Do U.S. incentive planners care enough about sustainability?

Fenit, Co Kerry

Padraic Gilligan, Chief Marketing Officer, SITE & SITE Foundation Divided by a common language When I reflect on the content of some recent conferences, webinars and podcasts, I’m reminded of George Bernard Shaw’s much quoted comment about the US and Great Britain being “two countries divided by a common language”. The great divide, this time,… Read more »

Defining the Business Events Industry – the global voice of JMIC

by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua & Chief Marketing Officer SITE Joint Meetings Industry Council This week I was privileged to accompany Annamaria Ruffini, SITE President for 2018 to the Joint Meetings Industry Council (JMIC) summit in Hannover, Germany. JMIC is an organisation which I’ve been aware for a long time but, to my embarrassment… Read more »

Rome for Meetings & Incentives plus SITE aggiornamento 2018

by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua  It’s difficult to pull together a series of coherent thoughts following a full-on week in one of the world’s top cities for meetings & events that commenced at the discreet luxury of the Gran Melia Rome Villa Agrippina and concluded at the imperial glory of Hilton’s Waldorf Astoria, the legendary… Read more »

Venues for meetings & events – what’s next in the evolution?

by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua Trends for Venues 2018 Last week I signed off on my contribution to the 2018 edition of EventMB’s Trends Report. Focusing on venues and destinations, I called out the trends that, I believe, will dominate discourse in 2018 and beyond. This is the 2nd year that I’ve collaborated with… Read more »

Marketing Awards in Business Events

by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua Tonight the world of Business Events will celebrate the  EVCOM Industry Awards (incorporating the Meetings Industry Marketing Awards – MIMA)  in London and at SoolNua Towers we’re rigid with excitement. That’s because we’re shortlisted in the Best Brand Marketing Campaign category with the #worldICECREAMindex, our tasty, left field approach to… Read more »

IMEX Las Vegas – the Festivalisation of Exhibitions.

by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua In an early January post on Skift, Greg Oates talks about convergence as a key trend for the meetings industry for 2017 and, in particular, about the “festivalisation” of meetings and events as attendees seek both education and entertainment from the overall experience.  I thought of this as I… Read more »