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.

Connector No. 18 Review is a post from: Connector

Connector Event No.18 @ Ron Blacks is a post from: Connector

The Search is on!  WANTED: Magners League Professional Fan
Magners League announces search for Ireland’s first ever spokesfan.

Magners League is offering the opportunity of a lifetime to one lucky
job-seeker to become the ‘Magners League Professional Fan’ for this
current season 2009-10.  This unique position is diverse, fast paced and
demanding.  The many benefits include seats at Magners League games,
meeting rugby stars, getting to know team managers and trainers, travel,
(some) fame and the appreciation of  new-found fans.

The ideal candidate will be available to attend Magners League matches on
each match weekend from December through to the ML Grand Final next May.
Developing relationships with key personnel and media from each of the
provinces, the successful candidate will work with the Setanta Sports
production team in interviewing players and fans and providing in-match
summaries, in addition to maintaining their own blog and continuously
looking for opportunities to drive the profile of the League.

The chosen candidate will have strong communication and interpersonal
skills and be able to build relationships with all Magners League
partners.  He/She will have strong presentation skills, will enjoy working
with people and will be innovative and creative with a can do attitude.

Orlaith Fortune, Marketing Manager Bulmers said, “If you think you have
what it takes and you want to be part of the League’s most exciting season
ever, then all you have to do is apply… If you are passionate about sport,
hard-working and not shy in front of a camera, then this is the job for
you!”

The 2009/10 Magners League has all the makings of another all-action
tournament brimming with clashes high in both intensity and quality
between teams from Ireland, Scotland and Wales.  With the introduction of
play-offs for the four leading sides, this season promises to be one of
the most thrilling ever.

For details on how to apply before November 24th 2009, click here >>

Magners seeking a new TV Presenter is a post from: Connector

Connector Halloween Party countdown is a post from: Connector

Connector BTW Halloween Party – Thurs Oct 29 @ Purty Kitchen,Temple Bar

Connector BTW is hosting a Fancy Dress Mad Hatter Party so please dress to impress !  Click through the presentation below for more info.

Connector Halloween – Dublin

Connector BTW Halloween Party is a post from: Connector

Thanks to all who turned out for Connector No.13 aka ‘Speed Connector’  in Krystle nightclub last night.  From a crowd of over 100 guests, we had about 30 people take part in Speed Connector.  Feedback was very positive which was great for our first attempt at our version of Speed Networking (based on Speed Dating). We wanted to try & create new way of giving guests the opportunity to meet lots of new connections in one evening.  Thankfully we had some very interesting guests as usual !

Thanks to our generous hosts Krystle’s Conor & Brian who looked after us so well.  And thanks to Jameson & their girls who looked great serving up the welcome drinks as you can see from the excellent event photos from Philippe Holderied.  A final thanks to the great volunteers Caoimhe, Jamie, Ally & Jen. Of course a BIG bye bye & thank you to Jamie Richardson who is now on her way back Stateside.  She will be missed !

Click here for Event Pictures >>

Speed Connector @ Krystle is a post from: Connector

Sunday was quite the busy day down at Croke Park with the GAA All Ireland Senior Football Quarter Final & Hurling Semi Final. With crowds from all over the country, the stadium was bursting with excitement and pride for their supporting teams.

Thanks to Toyota for the tickets, we got to enjoy the Football Quarter Final with Mayo up against Meath. What a match! The stadium was brimming with both Mayo and Meath supporters alike, but in the end it was Meath that beat out the favored team Mayo.

Next on was the Semi-Final Hurling match between Kilkenny and Waterford. This was another great game, it ended ultimately with a win from Kilkenny.

Overall it was an excellent afternoon for enjoying some great Irish sports! Thanks again to GAA Football’s sponsor Toyota for the tickets!

Check out a video from the day:

GAA Matches & Connections @ Croke Park is a post from: Connector

… and the Triple Crown and the 6 Nations Championship trophy … and Craig Doyle … and Paul O’Connell’s dad … and Gordon D’arcy …and Brent Pope and John Baker … !

OMG !! So many connections at the Irish Rugby Players Union Awards last night … Brian O’Driscoll deservedly wsept up the main player awards and a great night was had by all … thanks to Malachy from Another Avenue for the invite … more soon …

Connecting with the Irish Rugby team is a post from: Connector

Interview by Frankie Macken

I’ve always maintained that art and music are two of life’s greatest pleasures and once you attend a Synth Eastwood event, you’ll forget any of the others ever existed. I had a chat with Dave Darcy of Synth Eastwood, one of the founding members of a truly unique collective.

What happens when two graphic designers, a nightclub promoter, a sound engineer and an expert in video editing/motion graphics walk into a bar. Quite a bloody lot actually! Describing themselves as a music, art and technology group, Synth Eastwood is Dave Darcy, Carl Twomey, Al Hennington, Charlie Doran and Simon Cullen. These likely lads became mates in college and began setting up a series of small projects, such as creating music to running club nights.

Synth Eastwood was born when it became evident that you could mesh many forms of art and bring them together in one felled swoop forming one outlandish experience. Imagine going into an interactive art gallery and experience many types of art all at once: print, drawing, film, photography, animation, live performance and music – the works featured having been submitted from all over the world. This is what they do. Synth Eastwood started out holding events at 4 Dame Lane but it soon became apparent that they needed more space for a) the attendees b) the art.

Up to 600 people now attend their events and the whole thing has had to be scheduled into separate print exhibitions, musical performances, multimedia performances, not to mention the Synth Eastwood Band – taking place between the Button Factory and Filmbase in Temple Bar. Their whole offering has become akin to a mini-festival with free admission!

Each of the guys has full time jobs and the Synth Eastwood escapade takes up huge amounts of their time – though they wouldn’t change this for the world. Running Synth Eastwood brings them to festivals such as Electric Picnic, The Turnov Arts Festival in the Czech Republic and Ultrashock Arts Festival.

If you think you are a dab hand at the old art thing and want to have your work featured at the next Synth Eastwood event, just contact the guys via their Facebook or by dropping an email to ask@syntheastwood.com A brief tends to be set up 4 to 6 weeks before each event. This could be a simply worded proposal like ‘Flags & Anthems’.

The depth of creativity, stunning design and innovative concept work is really overwhelming and it was only once I delved into the depths of the website, looked at the footage and artwork that I really began to absorb the enormity of what Synth Eastwood do. If you want to have a mesmerizing experience delivered via art and music check out www.syntheastwood.com for details of their next event. Synth Eastwood are psychedelic, sensational and not to be missed. Just make sure you are well rested.

Synth Eastwood have a brand new event called Homemade on May 15 2009.  Connector will be there !

Connector interview with Synth Eastwood is a post from: Connector

You may recall before Christmas I helped raise €300 for charity at the Bloggers Christmas Dinner while raffling 2 VIP tickets to see Munster v Sale Sharks.  Well the match was last night and I was at the match with the two winners & my Limerick based cousin Diarmuid O’Riordan.

The winners were Christine Coen & Keith Delahunty who are pictured with myself, Diarmuid and Louise from Toyota.

I managed to film a Munster try on my mobile, one of the 6 they score in a thrilling 37-14 victory over Sale Sharks team with some of Europe’s top rugby names playing on the night.  However they were no match for Munster on a night where Paul O’Connell won Man of the Match.  The fans were great and it is amazing what this small Irish provincial team has achieved both on and off the field.  A highly coordinated real & virtual world community as you can see !

Picture below is Ronan O’Gara getting ready for a kick and it in mid air .. can you ‘Spot the Ball’ & win our special readers prize ?  Answers on a postcard …

We also met up with Glyn Billinghurst who is the Sales & Marketing Manager of Munster Rugby (now that is what I call a job !!) who kindly showed us arond the corporate & hospitality sections.  It is all spanking new and very impressive as was the stadium, the atmosphere, the performance and the total evening !  Thanks to Toyota for a great night out !

Connect with Munster Rugby is a post from: Connector