Connector Intern Dublin Event featuring Bobby Kerr from Dragons’ Den

by Andrew Sides on July 15th, 2010

There are many intern groups here in Dublin this summer and the interns here at Connector have been hard at work planning an intern event for all them. We wanted to create a night that brought everyone together, is fun, educational, and for a good cause.  Check it out here on Facebook.

The intern event will be benefitting the not-for-profit Barnardos, a local Dublin charity that serves the people of Dublin. The event will be on July 28^th from 6pm – 10pm at The Church. There is a suggested donation of €4 and every cent will go towards Barnardos. The Church has kindly donated a free welcome drink and finger food to all the interns that come and show their support for Barbardos.

We will also have several speakers for the night; a representative from Barnardos to talk about the work that they do, Bobby Kerr an entrepreneur that started the largest coffee company in Ireland, and Neil Leyden from the exciting new Irish global marketing project called Gateway Ireland.

We will be raffling off great prizes as well, including but not limited to a great 3 day trip around Ireland courtesy of Shamrocker Irish Adventures, 1 Bottle of Premium 18 year old Jameson Whiskey and much more!  We hope to see all the interns that are here in Dublin out for this special night of fun, community, and excitement.

You will receive a raffle ticket for every €3 donation or two raffle tickets for €5.

Andrew and Shelsea will be the MCs of the event for the evening and can’t wait to see you all there.

Connector at the Dublin Web Summit 2010

by Mark Galvin on July 5th, 2010

Hundreds of social media and technology fans were at the ambient and stylish chartered accountants institute last Thursday for the Dublin web summit to hear insights, tips and predictions from top technology enthusiasts and business luminaries. Guests were treated to a 7-hour marathon of insightful speeches from not only Irish but also global presenters.

Hoping to become more savvy on social media and technology, I doubt they were disappointed! Looking at the line up for the speeches, I was undoubtedly impressed. Big hitters such as Michael Birch founder of Bebo, Mike Butcher Editor of TechCrunch Europe, Simon Cook CEO of DFJ Espirit, the worlds largest venture capital group, The charismatic Bill Liao an Australian tech entrepreneur and ex RTE political correspondent Mark Little, to name a few, all played their part in ensuring a high calibre and standard of presentations.

The event ran extremely smoothly and was well organised with a networking session taking place half way through the speeches to allow not only the members of the audience to indulge in a the eloquent food and drinks that were provided as a half time refresher but also to talk amongst themselves and offer their insights on not only the speeches but also how they could help and compliment each others services. All in all, the event was a huge success and a credit to everyone involved. The web summit was a great chance to see first hand how huge and paramount social media and online relations are becoming in Ireland and long may it continue.

Entrepreneur Marketing Workshop with Marie O’Riordan in Dublin

by Connector on June 16th, 2010

This morning I had a very pleasant and interesting morning tea with Marie O’Riordan who is a self-styled international communications & media expert.  Marie has been doing really well of late and carries our speaking and consulting engagements for international clients.

She introduces herself in the video and is a serious connector who was the last interviewer of Mother Teresa.  Marie O’Riordan has also been interviewing & building instant rapport with Hollywood’s Elite & scores of Academy Award winners face to face for many years such as Paul Newman, Michael Caine, Quentin Tarantino, Charlize Theron, Cate Blanchett, Renee Zellweger & many, many more “A list” legends. Marie travels the globe as a Worldwide Communications Excellence Specialist™ & is the Author of ‘66 Secrets To Nailing Any Media Interview.’™

Her next event in Dublin is as follows called the Entrepreneur Marketing Workshop and features the thrilling trilogy of with Debbie Allen (USA), Tracy Repchuk (USA) & Marie O’Riordan (IRL) ;-0

It is on Friday, June 25, 2010 from 8:30 AM – 7:00 PM (GMT) and I hope to check it out.

Burson-Marsteller Fortune Global 100 Social Media Study

by Connector on June 14th, 2010

This is an interesting  article from the Burson Marsteller Blog….

‘Following in the footsteps of consumers, large international companies are now becoming active participants in social media. A recent Burson-Marsteller study found that 79 percent of the largest 100 companies in the Fortune Global 500 index are using at least one of the most popular social media platforms: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube or corporate blogs.’

Read more about Innovation_and_insights on Burson-Marsteller’s Blog:

Crafting outstanding presentations using storytelling techniques

by Connector on June 14th, 2010

Conor saw this presentation being made for the first time at Bizcamp in Dublin recently.

It covers applying  storytelling techniques to create outstanding presentations for a better engagement with the audience.

Claudio really is a good presenter!

Please take a look and see what your story would be for your next presentation!

Irish economic nationalism to take on the world!

by Connector on June 11th, 2010

In recent times I have been lucky enough to meet lots of new people in whole new areas for Connector.  I have found myself miles from my digital marketing homeland and over in what could be best described as an interesting but alien socio-political-economic landscape.  On my travels I have been connecting with an assortment of non-techies, technophobes and luddites which is nice for a change and makes me feel oh-so nerdy!

In 2009, I am sure I was not the only one to be utterly depressed at the sorry turn of global events and the international pounding our once proud celtic tiger economy was taking.  This was in the back of my mind as I set out to become a full time connector in the midst of a recession in February.  I wanted to travel a new road and see where it took me and here are some of the connections along the way as I have ben a very lazy blogger lately!

As a recent graduate of the 6 month long (part-time) Common Purpose Meridian Programme, for the first time I encountered many senior civil servants and politicians and visited several ministeries and even Mountjoy Prison.  Only yesterday at an alumni event we were presented to by the most senior civil servant of them all, Dermot McCarthy, Secretary General to the Government & the Taoiseach.

I was also recently chatting to the Minister for Science, Technology & Innovation, Conor Lenihan TD at the annual showcase for the excellent Computer Clubhouse project in the Liberties (pictured above).  Conor had great craic with the kids and remarked that they were better hecklers than the guys in the Dail!  I was then very happy to be involved in a small way with helping Padraig McKeown promote the Martin McAleese brainchild ‘Your Country Your Call‘ campaign at a Connector Event in the Science gallery – this competition is now at the exciting judging phase.

And now I see I missed the recent launch of Gateway Ireland and on the same day I assume, I walked by Gabriel Byrne and regretfully not running after him to say hello!  This project looks quite exciting too and a welcome offspring of the Farmleigh conference of 2009. I see from their web site & video they are also about connecting the Irish dots … ah now lads, shor I’ve been doing that with Connector for over 2 years now! ;-0  I wish them all the best in their endeavours to promote Irish business, tourism, culture & education and the team of advisors they have assembled is first class.

As another 2009 connection, Colm Long from Facebook, said on the RTE News site, “the company has been working with John McColgan since shortly after the Farmleigh event nine months ago. He says that Facebook got involved because connecting people all around the world is its business. He says that connecting with the country’s diaspora will be key to the success of the site.”

Gateway Ireland – An Introduction from Fountainhead on Vimeo.

So what is it with this sudden burst of  economic nationalism?  While the dire state of the state’s finances is well known, there is a  fight back coming on strong.  There is a very exciting turning of the tide underway and I hope it hits the country’s shores in 2010.

With all my talks to small businesses recently including at the Entrepreneur Show, I see a realisation that the time to energize and digitize the nation is now, as Joan Mulvihill iia CEO championed  so well recently.  People are fighting back and connecting with each other at networking events the length & breadth of the country.  However thankfully the country’s heavyweights seem to be up for the fight and are grouping together to collaborate.  The international connections with the Irish diaspora hold the key but it is us at home who must do the hard work.

A final new connection this week was a really enjoyable conversation with Andrew McLaughlin who is the Director of the Masters in Organisational Behaviour in the IMI.  On Thursday he just published a very timely and fascinating research report for the IDA called ‘Innovation & the Irish Mind.’  As Steve Jobs from Apple said, “creativity is just connecting things” and Andrew has found that the Irish executives and entrepreneurs have a unique mindset that could be just perfect for the ‘conceptual age’.

In a great supporting article in Decision magazine, Andrew writes that the ‘conceptual age’, from Daniel Pink’s book ‘A Whole New Mind‘, will require new skills of which Ireland might be perfectly equipped to prosper once more.  The Irish entrepreneurs have a preference for social connections and associating with others who have larger social networks.  They also have a tolerance for ambiguity which indicates independent idiosyncratic innovative minds!

I am doing a disservice to this vast subject area and 80 page report by summarising it into a paragraph via a 2 page article, but the full report was co-written by Megan Burgdorf and can be found at ‘Innovation & the Irish Mind.’ However as the government has also produced an several ‘knowledge economy’ style reports, it is the actual implementation of good ideas that will get us back to our rightful place punching above our weight on the global stage.

The fact that this community of Irish economic nationalists has formed is very encouraging and will it have the desired impact?  If you have any comments or messages of support for these initiatives, please leave a comment below.

Words by Conor Lynch / Photo by Pavla K Smidova

Connector 2.0

by Sarai Fernandez on May 24th, 2010

At Connector we’re celebrating the blog’s second birthday this week. Yes, it has been two years since Conor started writing the Connector blog about all the interesting people and communities he met in Dublin. After that, the networking events came and some time later we started with the consulting and training services.

As a result of being so busy we’ve not being blogging so much, but with our 2nd birthday we want to commit to publish relevant content to share our knowledge of social media besides the new connections with people and communities. We are planning to start publishing webinars, videos and other training material that we hope you find useful.

We’ll give you more info later this week.

Connect with Weedle

by connector on April 14th, 2010

After being involved in Enterprise Ireland’s High Potential Start Up programme, Weedle seemed to have a very promising future.  Then to top that, it also received funding, announced via Brian Cowen totalling US $4 Million to expand the Weedle social platform in the U.S and other global regions.

Weedle was founded by Iain McDonald, who successfully sold his previous company Perlico to Vodafone in 2007, and Michael Gallagher previously CIO of Perlico, Weedle is set to grow from the 16 handpicked employees who began developing Weedle last August.

Also among these is Brendan Hughes, Director of Community, with whom I had the pleasure of talking to a few weeks ago. Brendan has previously worked as  e-Commerce Manager at FBD and as e-Business Manager at Vhi Healthcare.  When he stepped down as Chair of Social Media Working Group at Irish Internet Association in 2009, it was Connector’s Conor Lynch stepped up to  take Brendan’s place.  Small world!

Six degrees of separation

There’s a theory that states that “if a person is one step away from each person they know and two steps away from each person who is known by one of the people they know, then everyone is at most six steps away from any other person on Earth.” This is known as the Six Degrees of Separation theory. Whether you actually believe this theory or not, it is an interesting concept and one that is “core to what Weedle is about.” according to Brendan.

Weedle works on powerful connections and the idea that you can recommend someone and word of mouth recommendations are the strongest persuasions.  It was through word of mouth from Brendan that the launch plans were conceived.

Weedle Launch

Weedle had a soft launch, preferring to launch and showcase the product the night before the official launch to a select few connected online experts including that guy Conor Lynch yet again!

The social networking site officially went live on Thursday and it was already named in 5 blog posts and on Friday the site had hit the Irish Times. In the first 24 hours Weedle had as many people signed up as they had anticipated in the first month and had a surprising flurry of activity from as far away as Holland.

The more people who sign up for Weedle the more powerful the social network will become and for Weedle to realize its vision it needs to become global.

Best of luck!

Obviously Connector is a big fan of connections, Conor is excited about using this new platform. Thanks to Brendan for his time and best of luck to all the Weedle team!

Nicola O’Reilly

Connect with Dragons Den @ The Entrepreneur Show

by Laura Goucher on April 10th, 2010

Things are beginning to warm up for The Entrepreneur Show which will be held in the RDS Dublin on April 23rd and 24th. It is set to be two days of the biggest networking and business knowledge gathering event ever seen in the country. Connector will be present at the event with a stand and with Mr. Networker himself Conor will be taking part in some of the panels and discussions about building new connections.

The Entrepreneur Show is designed to inspire visitors to do new and better business. It will host an array of speakers from all sectors of business, to inspire you in your business development.  It will give the opportunity to  learn and develop new business ideas and the necessary skills to put them into practice.

Not only does it give guests an opportunity to do some serious networking, it will also feature over 80 guest speakers from some of the most knowledgeable business minds like the UK’s Dragons Richard Farleigh and Rachel Elnaugh, the Irish Dragons Sean Gallagher, Bobby Kerr and Gavin Duffy and the Entrepreneur of the Year Terry Clune.

The show is made up of five different areas,the Inspiration Chamber will host an inspiring group of Entrepreneurs speaking about their journeys through their business life.  The “New Ventures” Arena will feature recently developed companies sharing their journey through the early stage of their business, this will educate visitors on how beneficial mentors and investors are to a new business and also tips on what qualities to look for when investing.

The “Think Tank” Auditorium is a new feature to the show which  involves different business sectors participating in the show and a live audience of entrepreneurs, enaging in panel discussion and audience interaction. One of the most exciting areas for visitors to the show is the “Invest test” Sessions which will feature businesses looking for investment and will be judged by a live panel of experts including the UK Dragons. The Exhibitor’s Area will demonstrate the tools and services needed to develop your business development these demonstations will over vast areas including mentoring, life coaching and design services.

Two day tickets to the event are priced €35. Proud sponsors Google are giving the first 10,000 visitors who purchase tickets online €75 worth of free Google ad words to kick start marketing their business online.
Those who purchase tickets online before midnight on Monday the 12th of April, will enter into prize draws for Entrepreneur show hampers sponsored by companies such as henparty.ie, hairybaby.com and many more.  For more details, click here>>

Connector No. 18 Review

by Mallory McSweeney on February 7th, 2010

The Champagne Bar in Ron Black’s on Dawson Street was buzzing with the sounds of new connections being made last Thursday evening as Connector No. 18 brought together dozens of people for a few drinks, a few laughs, and of course  plenty of social networking!  To check out the photos, click here >>

January’s event featured several rounds of speed networking for those interested in making several connections in a short amount of time as well as a few tables of Connect 4 for more casual connecting.  I think there was a record number of business cards exchanged at our eighteenth event!

Connector also raised (money) for Haiti at this free event, which will be donated through Adrian Garry’s trip to Haiti.  And of course thanks to our great volunteers from DIT Event management (1st years) who helped us on the night.