So what does SoolNua do?

by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua All’s changed… Regular readers of this blog will have noticed how its byline and biography have changed. They used to say that I was Vice President of Industry Relations at MCI and Managing Director at Ovation Global DMC. About 15 months ago this changed to Managing Partner at SoolNua. When… Read more »

The True Value of Meetings – UNWTO Report 2014

by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua The United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) is just over 10 years in existence. Headquartered in Madrid, Spain it publishes a comprehensive annual report on tourism as well as occasional reports on specific segments, sectors and geographies of the broader tourism industry. It’s recent report (March 2014) on The… Read more »

MICE people at AIPCO14, Limerick

by Padraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua Passion and Energy in Limerick The Association of Irish Professional Organisers (AIPCO) made its annual assembly into a pan-MICE gathering this year and attracted almost 200 meetings and events professionals to Limerick, City of Culture. The entire event was characterised by palpable passion and energy, evidenced by the great… Read more »

Milestones, Highlights and Lessons Learned: 20 years as a DMC

by Padraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolElla Fiche bliain ag fas 20 years ago this year Patrick Delaney and I started Delaney Marketing Consultants and launched ourselves as “Ireland’s leading DMC” to the understandable annoyance of our long established competitors. Some competitors even took their chagrin to higher authorities and lodged official complaints about our promotional… Read more »

Lessons from Shakespeare for Meeting Industry Newbies

by Padraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua Most readers of this blog know that Patrick and I are leaving MCI at the end of 2013 but staying in the Meetings Industry to work in the areas of strategy, destination marketing, training and advisory boards. As the two decade arc from Delaney Marketing to Ovation Global DMC approaches… Read more »

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 »

Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered by Brussels (and Le Meridien re-visited)

by Padraic Gilligan, Vice President, Ovation Global DMC Blushing Belgians As a teenager in the 1970s I was part of an Irish delegation that attended an international arts and performance festival in Rome. Attracting young people from all over the world this event fostered peace and universal brotherhood and was attended by over 10,000 people…. Read more »