You know it’s going to be a busy day when your step count and your screen time are competing with each other.
While more than 25 000 people took on the 702 Jozi My Jozi Walk the Talk this past Sunday, the Flow team was tackling its own endurance event: live-posting across X, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, chasing the next great photo, filming videos on the fly and hoping the upload bar moved faster than the walkers.
As Jozi My Jozi’s communications partner, our job started long before the walk kicked off. We arrived at Ellis Park before dawn to tell a much bigger story: Joburg is rediscovering itself and it needs all hands on deck.
Jozi My Jozi is a people-first movement working to revive Johannesburg without stripping away its grit, hustle, culture or character.
The reimagined Walk the Talk invited people to experience the Johannesburg inner city at street level. Families walked alongside running clubs. Friends turned the route into a catch-up. First-time visitors explored parts of the city they’d only ever driven through. The conversations, the music and the atmosphere all pointed to the same idea: Johannesburg feels different when you take the time to walk it.
There was another story unfolding alongside the walk, too.
This year’s event encouraged participants to buy Mi-Change vouchers when they registered. Instead of giving cash on the street, the vouchers connect people experiencing homelessness with meals, clothing, hygiene facilities and support through the MES (Mould Empower Serve) and U-turn shelters. This is a practical shift from short-term relief to long-term support, and one of the reasons the event mattered beyond race day.
Capturing that balance became our brief. Yes, people wanted to see the crowds, the entertainment, the perseverance of walkers and the finish-line celebrations. But they also needed to understand why the walk was being held.
That meant a lot of moving parts.
Our CEO, Tara Turkington, walked the 15km route – and then some – stopping to chat to participants and capturing many of the photographs that brought the day to life. Behind the scenes, project manager Kneo Mokgopa kept the operation running smoothly, coordinating photographers, videographers, deadlines and the inevitable last-minute requests that come with live events.
Head of social media Miliswa Sitshwele, social media manager Sihle Mchophela and I kept the content moving across all platforms, ensuring the conversations happening on the streets were reflected online. I also handed out free shoulder messages and did my best impression of a motivational speaker to keep the team going through the long day. Rounding out the team was PR specialist Ayanda Siswana, who ensured the event received the quality media coverage it deserved.
Live event coverage has a funny way of ignoring your plans.
The post you thought would perform quietly takes off. The interview you nearly skipped becomes everyone’s favourite clip. The photo grabbed in passing ends up capturing the day better than the one you spent 10 minutes setting up.
That’s why we love this work.
By the end of Sunday, we’d published hundreds of pictures and videos across four platforms, walked more kilometres than we’d planned and drained more than a few power banks.
More importantly, we helped tell the story of a city that turned out in force for itself.
Some stories are easier to tell from behind a desk. This one had to be told on the streets of Johannesburg.
