MICE in Cork – growing potential for Ireland’s 2nd city

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 »

MICE in Belfast – but in a good way!

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 »

Chicago: a night on the town and Hyatt revisited

by Padraic Gilligan, Vice President, Ovation Global DMC Mythologising our memories For over two decades meetings and events professionals congregated in Chicago in late September / early October to attend the IT&ME show. It remained IT&ME for many of us long after it was renamed The Motivation Show but our memories of the show, and… Read more »

2nd Ovation Trophy 2013 – The Prologue

by Padraic Gilligan, VP, Ovation Global DMC If Carlsberg did travel … The Swiss flight from Paris to Zurich boarded on time, took off on time and landed slightly ahead of schedule. It was packed with efficient suits and brief cases, their boarding passes downloaded to a smart phone. Boarding was swift and easy and… Read more »

London Calling: M&IT Awards, CONFEX and the Irish back at ExCel

by Padraic Gilligan, Vice President MCI and Vice President, Ovation Global DMC Ole, Ole, Ole London’s Convention and Exhibition Centre, ExCeL, is etched in the hearts of most Irish people. For a period last summer it often appeared that the entire facility had been colonised by the Irish such were the ubiquity of tri-colours and… Read more »

Philadelphia: a sense of coming home

by Padraic Gilligan, Vice President, Industry Relations, MCI There was a sense of homecoming. When I thought about it I realised it stemmed from a unique alignment of time and place. The 100th year anniversary of the birth of my Dad on 28 Feb rooted my thoughts around the Gilligan family and Annie, my Dad’s… Read more »

Destination Branding a la Montreal – More Tales of ADMEI

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 »

MadMen at the Rome Cavalieri

by Padraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua Don and Betty at the Hilton Rome Most fans of Mad Men, the US TV series set in a Madison Ave Ad agency in the early 60s, will recall the Rome episode from programme’s 3rd series. Don Draper, the enigmatic creative genius of Sterling Cooper is invited by the client he… 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 »

California dreaming

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 »