by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua Harvard Research on Impact of a Conference I’ve been a subscriber to Harvard Business Review for many years now. It’s a great way to keep in touch with all the latest theories in the business world. The articles there are backed by meticulous research so you’re not reading half-baked,… Read more »
by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua For 50 years Avis, the car rental company, used “We try harder” as its tagline. It was a piece of brilliant disruptive marketing, fashioned under the leadership of CEO Robert Townsend, aimed at taking down Hertz, the dominant market player at the time. Instead of bland, vacuous hyperbole laying… Read more »
by Padraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua You pause at the door but then decide on another trip to the restroom. You’ve been at the entrance to the ballroom twice before but, each time, found compelling reasons not to go in. First time, when you looked into the room, there was nobody there. Second time the room was too… Read more »
by Padraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua The Challenge I gave Lyndsi Armenio of Destination DC half a day to prove for the purposes of this blog that Washington DC kicked ass as a conventions and incentives destination. “Show me a great hotel, an unusual location for a welcome function, a wow venue for a Gala,… Read more »
by Padraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua Destination MICE Despite changing demographics and new generational preferences the filter for destination selection still pivots around crucial infrastructural categories like hotel, formal and informal venues and unique destination experiences. I recently re-visited Belfast and was hugely impressed by how far it has come as a MICE destination in… Read more »
by Padraic Gilligan, Vice President, Ovation Global DMC Way down South Way back in the late nineties I completed a programme in Tourism Marketing at Boston College. During the programme they flew us for a weekend to Savannah, Georgia to visit a city where inbound visitor numbers had increased significantly, apparently on the strength of… Read more »
by Padraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua Cycling the Ring of Kerry – sometime after 04:00 A thin frame of bright light leaks out in the gap between the heavy drapes and the wall of the room. You reach for the phone. 4:30am. Too early. Far too little sleep for what lies ahead. You turn from… Read more »
by Padraic Gilligan, Vice President, Industry Relations, MCI A wild gene in the corporate DNA On Friday last week the entire MCI Dublin office decamped to the rather dishy Gibson Hotel and spent most of the day dreaming. Dreaming is often the illicit, unapproved by-product of the endless meetings that comprise an average day in… Read more »
by Padraic Gilligan, Vice President, Ovation Global DMC It’s not what I say about my brand, it’s what you say about it. The first session at most industry events features a word of welcome from the destination’s official authorities – someone from the Ministry of Tourism, the Chair of the CVB, the Mayor etc. It’s… Read more »
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 »