2nd Ovation Trophy 2013 – The Prologue

by Padraic Gilligan, VP, Ovation Global DMC If Carlsberg did travel … The Swiss flight from Paris to Zurich boarded on time, took off on time and landed slightly ahead of schedule. It was packed with efficient suits and brief cases, their boarding passes downloaded to a smart phone. Boarding was swift and easy and… Read more »

Snow in Antwerp and what we learned at Site EMEA Forum 2013

by Padraic Gilligan, Vice President Ovation Global DMC and Vice President of Industry Relations at MCI Snow in Astrid Square When snow falls and sticks it alters perspectives. It rounds off sharp edges, fills voids and cancels colour. For those who live in moderate climates where snow is a rare occurrence, it evokes the magic… Read more »

Antwerp: Shine bright like a diamond Site EMEA Forum 2013

by Padraic Gilligan, Vice President, Ovation Global DMC Snow was general all over Ireland. It was falling softly upon the Bog of Allen and, further westwards, softly falling into the dark mutinous Shan­non waves. It was falling too upon every part of the lonely churchyard where Michael Furey lay buried. It lay thickly drifted on… Read more »

Leaving Las Vegas: Off the Strip at Red Rock Resort

by Padraic Gilligan, Vice President Ovation Global DMC Leaving Las Vegas I arrived into McCarran from Montreal magically gaining back 3 hours of my day in the process. The Air Canada flight touched down in bright sunshine and soon I was in the all-new international terminal at Las Vegas, bathed in natural light and free… Read more »

Philadelphia: a sense of coming home

by Padraic Gilligan, Vice President, Industry Relations, MCI There was a sense of homecoming. When I thought about it I realised it stemmed from a unique alignment of time and place. The 100th year anniversary of the birth of my Dad on 28 Feb rooted my thoughts around the Gilligan family and Annie, my Dad’s… Read more »

MadMen at the Rome Cavalieri

by Padraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua Don and Betty at the Hilton Rome Most fans of Mad Men, the US TV series set in a Madison Ave Ad agency in the early 60s, will recall the Rome episode from programme’s 3rd series. Don Draper, the enigmatic creative genius of Sterling Cooper is invited by the client he… Read more »

Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered by Brussels (and Le Meridien re-visited)

by Padraic Gilligan, Vice President, Ovation Global DMC Blushing Belgians As a teenager in the 1970s I was part of an Irish delegation that attended an international arts and performance festival in Rome. Attracting young people from all over the world this event fostered peace and universal brotherhood and was attended by over 10,000 people…. Read more »

The Nature/Nurture debate and Brands: lessons from Paris

by Padraic Gilligan, Vice President, Industry Relations, MCI and Vice President, Destination Services, Ovation Global DMC Paris has featured, like bookends, at either end of my travel schedule in 2012. On both occasions, in January and November, the city yielded up that timeless sense of refined urban living, unique to great cities like Paris, London… Read more »

California dreaming

by Padraic Gilligan, Vice President, Ovation Global DMC Learning, Connecting, Being Inspired In his seminal book Meeting Architecture, Maarten Vanneste identifies education, networking and motivation as the 3 pillars around which successful meeting outcomes are based. Thus we go to conferences to learn, connect and be inspired but the selected conference location contributes significantly to… Read more »