Around 200 executives from the HRD profession attended.
Prof. Andre Roux from the Institute for Future Studies and Prof. Nick Binedell  from Gibs opened the conference and highlighted the following trends:

• A rapidly growing middle income group of consumers in China and India outstrips the entire population of the USA and Western Europe.
• Workers are distrusting the workings of the market system.
• Clash of religious cultures.
• Sharp focus on environmental and economic cultures.
• In 2050 the world population will exceed nine thousand million.
• Globalisation, relations of power created by governments and institutions are the “new empire”.
• 25% of the world population live on less than $1 per day.

The paradoxes of progress: growth, wealth and development

Better machines - displaced workers
Growing wealth - increase in rich/poor disparity
New products - difficult to choose.
More and better food - obesity and clogged arteries
Longer lives - cost of elderly support, stress on resources.
More TV - de-socialisation and inactivity.

A new style of Leadership and Management which means:

• Fewer levels of management, higher motivation levels and 
   reduced need for supervision as tasks become less routine
• More creative work and blending vision with pragmatism
• Easy going leaders blended with demand leadership
• Superb deal makers, negotiators and politicians.

The world out there does not need our permission to change.

AWARDS:  Awards of Excellence were received by the following companies for exceptional contributions in the HRD field:  FNB and Telkom. The ASTD President's Award for the individual who has contributed most to the vision and mission of ASTD went to Marius Meyer from U.J. Congratulations to all.