People in South Africa abuse Powerpoint too

Yes, folks...it's official: people in South Africa have no compunction about putting 500 words on a single slide. Ahh, just like home.

But seriously, today we attended a working session about a set of guidelines that the various local security, tourism and governmental agencies are proposing as a means to improve security for tourists in the region. The main speaker presented the guidelines and accompanying research -- much of which was presented as tons of words on charts. But he was a good speaker and there was a fair bit of debate and discussion. It wasn't very well attended, but those who were there were really passionate about the subject. They are totally committed to the idea that that the tourism industry is the rising tide that could lift all boats.

We ate lunch with the head of a local security firm and the chief operating officer for the local airport. Both of them are incredibly comitted to growing the economic well-being of the region.

Then in the afternoon, we worked the rest of the day while sitting on the back porch of the manor (decent internet connectivity when there are only a few of us around). It's super nice to work from the porch -- the view is just incredible (the photo on this page is actually from upstairs at the breakfast room). We did a little mini-presentation with our client, Yvette who is pictured above on the far left.

Tomorrow we're meeting with the South African police and going for a tour of some of the hotspots -- and by hot, I mean places where crimes are commonly committed. Should be interesting to say the least. Oh and then in the late afternoon, we're meeting up with a local cell service provider to see what their interest might be in partnering with us to roll out the SMS emergency broadcast system.