by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua When it’s gets dark, that’s when Vegas comes to life This year the Business Events industry convened in Las Vegas for IMEX under the heavy cloud of a violent atrocity in which over 50 attendees at a country music festival lost their lives. One moment we’re struggling with unspeakable… Read more »
by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua Earlier this week the excellent Irina Trofimovskaya aka The MICE Blog posted a long-form, thoughtful piece on Influencer Marketing in the MICE Industry. Towards the end of a well reasoned article she sets out a suggested fee structure that “influencers” might charge clients. This prompted me to tweet: … Read more »
by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua Monocle I’ve had a subscription to Monocle magazine for some years now. It arrives every month falling through my letterbox with a significant thud for Monocle is not your average magazine. It’s what might be called a weighty tome, usually more than a centimetre in thickness and so crammed… Read more »
by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua When I was 14 my Dad used his contacts to get me a part time job. It was in a Deli / Liquor Store, or, as we say in Ireland, an Off-Licence. I was paid 35 old pence per hour and worked 10 hours a week on a Friday… Read more »
by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, Small Cities Simon Kuper published an interesting piece in last weekend’s Financial Times magazine (10 / 11 June 2017) that has resonance for the Destination Marketing sector. Entitled “Small cities, big ideas” Kuper’s article channels a plethora of recent reports, surveys and rankings to back up his contention that “the… Read more »
by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua Changes Recent posts on this site have highlighted the seismic changes across the Meetings and Events Industry with reference to the agency or intermediary sector and, particularly, Destination Management Companies (DMCs). However, the Destination Marketing sector has also been subjected to the “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune”, under-going… Read more »
by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua Following months of relative calm, fractious chatter regarding the value of Destination Management Companies / Consultants (DMCs) has rendered the waters of our industry choppy and turbulent again. This chatter has followed the publication of a White Paper on the relationship between Core PCOs travelling with Association clients from… Read more »
by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua I hate millennials but I especially hate millennial eventprofs. I hate everything about them. If I had my way the meetings and events industry would impose an outright ban on anyone born after 1982. I might retain some of the post 80s technological advances but I’d keep none, repeat… Read more »
by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua Incentive travel, chief amongst the four elements that comprise MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences, events) has traditionally been synonymous with luxury. This has been the case for decades. It stemmed from a shared word cloud that included such terms as exclusive, expensive, elite and extraordinary. Add in extravagant, opulent and… Read more »
by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua Today @Supergreybeard and I spoke with two corporate meeting and event planners about return on investment aka ROI. It was a fascinating conversation with two highly experienced professionals from global organisations. By the end of the telephone conversation, however, I knew we were no further down the line with ROI today than… Read more »