Connect with Colm Lyons from Realex Payments

by Conor on December 1st, 2009

BIG thanks to Colm Lyons from Realex Payments for supporting the Christmas Connector Party this year – his company have generously helped us put on this event & we hope you make his team feel very welcome on the night !

Colm was the guy (pictured above left) who presented me with my Internet Marketer of the Year award in 2005 & his company is one of the shining lights of the Irish web scene & he is a great supporter of those trying to follow in his footsteps.

In 2005 Colm was acclaimed and rewarded for his leadership when he was a finalist of the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. As an industry figure he was Director and Chairman of the Irish Internet Association for over four years – during which time the association significantly enhanced its position. In 2009 he founded the Internet Growth Alliance in early 2009 to help Irish Internet businesses. Most recently he was awarded the ‘Internet Hero Award’ at the Golden Spiders in Dublin.

The company now employs 70 people in Ireland, Great Britain and France. In addition the company currently has 15 vacancies advertised on its website, as it continues to expand its operations in Ireland and abroad.  They recently announced profits of €720,000 as turnover increase to €6.5 million. The company has experienced year on year growth since its foundation in 2000 & now process payments for over 3500 clients, including Virgin Atlantic, Vodafone, Aer Lingus, Quinn Insurance, Motortax.ie.Wow!

Christmas Connector 2009

by Conor on November 16th, 2009

Connector Lunch @ Saba

by Rob Cumiskey on November 12th, 2009

After last week’s lovely lunch at Little Caeser’s, where we connected with some great people, we’re going back to Saba on Clarendon St, Dublin 2 (where we had some lovely dinner here) for a 1PM lunch this Friday.

Unfortunately we won’t be sponsoring lunch this week, but we’d love you to join us. You will of course be meeting with some great folk from both the online and offline world. In the last few weeks we have had a diverse crowd but quite a few are from Dublin’s fast growing digital scene with people in from Dublin Web Summit, Balcony TV, Facebooth and reps from Truvo & Connector.

Hope to see you there

Connector Launches Event

by Conor on November 11th, 2009

Connector is looking for 10 new businesses to step forward and tell us their story at a great new Connector Event on the 26th November 2009.  We are also accepting newish businesses who have a new web site, web or mobile app or video to show off.  Maybe you have a new fashion design ?  Maybe a new killer home made chocolate bar ?  You tell us what you been up to and we will help you spread the word !

Does this sound like you or a friend of yours ?  If so please register your interest with Event Elephant – The final list of presenters will be unveiled on the 19th November.  Good luck !

Connector Lunch @ Little Caeser's

by Mallory McSweeney on November 5th, 2009

Connector Lunches moved to Pacino’s Restaurant on Suffolk Street last Friday. We had a great chat over some tasty pizza and pasta after a busy week of Halloween preparations. We continued our Connector Lunches odessey in Little Caeser’s, on Balfe St. this week at 1PM.

As usual we had a  very diverse crowd of friendly and interesting people from the online and offline world who dropped in to make or renew some connections over lunch.  Afterwards we popped into the Westbury for afternoon tea !

Please keep an eye on connector.ie for the next Connector Lunch location.  If you are a restaurant and would like us to pay you a visit, please contact events [@] connector.ie

By Mallory McSweeney

Connector Halloween Roundup

by Emma Greene on November 5th, 2009

It was a spooky October night in Purty Kitchen Temple Bar. People came to the door some in costume some not, but all eager to meet new people and make connections.

The room was decked out to the full with lanterns, balloons and cobwebs. Not only was it full with decorations but also some delicious treats supplied by one of the nights sponsors Marks & Spencers. These lovely treats were washed down happily with an ice cold Bulmers Light another one of our very generous sponsors. Purty Kitchen also donated platters of delicious food on the night.

One of the main attractions of the night was Facebooth “Video Booths for Every Occasion” the attendees were able to leave a video comment on their experience of the night. It was highly successful. This was the first time Facebooth has appeared in Ireland and it was quite the achievement getting them here.

Entertainment on the night, besides the DJ was the up and coming comedian Marcus O’ Laoira who has only been on the comedy seen since June of this year. Marcus has appeared in comedy festivals such as Kilkenny Cat Laughs and the Bulmers Comedy Festival. Other than tonight’s gig he will be appearing in six others. The crowd loved him and his energy, he preformed a music comedy and was ably supported by Greg Marks.

Overall it was a fantastic night, looking forward to next years already!  Thanks to Jason & BTW for coming down and making it such a goodnight of connections – Conor & Jason are pictured about &  more pix here >>

Connector Event Managers

by Conor on November 2nd, 2009

If you were down at the Connector Halloween Party on Thursday night, you will no doubt have been very impressed with the event presentation.  Hats off to these 3 girls who planned, promoted & managed this event with some guidance from myself.

Pictured are Mallory McSweeney, Sarah Bell & Emma Greene, the latter two being Event Management students from DBS. They were also responsible for liaising with the venue, party entertainment and our sponsors Bulmers Light and Marks & Spencer.  A BIG thanks to the girls !

Connector Lunch @ Pacinos

by Conor on October 28th, 2009

The popular Connector Lunch series, sponsored by Truvo, continues this Friday, October 30th at Pacino’s on Suffolk Street, Dublin 2.  Don’t miss this opportunity for social networking over lunch with great company !  In the last few weeks we have had a diverse crowd but quite a few would be from Dublin’s fast growing digital scene with people in from Dublin Web Summit, Balcony TV, Facebooth and reps from Truvo & Connector.

Our offer from Truvo for Connector is that if you review any Dublin restaurant, café, bar or club and send us a link to your review (minimum of 50 words) you may get a €10 lunch for FREE at the next Connector Lunches meetup. Please email your review to events@connector.ie and we will give away up to 15 free lunches per week to reviewers.

If you want to buy your own lunch, that is totally cool too!  Hope to see you on Friday or at our Connector Halloween party on Thursday 29th.

Connector @ Windows 7 launch party

by Conor on October 28th, 2009

This was a BIG launch party given the state of the Irish economy !  Thanks to Piaras from Edelman for the invites to the eagerly awaited launch of Windows 7.  The event was held at the Button Factory and the highlight was this ’80′s tastic’ performance by Spring Break !

Connector Halloween Party countdown

by Conor on October 28th, 2009