward to next year's event.”
Tara said: “I have attended seven annual lectures, and this was the best one I have been to. I found Bill Gates' speech grounded, well-informed and inspirational, and working with the wider Flow team and two fabulous clients at this year's event was a highlight of the year.”
Tiffany’s message to the Annual Lecture team was glowing: “I would just like to say a personal thank-you to each and every one of you for your teamwork, dedication, hard work and brilliance, yesterday but over the past few months for many of you.
“You guys are the absolute best team – I have rarely worked with such a positive group of people, all pulling in the same direction and all wanting to make the best of everything.”
Take a look at our video of the event: