For the unenlightened, TPSA (Technical Production Services Association) about 130 staging and production members with around a 13-year history and SACIA (South African Communication Industries Association) approximately 50 members with less than a five-year history have merged.
TPSA are primarily the staging, production, AV suppliers to the MICE industry for any type of one-off event. SACIA represents mainly suppliers andinstallers of technical communications equipment – to the private & public sector in all it’s guises and requirements. Essentially one could term the ‘merge’ as the ‘fixed & free-standing’ communications industry. Thereafter the ‘merge’ commonality becomes somewhat blurred.
The TPSA deliberations – in reaching the ‘merge’ decision – has clearly been a challenging one spanning over a two year period.
According to the Oxford Dictionary the word ‘merge’ means ‘Lose or cause to lose identity by absorption into a greater whole’. In considering the two associations ‘coming together’ there are a number of interesting observations going forward. The media release makes it clear that the TPSA will be a special interest group under the existing administration of SACIA and together with a TPSA Advisory Board will ‘progress the strategic vision of the TPSA’
As far as the commonality between the two associations are concerned – besides similar equipment supply and usage plus a certain amount of training programmes – which the MICE Academy has been advised are of good benefit – the synergies are unclear.
Having experienced networking gatherings of both the TPSA – over a number of years and one or two of SACIAs – the decision-makers respectively are at opposing ends which could be described as similar as ‘chalk is to cheese’. Equally their respective client-base within the private and pubic sectors differ dramatically. SACIA members tend to operate via Senior &/or Facility Management while TPSA operate via a conglomeration of marketing, advertising and event management. Hence as a collective trade (& networking) association – the way forward over the coming two years is likely to alter significantly.
A prediction – unless the TPSA Advisory Board ‘progress the strategic vision of the TPSA’ it is possible the ‘merge’ may indeed ‘lose identity by absorption into a greater whole’ and cease to exist even as a special interest group.
