Associations and PCOs – Final Thoughts from IAPCO13

by Padraic Gilligan, Vice President, Industry Relations, MCI The Three Musketeers That’s how the executive host committee of the hugely successful IAPCO Conference which took place in Dublin last week described themselves. It’s worth dissecting the image as, I believe, there are crucial lessons here for success in business and in destination marketing in particular…. Read more »

5 Principles for Success in Destination Management

by Padraic Gilligan, Vice President, Ovation Global DMC In 1662 Irishman Robert Boyle made a scientific discovery that eventually allowed us to voyage to the bottom of the sea; 8 years later the exact same discovery was made by the Frenchman Edme Mariotte. The “multiple independent discovery” principle is well documented and includes Newton’s and… Read more »

Information, Inspiration and Vision: what happened at FICP Day 3 and 4

by Padraic Gilligan, Vice President, Ovation Global DMC Roger Dow: From Life Guard to Life Saver Roger Dow’s presentation to FICP on Tuesday AM was informative, inspiring and visionary and highlighted just how lucky the meetings and events industry is to have such a figure amongst its ranks. As President of USTA (United States Travel… Read more »

Tying up loose ends – Live Events, Expedia, The Gathering and Jurriaen Sleijster

by Padraic Gilligan, Vice President, Industry Relations MCI and Vice President, Ovation Global DMC On Saturday I leave for Los Angeles where I’ll be attending – and blogging from – the annual conference of FICP, the Financial and Insurance Corporate Planners Association. This will be my 7th FICP conference and I am looking forward to… Read more »

Words with Meetings Industry Friends: Rhonda, Joan and Andrea.

By Padraic Gilligan, VP, Industry Relations MCI It started with Rhonda Marko. Pretty quickly Joan Eisenstodt joined in and, more recently, Andrea Michaels. All strong and powerful women. All true icons of the meetings industry. I’m unsure whether they know each other personally but I’m certain they know of each other as all have carved… Read more »

Hybrid Events and the new event participant

by Padraic Gilligan, Vice President, Industry Relations, MCI “It’s not who attends your event, it’s who participates” Sebastien Tondeur, CEO, MCI Samuel Johnson, or Dr Johnson as he was more commonly known, had a wonderful ability to summarise a universal truth in a single, simple sentence. His aphorisms are both sublime and ridiculous: “Integrity without… Read more »

The Ubiquity of Kenny G (and great education at The IRF Invitational)

by Padraic Gilligan, VP, Industry Relations, MCI I’m sitting at Gate B4 at San Antonio International Airport, waiting for my flight with American Airlines back to Chicago and onwards home to Dublin. I’m surrounded by the anodyne, bland and deeply annoying ubiquity of Kenny G, an entirely inappropriate and unfair symbolic conclusion to a stimulating,… Read more »