1. 12th
ABC conference of the Europe, Africa
and Middle East region
Cape Town, South Africa 6-8 January 2016
ABC, the Association for Business Communication, is an international organization
committed to fostering excellence in business communication scholarship, research,
education and practice.
This is the first ABC conference on the African continent and the Professional
Communication Unit (PCU) at the University of Cape Town (UCT) is proud to host this event.
Please visit the conference website for full details: http://www.abc-capetown.com/.
Figuratively speaking:
the facts and fictions of business and corporate communication
Conference themes
o Professional discourse
o Corporate governance and
accountability
o Financial literacy
o Treating Customers Fairly (TCF)
and consumer protection
o Sustainable business practices
o Best practice and benchmarking in
business communication
o Global competitiveness
o Global collaboration and
networking
o Change communication
o Multimodal communication
o Intercultural and diversity
management
o Technological developments and
virtual communication
o New media challenges and
impacts
o Managing reputations: PR, image
and brand
o Stakeholder relations
o Ethical and legal issues
o Crisis communication
o International communication
Conference streams
 Research (theoretical/academic/scholarship)
 Education (teaching/learning/curriculum/policy)
 Practice (corporate/workplace practices)
Keynote speakers and panel members
Confirmed speakers and panel members include financial journalist Bruce Cameron, TV
executive producer George Mazarakis, Judge Dennis Davis and Professors Mervyn King,
Theo van Leeuwen and Melvin Ayogu. Further speaker details will be added to the website
once confirmed.
Call for papers and panels
The programme committee warmly invites you to submit an abstract for distribution to the
scientific committee. Please indicate your preferred choice from the following three options:
 full paper (30 minute slot: including 10 minutes of discussion and question time)

2.  work in progress (20 minute slot: including 5 minutes of discussion and question
time)
 panel (60-90 minute slot, depending on number of contributors and panel format)
As the field and conference themes are highly multidisciplinary, contributions are welcomed
across a wide methodological spectrum encompassing qualitative, quantitative and critical
perspectives on professional and business discourse and practice. Abstracts for papers and
works in progress should be a brief summary of the paper's primary premise and findings.
Panel outlines should indicate list of contributors that are anticipated to be involved in the
panel and the format proposed.
Abstract guidelines
All authors are asked to please follow the following guidelines carefully:
o Write all abstracts/outlines in English.
o Indicate your preferred option (full paper, work in progress or panel).
o Indicate your preferred theme(s) from the list above.
o Indicate your preferred stream (research, education, practice).
o Use an informative title that indicates the content of the abstract so presentations
may be appropriately grouped.
o Limit abstracts to 300 words and panel outlines to 500 words.
o Add a 50 word description for use in the conference summary.
o Do not include graphs, diagrams or references.
o Submit all abstracts and outlines to abstracts@abc-capetown.com.
Important dates
Being an international conference, we are doing an early first call for papers. This time
period allows for early acceptance so that delegates will have ample time to plan their
attendance. As this is high season in Cape Town, flights and accommodation should be
booked as soon as abstracts are accepted and registration paid. Information about
accommodation, travel arrangements and the social programme are available on the
website.
 Submission of panel outlines: 30 March 2015 (decision by 15 April so that panel
convenors have time to confirm contributors to send in their proposals for regular
review before 30 April)
 Submission of abstracts for papers and works in progress: 30 April 2015
 Decisions of the outcome of the review process: 31 May 2015. Decisions will be
communicated by email.
Registration fee and ABC membership
Registration fees vary across a range of categories (e.g. ABC members and non-members).
There are also early-bird and late deadlines for registration. (See conference website for
details.) The early bird date is 15 August 2015. If you are interested in ABC membership,
please visit the ABC website for details and benefits (http://businesscommunication.org/).
Remember that the reduced conference fee for members covers a fair part of your
membership fee.

3. Publication
All accepted abstracts and outlines will be published in the online programme PDF book
which will be available on the conference website. A booklet with conference programme
and 50 word topic descriptions will be printed and placed in the conference bag.
ABC publishes two journals, the International Journal of Business Communication (IJBC)
and the Business and Professional Communication Quarterly (BPCQ). These Sage
publications may provide a publication opportunity. Subscriptions to both these journals are
included as a benefit of ABC membership.
For more details, see: http://businesscommunication.org/publications.
Organisers and steering committee
UCT steering committee members
 Associate Professor Terri Grant (Head of the Professional Communication Unit and
Conference Chairperson)
 Claudia Kalil (Lecturer, Professional Communication Unit)
 Gaontebale Nodoba (Lecturer, Professional Communication Unit)
 Associate Professor David Taylor (Director, African Institute of Financial Markets and
Risk Management - AIFMRM)
 Joanna Legutko (Lecturer, Actuarial Science)
 Billy Enderstein (South African Actuarial Development Program Coordinator - SAADP)
 Alison Meadows (Head of Section, Applied Management)
 Associate Professor Gert Human (Head of Section, Marketing)
 Dr Nicola Pallitt (Lecturer, Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching - CILT)
 Nonnie Falala (Departmental Manager, School of Management Studies)
 Sindi Majebe (Administrative Assistant, Professional Communication Unit)
 Helga Halvorson (Corporate Relationships Manager, Faculty of Commerce)
 Gerda Kruger (Executive Director, Communication & Marketing)
 Associate Professor Anton Schlechter (Head of the School of Management Studies – ex
officio)
ABC representatives
 Professor Geert Jacobs, Ghent University, Belgium (ABC Regional Vice-President:
Europe, Middle East and Africa)
 Associate Professor James Dubinsky, Virginia Tech, US (Executive Director, ABC;
Executive Director, Council for Communication Associations)
Contact details
For administrative queries, please contact Roxanne van Wyk at the Conference
Management Centre on roxanne.adams@uct.ac.za, +27 21 406 6330.
For academic queries, please contact conference chairperson, A/Professor Terri Grant at
terri.grant@uct.ac.za, +27 21 6503412.