Ron Kaufman is one of the world’s leading motivational keynote speakers on the topics of achieving service excellence, increasing customer satisfaction, retaining loyal customers, and building sustainable service cultures. Rated one of the “Top 25 Who’s Hot” speakers by Speaker magazine, Ron presents powerful insights and global best practices from working with clients in every industry and on every continent for more than thirty years. His energetic keynote speeches have inspired millions, frequently earning standing ovations from audiences of all ages. In 2018, GlobalGurus rated Ron the #1 customer service guru in the world. Ron travels worldwide to speak at company meetings, industry conferences, and association events throughout the year.

Ron is author of the New York Times and USA Today bestseller, “Uplifting Service! The Proven Path to Delighting Your Customers, Colleagues and Everyone Else You Meet” and 14 other books on service, business and inspiration. He is the founder of Uplifting Service, a global education and consulting company that enables leaders and organizations to build sustainable cultures that win the hearts and minds of customers, colleagues, and partners.

Johannesburg is South Africa’s largest city and one of the top 50 largest cities in the world, with a population of almost one million. It was established in 1886 after the discovery of a large gold deposit in the area. Currently, Johannesburg is one of the leading financial and economic centers in the world, and a major hub for the manufacturing, services, banking, information technology, real estate, transport, media and leisure industries. The city is home to Africa’s oldest and largest stock exchange, the JSE Limited, to various multinational companies such as IBM, First National Bank, Willis Group, Standard Bank, and BHP Billiton, and to a large number of shopping centers, including Sandton City, Eastgate, Westgate, Mall of Africa and Cresta. Johannesburg has a highly-developed educational system, housing a large number of private and public universities and colleges, such as the famous University of Johannesburg, offering courses both in English and Afrikaans, and the University of the Witwatersrand, renowned as a major center for resistance against the Apartheid. The city attracts a large number of tourists, featuring landmarks such as the Cradle of Humankind, a paleoanthropological site voted by UNESCO a World Heritage Site, the Lion and Safari Park, a 600 hectars wildlife conservation reserve, and many museums including the Apartheid Museum, the Museum Africa and the Johannesburg Art Gallery.

Johannesburg as a Conference Destination

Johannesburg is an important center for international conferences, conventions, congresses and summits. Some of the most notable such events include: Customer Experience World and the Digital Customer Engagement & KYC Conference, two of the largest customer service and customer experience conferences from South Africa; the Digital Marketing Conference Africa and the Digital Transformation Congress, two major events focused on information technology and marketing; the Chief Digital Officer Africa Conference, a venue for leaders from the banking, insurance and telecommunications world to discuss the impact of digitalization on their practices; and the African Conference on Experimental Archaeology, an academic conference organized by the University of Witwatersrand.

Johannesburg Food Options for Conference Delegates

There are a large number of excellent restaurants you can choose from during your conference in Johannesburg, such as: Moyo Zoo Lake (Phone: +27 11 646 0058), an ethnic restaurant with live music, serving a large variety of African dishes; Shikisha (Phone: +27 11 492 1626), another great restaurant famous for its African cuisine; Urbanologi (Phone: +27 11 492 1399), a restaurant specializing in Asian dishes; Jamie’s Italian (Phone: +27 10 007 4646), a relaxed Italian restaurant with a rustic menu and an antipasto bar; Restaurante Parreirinha (Phone: +27 11 435 3809), an extraordinary Portuguese restaurant specializing in seafood dishes.

Johannesburg Attractions for Convention Attendees

There are many famous tourist attractions you can visit after your conference in Johannesburg, including: the Apartheid Museum, a historical museum chronicling the rise and fall of the Apartheid system in the 20th century; the Gold Reef City, an enormous amusement park, featuring over 30 rollercoaster and thrill rides, a 4D theater and interactive history of gold mining; the Cradle of Humanking, a 131,000 acre paleoanthropological site containing a large number of pre-historic fossils; the Nelson Mandela Square, one of the city’s most visited public squares, famous for its shopping centers; and the Carlton Center, a skyscraper offering panoramic views of the city.

Conference Center Venues

Johannesburg, South Africa has a large number of great conference centers and facilities, such as:

AstroTech Conference Centre (Location: 3rd Ave, Parktown)
Glenhove Conference Centre (Location: Glenhove Rd.)
Plumpudding Guesthouse & Conference Venue (Location: Chiselhurst Dr, Rossmore)
Profound Conference Centre (Location: Corlett Dr, Bramley)
The Pyramid Conference & Venue Centre (Location: Eloff Ext SE St, Village Deep)
Turbine Hall (Location: Ntemi Piliso St, Newtown)