by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua In his poetic masterpiece The Waste Land, T.S. Eliot writes “April is the cruellest month …”. For the incentive industry and SITE, in particular, we might re-phrase Eliot’s words and say “2017 was the cruellest year” for this year we lost two shining lights, Jane Schuldt and Paul Flackett,… Read more »
by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua My SoolNua colleague @AoifeMcCrum and I co-presented at ibtmWorld in Barcelona this week on the “hardy annual” topic of Social Media. We were exceedingly grateful to the wonderful crowd that showed up at 16:45 – the dreaded graveyard slot – for an hour on Social Media and its impact… Read more »
by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua Debits and Credits I attended an event in my hometown recently that resonated perfectly with an on-going preoccupation of mine (and that of @Supergreybeard) and that’s workplace culture. I guess we’re at that stage in our careers when you do the Math, look at the credits and debits, ask… Read more »
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 »