The late, great Jack Franchek once told me that success as a DMC was all about cultivating relationships with weird people. And Jack being Jack exaggerated that contention to the nth degree: “Unless you’ve got a whole bunch of outcasts and weirdos in your Rolodex (this was a pre-Internet age!), you’re as useful to me as… Read more »
Posts Tagged: Motivational Events
Hero or Villain? The true identity of the DMC!
At an industry function recently I found myself seated between two agency executives. I spent a fascinating and frightening evening listening to war stories about their experiences with DMCs around the world. In roughly half of the stories the war in question was won as a result of incredible acts of heroism and valour on… Read more »
A week in Las Vegas – Days 4, 5 and 6 (Site International Conference)
A Week in Vegas – Days 4, 5 and 6 (Site International Conference) IMEX America drew to a euphoric close on Thursday PM with all participants declaring it a triumph. It was a real “if-you-build-it-they-will-come” phenomenon but not so much in relation to infrastructure as human relationships. Ray Bloom has build strong relationships in our… Read more »
5 key ingredients for a successful incentive travel programme
Five Key Ingredients for a Successful Incentive Travel Programme Padraic Gilligan, Managing Director, Ovation Global DMC For the past five days I assisted my colleagues at Ovation Switzerland in the operation of an incentive travel programme for a US based Finance & Insurance customer. On departure day I listened with great interest as the Incentive… Read more »
“Flash Mobs in Bangkok: is this Thailand?”
“Flash mobs in Bangkok: is this Thailand ?” by Padraic Gilligan, Managing Director, MCI Dublin and VP Ovation Global DMC I thought I was in the middle of a Flash Mob. It was evening rush hour and I had just gotten off the Skytrain. I could hear music playing all over the station and people… Read more »
Budapest is knocking on heaven’s door
“Budapest is knocking on heaven’s door” by Padraic Gilligan When the long haired buskers in the underpass are playing complex counterpoints by Bartok and Bernstein rather than “Knocking on Heaven’s Door” by Bob Dylan then you know you’re in Budapest. This is a city with a profound intellectual and cultural DNA which it carries naturally,… Read more »
Incentive Houses and DMCs: a marriage made in heaven?
For the past couple of years The Site Foundation has been conducting annual research on topics of current interest to The Meetings and Events Industry. This research released as “The Site Index” has been extraordinarily useful to the industry presenting an up- to-the-minute snapshot on a variety of topics of both generic and specific interest…. Read more »
Rooms with a View – private venues in Florence
Rooms with a View – private venues in Florence by Padraic Gilligan Italian cities, in general, don’t carry their illustrious past as a burden that prevents them from getting on with 21st century living. The past is integrated into the present sometimes seamlessly, sometimes not but, either way, contemporary life simply carries on, regardless, amidst… Read more »
Hero or Villain? What is the true identity of the DMC?
At an industry function recently I found myself seated between two agency executives. I spent a fascinating and frightening evening listening to war stories about their experiences with DMCs around the world. In roughly half of the stories the war in question was won as a result of incredible acts of heroism and valour on… Read more »
The all-new Las Vegas
My abiding memory of Las Vegas rotates around Moon Civetz’s company, Maverick Aviation Group. It was during the last Incentive Research Foundation (IRF) Invitational in 1995 when the IRF was still the Site Foundation and I was on the Site Board. Site CEO Brenda Anderson had persuaded me to accompany her on a helicopter ride… Read more »