This is my final recap of my whirlwind 8-day trip of South Africa. First, I want to say “thank you” to EventWorx, Standard Bank and Missing Link and to the entire Espresso Tour Crew. Your hospitality won me over and South Africa will always have a special place in my heart.

Pretoria is a beautiful place, the trees and landscape felt similar but just different enough that I knew I was a long way from home. The Pretoria session was held at Slick Steel - a home that converts into a funky, but cool open-air environment. The overcast day was actually the most engaging of the tour with tons of questions about WOM. Then came the ultimate question, “As an American, what will you tell others about your visit to South Africa?” Every ear in the room was listening. I can’t remember all I said, but I tried to convey my respect for them and what they accomplished in a very short time. You can’t help but be impressed by the people of South Africa when you realize just how far they have come. Yes, crime is a problem, so is poverty and health care, but they have that glimmer in their eyes that we are going to make this beautiful country better for all. Hearing stories from the new small and medium sized businesses starting down their paths to success charged my brain and my heart. I really want the people of SA to succeed. My bet is they will.

We hit the air traveling to Durban for the last Espresso Session. Durban is a hot and humid city, and very beautiful. Again the diversity of the audience was truly remarkable, and speaks again to the challenges businesses are facing head-on in SA. As with most of the sessions, audience participation was polite but the real dialogue happens during the breakfast and coffee time afterwards. As the crew was breaking down, Richard from Missing Link asked me if I wanted to stay in Durban or head back to JoBurg for the South African Blog Awards. That was an easy choice.

Prepping for my speaking in South Africa, I became very familiar with the SA blog scene from JoBlog to Cherryflava to Mark’s Digital Farm. So I jumped at the chance to meet some of these folks that provide such a colorful and smart point of view. Check out the highlights of the show here. In what appears to be typical SA manners. I, the ‘American,’ was welcomed with open arms and I was even requested to accept an award for a no-show. The evening was highlighted with a lot of spirited blog talk and a lot of wicked fun. One of the highlights was meeting six and nine year-old sisters Sara and Nina, who were one of the finalists for their podcast, 123 listen to me. John Cherry and Rich Mulholland were the rockstars of the show. I have to also thank Rich his wife Andrea, and their son Callum for letting me crash in their awesome home and giving me some warm SA hospitality.

Eight days of travel in South Africa is really hard to put into words. I grew a lot, I had to be very flexible and I had to reach out of my comfort zone. I also became a little more humble as an American marketer. I think I also came to terms with my titled role at BOF as the WOM Inspiration Officer. After the first session in Cape Town I could talk shop for 7 more days or I could twist my role into hopefully getting these businesses to become active participants in conversations with their customers. But now that I’m home and back in my comfort zone, I have to remember to practice what I preached.

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