PCOs and DMCs: is there room for two agencies on the supply chain?

by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua Following months of relative calm, fractious chatter regarding the value of Destination Management Companies / Consultants (DMCs) has rendered the waters of our industry choppy and turbulent again. This chatter has followed the publication of a White Paper on the relationship between Core PCOs travelling with Association clients from… Read more »

The Professional Conference Organiser (PCO) in the Twenty First Century

by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua I’ve written extensively on this blog about Destination Management Companies (DMCs) and how the business model for DMCs has been changing almost as fast as governments in Italy and policies in the Trump Administration. Over the past while @Supergreybeard and I have been thinking about the related, adjacent world… Read more »

10 ways to Nail your Sale

sales

by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua The Association of Irish Professional Conference Organisers (AIPCO)  4th annual conference was held at the beautiful Lyrath Estate, Kilkenny gathering almost 200 MICE professionals around the theme “How to nail your sale”. For the third year running I moderated proceedings and this time was honoured to work with such… Read more »

Brands as Visitor Attractions – Teeling launches in Dublin

by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua On Products and Brands When Arthur Guinness brewed his famous stout for the first time back in 1759 little did he know that 256 years later 1m people would flock to his factory simply to visit. The same for Thomas Phillips (Bushmills), John Jameson, D.E. Williams (Tullamore Dew) and… Read more »

Budapest is knocking on heaven’s door

“Budapest is knocking on heaven’s door” by Padraic Gilligan When the long haired buskers in the underpass are playing complex counterpoints by Bartok and Bernstein rather than “Knocking on Heaven’s Door” by Bob Dylan then you know you’re in Budapest. This is a city with a profound intellectual and cultural DNA which it carries naturally,… Read more »