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 »
by Padraic Gilligan, Vice President, Industry Relations, MCI and Vice President, Ovation Global DMC I start getting into the mood for Las Vegas when I see archive footage on BBC4 of The Steve Gibbons Band performing their one-hit-wonder “Tulane”. Neither the band nor the title of the song has any connection with Las Vegas so… Read more »
by Padraic Gilligan, VP, MCI Group The Dangling Conversation It was an unlikely gathering. An Irishman, a Singaporean, a super elegant Indian lady and a very pretty Chinese girl. The dinner had been spectacular. Mixed appetisers – baked crab meat, table tossed Caesar salad and freshly cut micro-thin slices of top grade Parma ham –… Read more »
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 »
by Padraic Gilligan, VP, INdustry Relations MCI I’m NOT sitting at a railway station I’m sitting on a granite ledge. It’s about 30 degrees and I can feel the warmth of the sun on my face. Around me there’s a veritable babel of different languages and random sounds. The breeze is warm and bone dry…. Read more »
by Padraic Gilligan Berlin, Early Morning, 7am The room is already flooded in bright light when my alarm squalls into life at 7am. I think my vintage football shirt might be appropriate in Germany’s capital, now that Arsenal FC has signed Poldolski so I wear it for my morning march. I try to capture on… Read more »
by Padraic Gilligan Athens The Aer Lingus flight to Athens had just over 100 on board, light for the beginning of June. We departed mid afternoon from Dublin and in just over 3.5 hours were descending into the heavily mountainous terrain that surrounds Greece’s capital city. 2 hours ahead of GMT, Athens was in the… Read more »
by Padraic Gilligan, VP, Industry Relations, MCI and VP, Destination Services, Ovation Global DMC The Importance of Giving Back Weather around DFW and a runway incident at ORD prevented my attendance at the pre-event reception and dinner at the Hyatt Regency. I was in time, however, to have a night cap with my buddy Jonathan… Read more »
by Padraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua [This is part 2 of a two part post on Rome – it dates from 2012] 17:15 The sweeping views over Rome from Piazzale Garibaldi are breathtaking. Strangely, it’s a part of the city that I’ve never been to before. Now I wonder how a visit to Rome could… Read more »
by Padraic Gilligan, VP, Industry Relations, MCI and VP, Ovation Global DMC At break of dawn 04:55 Alarm goes off. To avoid subconscious and ill-advised use of the snooze facility it has been placed far from the bed. It’s an ugly sound. I fall out of bed and snap it off. I head for the… Read more »