by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua [THIS IS PART ONE OF A TWO PART BLOG ON BELFAST] Throughout our years with Ovation and MCI and now with SoolNua, Patrick and I have spoken at MICE events about destination selection or why certain destinations are so popular for meetings, incentives, conferences and events. While random subjectivity… Read more »
by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua O wad some Power the giftie gie us To see oursels as ithers see us! Robert Burns “To a Louse” The sayings of my late mother have featured previously in this blog. This time I lead with one of her favourites, from Robbie Burns, written originally in 1785, but… Read more »
by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua Westport was recently voted the best place to live in Ireland, an accolade that has nothing to do with the clemency of the weather there as the town is right on the Wild Atlantic Way where the weather is as unpredictable as the moody Atlantic itself. I’ve experienced blistering… Read more »
by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua I remember that Summer in Dublin … It was a warm 22 degrees and the mid morning streets of Dublin were bathed in bright July sunshine. Our pop-up café culture was already in full swing, the pavements crammed with cool people drinking all sorts of coffees and coloured juices… Read more »
by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua Frisson of Excitement The French Quarter was largely unaffected when Hurricane Katrina caused Armageddon-like devastation in New Orleans in 2005. So on the first morning, as my colleague Aoife and I ambled around on a jet-lagged pre-dawn stroll, it was just as I remembered it from way back. The… Read more »
by Padraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua I felt sorry for our hosts. Two years working on an event to bring some of the most powerful Professional Conference Organisers in the world to your city and there’s a deluge that wouldn’t look out of place in the recent Hollywood blockbuster, Noah. What’s generally an idyllic alpine… Read more »
by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua For 50 years Avis, the car rental company, used “We try harder” as its tagline. It was a piece of brilliant disruptive marketing, fashioned under the leadership of CEO Robert Townsend, aimed at taking down Hertz, the dominant market player at the time. Instead of bland, vacuous hyperbole laying… Read more »
by Padraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua Collective Confusion Ireland’s historical relationship with food has tended to be problematical. Our DNA has tended to be encoded with vague, indistinct memories of famine and fasting leaving us collectively confused about the purpose and meaning of food in our lives. We were less unsure, mind you, about our… Read more »
by Padraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua The Challenge I gave Lyndsi Armenio of Destination DC half a day to prove for the purposes of this blog that Washington DC kicked ass as a conventions and incentives destination. “Show me a great hotel, an unusual location for a welcome function, a wow venue for a Gala,… Read more »
by Padraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua That I couldn’t locate a pub in downtown Malaga showing either Arsenal v Everton or Ireland v Italy was intensely frustrating. The first match was a quarter final cup clash against strong opposition and Arsenal were to score 4 glorious goals to progress to the FA cup semi-final. Ireland… Read more »