Thanks a million to everyone who came along to the Connector #Appy Hour event last night at the Nokia Pop Up Shop on Grafton Street.  Congratulations to Suzanne Sheridan and Ger Canning who were the worthy winners of our competition on the night and proud owners of two spanking new Nokia phones! (Facebook Photos)

There were some great speakers in Anthony Lawless, Device and Software Manager at Nokia, and Edward Conmy, joint owner of Digital Times and winner of the Appys Awards.

They talked about digital innovation in terms of new mobile phone applications and how useful they are to create content for the computing, media, publishing and advertising industries.

After the talks, there was a raffle with amazing prices to win from Nokia, Abbey Theatre, The New Theatre, Lighthouse Smithfield Cinema and Millets Camping.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the event and make new connections and friends. Although the guest speakers were very popular they didn’t quite go down as well as the free refreshments! Hope to see everyone at the next one!

Connector is organising another great networking event at the Nokia Pop-Up Shop in Grafton St. on Thursday, July 1st at 6.30pm.  We’re calling it ‘Connector #Appy Hour’ as our 23rd monthly event will have guest speakers, including Anthony Lawless from Nokia, and Edward Conmy from the Appy Awards.  These new awards are for the best mobile apps in Ireland & the judges will be announced at the event.

We will have a raffle to give away some great prizes amongst the attendees. There will be also some fun networking games, music entertainment, food and drink throughout the evening.

To come to this event you will need to sign up to our Facebook Event and we look forward to seeing you at Connector #Appy Hour!

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:

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 showcased its new training courses and connecting philosophy at this year’s Entrepreneur Event, Friday 23^rd to Saturday 24^th April.

Connector’s team helped man the stand for the weekend, making loads of new connections and spreading knowledge of the 10 C’s.

A huge part of the show this year were the bright and lively discussions that took place in the “Think Tank” and “Invest Test”  auditoriums which Conor helped chair as well as take part in.

One of the highlights of the show was hearing some of the Irish and UK dragons take part in these discussions. The connector team also had the pleasure of meeting Sean Gallagher who had his photo taken with them at the Connector stand.

Connector’s bright and inviting stand design, along with its engaging video content was down to the planning and hard work of new recruit David Dungan who has taken to his role with enthusiasm and gusto, as well as Sarai Fernández hard work managing the connector team and Connector’s Entrepeneur Networking Event at Lillies on Friday night.

Overall it was a busy but rewarding weekend at the stand for the Connector team and it will be a busy week again following the amount of interest shown at the show.

On the 22^nd April 2010 the IIAs Social Media Working Group held an event entitled Audio Video Culture: Behind the scenes of audio & video content online.  Conor the current Chair of Social Media Working Group at the IIA was the chariman for this event.

Speakers from RTE, RaboDirect, Channelship, Mason Hayes and Curran, CEUD NDA, Google Ireland and YouTube all spoke at the event and helped to make it a great success.  Pictured is Sebastian Missoffe from YouTube in action from Conor at the top table!

There was very positive feedback with most feeling they learned a great deal about  audio and video content online.

Connector college brought together speakers from Google, Microsoft, Careers Coach and Connector. The event for students took place at the Science Gallery and was themed around ‘I have my qualification, now what?’. It had some great insights for students in attendance on how to brand yourself, networking and job application techniques.

To organise the event, Connector collaborated with DCU masters student Roisin Lyons. Roisin did a really great job in organising the venue, bringing together our speakers and publicizing the event. Well done and thanks Roisin!

Bryna McCool works as a Senior Recruiter at Microsoft Ireland. She began proceedings and spoke about the process of graduate Recruitment. She continued on with some great interview tips before handing over to Careers Coach, Greg Fry.

Greg set up Careers Coach in March 2009 with the aim of assisting people with their Career Transition. He focused on using social media to build your personal brand, and urged attendees to bring these connections offline also.

Lindsay Brown continued the evening. Lindsay is a Recruiting Specialist. She recently moved to an in-house recruitment role with Google, having previously worked on the agency side. She gave great advice to students on dealing with recruitment agencies, techniques used by recruiters, networking and personal branding. Check out Lindsay ’s great blog.

Conor Lynch rounded up proceedings and had a few hard acts to follow!  Conor capped off the evening with some good advice for students and information about how Connector gives students a chance to get great work experience and make connections . We collaberate with students, graduates & interns to run events, marketing campaigns and much more.

The ‘Career Connections’ event helped Roisin Lyons gain valuable project management experience, improve her personal brand and make some great connections. If any students would like further information about joining the Connector Team, don’t hesitate to contact conor [at] connector dot ie

Connector is set for another busy week of connecting! Here is a roundup of the main events for this week:

On 20th Connector will hold its Digital & Social Media Workshop. This strategy workshop will help participants understand how social media is changing our culture, and importantly, the way consumers share information and make buying decisions.

After that, Connector will also be hosting Career Connections a event only for students at the Science Gallery at 6:30 pm. With this event Connector is helping to connect graduates with potential employers. Many graduates this year will find it hard to get a job but those at the Students Event won’t be amongst them. Recruitment experts from Microsoft and Google will give advice about graduate programs, career choices and personal branding. Greg Fry from Careers Coach will be speaking at the event too.

Public Affairs Ireland presents a half-day event in Dublin on the 21st. It will be of interest to people who would like to have a better understanding of how new media, the web and email can enable better access of information and provision of services to the public.

Conor, as the current chair of the IIA, will introduce the Audio Video Culture: Behind the Scenes of audio and video content online on Thursday April 22nd. This will offer an in-depth look at how to maximise the impact of video and audio content for your business.

More updates next week.

Connector has organised a very special event ‘Career Connections’ on Tuesday 20th April @ the Science Gallery, Trinity College.

Students and graduates are facing an uphill struggle to find a job these days.Sadly, Connector cant help you all ‘connect with a job’, but we do have the connections to help you get ahead of the pack in the hunt for a job.

This promises to be a great night, showing students how to pursue careers in the competitive job market.

Speakers include Bryna McCool: Senior Recruiter at Microsoft HR Ireland, Lindsay Browning: recruitment specialist at Google and expert careers coach: Greg Fry. Conor Lynch, the founder of Connector will also be along to talk about the use of social media to market yourself to employers.

Focusing on the theme ’you have the qualifications…now what?’ Connector wants to give students the best chance to land a job when they get out of college.

The event kicks off at 7 with doors open at 6.45. The event will conclude with some networking and a chance to meet the speakers.

Remember to bring your student cards, as this is a student only Connector event.

Check out the presentation below and register on our Facebook page to attend.

Rosin Lyons, DCU

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