Africa's first content strategy conference takes place next week

A chance to meet international experts
The first Content Strategy Forum was held in Paris in April 2010; in September 2011, the party moved to London. This year, the international content strategy conference is coming to Cape Town, and for many South Africans, this may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet and learn from the people who are shaping the content industry globally. There will be presentations and workshops by international authorities on content strategy, UX, design and more, as well as plenty of music and merriment under the African night-sky.

It's all about the content

In addition to keynote presentations by Luke Wroblewski (author of "Mobile First" and "Web Form Design") and Kristina Halvorson (author of "Content Strategy for the Web"), there will be sessions on moving from print to digital, writing for low-literacy audiences, organisational voice and tone, data visualisation, the money side of content, the relationship between SEO and content strategy, handling content in the corporate environment, HTML5 for content creators, and plenty more. Delegates will walk away with real insights, and practical, usable information.

Hands-on workshops for in-depth learning

There are also four hands-on workshops on offer, where you'll learn about content's relationship to responsive design, the secrets of brand-driven content strategy, how to design websites and apps for multiple devices, and how to keep a handle on your content by making use of content models. These optional workshops are open to everyone, not just conference attendees, so even if you can't attend the main two-day conference, you can come along and learn in a collaborative environment.

Who's behind CS Forum 2012?

CS Forum is a community-hosted conference - in other words, it is run by people from within the industry, rather than by external event organisers. The conference is run by a different group each year, depending on the location. This year the conference is being hosted by August Sun Projects, and the organising team consists of

• Kerry-Anne Gilowey, Content Strategy Consultant at August Sun Projects
  
• Irene Walker, Content Strategist at Sable Group
  
• Rian van der Merwe, Director of User Experience at Flow Interactive
  
• Nathan Blows, Digital Editor at New Media

Find out more and book your spot
CS Forum 2012 takes place at Spier Estate in Stellenbosch, from 24 to 26 October, so there's still time to get your tickets. Standard tickets are priced at R5,100, and this rate is available until 21 October. Workshops are R2,600 each.

Find out all about the speakers, the talks, the workshops, the sponsorship opportunities, and the parties at www.csforum2012.com.