The all-new Las Vegas

My abiding memory of Las Vegas rotates around Moon Civetz’s company, Maverick Aviation Group. It was during the last Incentive Research Foundation (IRF) Invitational in 1995 when the IRF was still the Site Foundation and I was on the Site Board. Site CEO Brenda Anderson had persuaded me to accompany her on a helicopter ride… Read more »

All Aboard the Marrakech Express (‘cos the Times they are a changin’)

All Aboard the Marrakech Express (‘cos the times they are a changin’)* *with a nod to some great 60s tunes! [First published on the excellent, lively, vibrant and way-cool travel portal http://www.zipsetgo.com/]  In 1962 – almost 50 years ago – Bob Dylan gave voice to a new generation and announced the “times they are a… Read more »

Singapore – a curious cat and mouse tale

by Padraic Gilligan For many of us in the Meetings Industry the major dread of any trip to Asia is the knowledge that most conversations about our business will be liberally peppered with “MICE”. And we’re not talking small rodents here, we talking acronyms – meetings, incentives, congresses and events. Despite our best efforts in… Read more »

Florence – how two old friends met after 32 years

by Padraic Gilligan, Vice President, Ovation Global I visited Florence for the first time courtesy of a small bursary from the Italian Government. I was 16 years old and still at school. 3 weeks there in 1976 brought life and meaning to a plethora of exotic, rarefied names and words from Geography, History and art… Read more »

Incentive travel – a trip too far?

My Latin Teacher would be very proud to know that the dominant image in my mind as the meetings and events industry continues to be tossed about in the stormy seas of problematical perception and economic turmoil is that of Icarus, falling helplessly from the sky having ignored his father’s advice not to fly too… Read more »