Joy Donovan - Managing Director

LESTER DONOVAN GROUP - HIGHLIGHTS


Prior to 1971 - Lester Donovan worked for Westbourne McClean Hunter in U.K. as an exhibition organiser, staging shows in U.K., Holland and Italy. Joy Donovan spent 10 years with Shell Petroleum in London, running an administrative unit, before coming to South Africa

1972 - Lester Donovan left Westbourne McClean Hunter, Johannesburg, to start his own company organising exhibitions

1973 - Joy Donovan joined the company as a director, as it had expanded its services to include shell scheme, stand design and construction divisions.

1973 - 76 - Lester Donovan Group were one of the top 3 South African stand-builders, with a crew of 40 carpenters and workmen. During this period, 203 exhibition stands were designed and constructed throughout Southern Africa.

1976 - Appointed by Marler Haley, U.K. to manufacture and market, under license, knock-down display systems. These were the first exhibition display systems available in Southern Africa - by the year 2007 over 50 different systems are available locally.

1980 - 86 - Organised 13 Fashion Trades Fairs for the South African Clothing Industry, covering summer and winter fashions

1981 - Lester Donovan Group were one of the 13 founder members of EXSA, Exhibition Association of Southern Africa, today EXSA has over 150 members.

1983 - Joy Donovan became Managing Director and took over sole management of Lester Donovan Group

1986 - organised, designed and constructed South Africa's participation in the Swaziland International Trade Fair, on behalf of the Department of Trade & Industry

1986 - 89 - staged 4 Matchmaker Fairs, in Johannesburg, on behalf of the American Government.

1986 - 91 - organisational assistance to the S.A. Tourist Association, SATOURS, on the staging of Indaba, being the International Tourism Show, FOCUS, for domestic tourism and LAPA, a hunting, fishing and Safari exhibition.

1987 - 89 - organised, designed and constructed South Africa's participation at FACIM, in Maputo, Mocambique, plus SITEV in Geneva, Switzerland, on behalf of the Department of Trade & Industry

1988, 1993, 1998 - Dental Traders World Congresses. The first one was held at the State Theatre, in Pretoria, where the client had 'forgotten' to book build-up. This show set an unbroken South African exhibition record of 70 stands built, equipped and dressed in under 13 hours.

1991 - Joy Donovan wrote the first South African hand-book on exhibiting, called 'How to be a successful exhibitionist'

1992 - organisational assistance and construction of extensive Italian Craftsmanship Exhibition at the Market Theatre, Johannesburg, on behalf of the Italian Government.

1994 - consulted to the Swaziland Government on requirements for a new showground

1995, 96, 97, 98, 2000 organised the International Franchise Expo, on behalf of the Franchise Association of Southern Africa.

1996 - 98 - exhibition consultant to the Botswana International Showground in Gaborone

1997 - asked by EXSA to research a general training course for exhibitors. The EXSA Certificate of Trade Show Marketing course (CTSM) was designed and presented by Joy Donovan as a new two-day professional qualification. 

1998 - 99 - organised Institute of People Management exhibition alongside their major, annual conference.

2000 - Joy Donovan moved to England to set up an Event Division for a London publishing company

2001 - Joy returned to Johannesburg and set up South Africa's first Trade Show Training Company

2002 – qualified as a National Qualifications skills Assessor plus trainer

2003 - Joy was appointed by EXSA to lead the skills development initiative for the exhibition industry. Wrote the unit standard and training course for an exhibitors qualification. Involved in writing the unit standards for a new 4-year degree course in exhibition management that is being registered with SAQA South African Qualification Authority

2004 – invited by SACEOS, Singapore Exhibition Association to be a key-note speaker at their conference in Singapore and to run 2 workshops for exhibitors.

2004 – attended the ‘Trade Show on Trade Shows’ and conference in Chicago, U.S.A. This event is hosted by the American Trade Show Exhibitors Association.

2004 – received provisional accreditation from the Services SETA, as a trainer provider in exhibitions

2005 - appointed exhibition manager for the World Petroleum Congress, taking place at Sandton Convention Centre, September 2005. WPC, which is one of the world's top business events, featured 3 different exhibitions, conferences and break-aways utilising all of the Sandton Convention Centre.

2005 – qualified as a National Qualifications moderator

2005 – attended ‘Expo Expo’ in Atlanta, U.S.A. This conference and exhibition is hosted by IAEM, International Association of Expo Management.  

2006 - appointed EXSA's skills development project co-ordinator to manage the level 3 and level 4 learnerships, which Joy will moderate.

2007 - attended Exhibitor 2007 in Las Vegas, the largest educational event for exhibitors, in the world

2007 - Joy is studying for the world's first Honours degree in Event Management, via UCT.

2008 - trained hundreds of Craft exhibitors around the country on behalf of the Department of Trade & Industry.

2008 - facilitated a 5-day 'Events & Exhibitions Workshop' in Abuja, Nigeria

2009 - graduated from UCT with a Post-graduate diploma in Management Practice - Events.

2009 - driving the development of South Africa's first qualification for exhibitors   

 
SUMMARY - over the last 35 years, Joy Donovan has organised over 200 exhibitions, ranging from 20 stands, alongside a conference to 25,000 m2 specialised trade shows, designed and constructed stands, or sold display systems, to thousands of companies, trained approx. 6000 exhibitors and consulted with dozens of organisations on various exhibition issues.. Joy is passionate about skills development in the field of trade exhibitions and has qualified as a training facilitator, assessor and moderator and is running South Africa’s first exhibition and event training company. In July 2009, Joy graduated from UCT with a Post-graduate diploma in Management Practice - Events.

 

 

Joy Donovan – Trade Show Training division of Lester Donovan Group (Pty) Ltd.

P.O. Box 458, Ferndale, 2160, South Africa               Phone: 011-794-7600

Fax: 0866-44-3605                                                    E-mail: joy@donovan.co.za or info@exhibitor.co.za

 

 


Back to Coaching


<script src="http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js" type="text/javascript">
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">
_uacct = "UA-3061885-1";
urchinTracker();
</script>