Blogging & Social Media For Business Seminar
Evert Bopp of the Greenhouse Incubator contacted me about this great looking event in the Absolute Hotel in Limerick on June 13th.
They are running a full day Blogging & Social Media for Business seminar where you will be able to listen and talk to Irelands’ leading experts in social media & online networking.
- Bernard Goldbach: Senior Creative Multimedia Lecturer, University External Examiner, Writer & Podcaster.
- Krishna De: Brand Engagement and Word of Mouth Marketing commentator.
- Fred Caballero: Web project manager at Channelship Web Agency, Video blogger.
- Peter Donegan: Landscape designer, celebrity blogger.
- Campbell Scott: CEO IGOpeople, former director of Consumer Solutions at Eircom
It costs €150 euro p/p incl. lunch, tea & coffee during the day. All proceeds of the day will go towards the GreenHouse incubator helping people to start their own business.
Full details over on the site.
Invitation to BIS Innovative Software Showcase
Just got this from Brian O’Flaherty in UCC:
On May 26th, the BIS Innovative Software Showcase presents the entrepreneurial endeavours of eleven companies from the MBS BIS Programme.
Come and meet the entrepreneurs, their mentors and University staff at this prestigious showcase, which will be followed by an awards presentation.
A panel of external judges will evaluate the projects beforehand and award the BIS Innovation Prize which is kindly sponsored by Cork City Enterprise Board.
Do you have a good eye for technology business trends? Can you spot value and winners? Do you have confidence in the ability of young people to unearth innovation?
Tuesday 26th May 2009, 4:30pm – 6.30pm in Aula Maxima, North Wing, UCC.
Parking is available at Perrott Avenue (In front of Hayfield Manor Hotel) and Perrott Inch car parks (Near Gaol Cross.)
Further details and Brochure is available here.
West Cork’s First Tweetup
Ann Donnelly is organising West Cork’s first ever Tweetup in Clonakilty this Friday. It’s on in the Courtyard Bar in Clon from 8pm. If you are on Twitter or want to find out more about it or just want to meet with some friendly people then why not head on over? All details are on the blog.
Cork Open Coffee March 20th
This weeks Cork Open Coffee will be in Nosh + Coffee, Careys Lane (Just off Patricks Street) in Cork at the usual time of 10am.
There are no presentations this time, we’re trying out a new location after Luigi Malones don’t seem to like having customers.
Some reviews of Nosh + Coffee:
See you there!
SOHO Solo Conference
Film producer and entrepreneur Lord Puttnam will deliver the keynote address at the SOHO Solo conference called “Reinventing Oneself in these Challenging Times” in Kinsale next Friday, 20th February 2009.
The half-day conference is aimed primarily at small business owners, entrepreneurs and those with a budding business idea. It takes places at the Kinsale Yacht Club between 10am and 2pm and is an absolute bargain to attend at only €25 including lunch.
Lord Puttnam will be joined by a wide range of speakers covering topics like transitioning one business into another, the importance of making and retaining connections and identifying your businesses strengths.
Other speakers include:
- Shemas Eivers, Client Solutions
- Dr E Alana James
- Bob McCarthy, Leadership Management Ireland
- John Prendergast, Aonach Consulting
- Pat Burke, The Auld Sod
- Kieran Murphy, Murphy’s Ice Cream
More details including how to register over on the blog.
Minehane Chartered Accountants at Open Coffee this Friday.
The next Open Coffee is on this Friday the 6th in the Rubicon at 10am. Michael Minehane from Minehane Chartered Accountants will talk about corporation tax and R&D rules for Irish businesses followed by Q & A.
Book Swap
If anyone would like to swap some business books or recommended reading, please bring them along. I will bring along “The mythical man month” and “Once you’re lucky, Twice you’re good” if anyone would like to borrow them for a while.
Mr Cotton Coffee
Coffee will be supplied by Mr Cotton this week at Open Coffee. There will be flasks of the good stuff for us to dig in to during the morning. There was plenty of change left over from the last Open Coffee in Luigi’s which pays for it. The Mr. Cotton van will also be outside from around 11.15 onwards for espressos, cappuccinos etc.
As always, Open Coffee is open to all so feel free to bring people along. If you are interested in presenting your product or service at Open Coffee, we’d love to hear from you at corkopencoffee@gmail.com
WebMission to Silicon Valley
Last year’s very successful WebMission by UK startups to Silicon Valley followed in the footsteps of the equally successful Paddy’s Valley several months previously. I’ve been contacted by James Lawn to let everyone know that Irish start-ups are very welcome on this year’s trip.

They want to bring UK & Ireland’s top 20 fast-growing Enterprise Web Companies to San Francisco from 28 Mar to 3 Apr. Some good sponsorship means that you’d only have to pay for your flight and hotel. A word in the ear of your Enterprise Ireland D.A. may even cover half of that.
I have to say, the trip looks fantastic. This is what you can expect:
- Facilitated meetings with key US investors
- Meet and mingle with key Silicon Valley movers and shakers relevant to your organisation and growth plans
- Discuss your business with leading journalists
- Spend quality time with like-minded people in the valley
- Explore how to succeed and grow in the US market
- Attend Web 2.0 Expo which occurs during the same week
- Significant VP-level engagement with WebMission sponsors
The entry requirements are as follows:
- Be an Enterprise 2.0 company
- Be innovative
- Be headquartered in the UK or Ireland
- Have 2 years trading history, or failing that, compelling fast-track potential through management team etc
- Be able to provide references from key sponsors/industry players
- Able to demonstrate some commitment to sustainable business practices (eg, positive environmental, social or economic outputs)
- Be ready to do or grow business in the US OR potentially attractive to a US investor.
If you’d like to apply, have a look at www.webmission.co.uk
it@cork Annual Conference Announced
The it@cork annual conference has just been announced. Its title is “GREEN IT: Reduce CO2, Raise Profits” and it’s on November 26 in the lovely Radisson SAS Hotel in Cork.
The line-up looks like an excellent mix with the focus being clearly on Green as it relates to IT and Business. I particularly like the profit angle given the turmoil the world is going through right now
The is an Early Bird Discount available – Book on or before October 31 and it’s €250 for members, €350 for non members.
The agenda is as follows:
07.30 Heads of IT breakfast sponsored by Certification Europe
08.00 Arrival coffee & registration
08.45 Welcome from Donal Manning, Chairman, it@cork
08.55 SETTING THE SCENE George Lee, Economics Editor, RTE
09.35 – Green IT: Moving Beyond the 2% Solution, Douglas Neal, Research Fellow, Leading Edge Programme
10.05 – SMART2020: ICT and climate change. Opportunities or Threat? Chris Tuppen, Director Sustainable Development, BT
10.35 Q&A Moderated by Tom Raftery. Lead analyst, energy and sustainability practice, Redmonk
10.50 Coffee sponsored by Complete Telecom
11 20 – Virtual Worlds: making organizations greener, Pierre-Olivier Carles, Co-Chief Stonfield InWorld
11.40 – Measuring the energy footprint of everything on Earth, Gavin Starks, Director, AMEE
12.00 – The Electric Grid 2.0, Fergus Wheatly, General Manager, Allied Solar Ltd
12.20 – Q&A Moderated by Damien Mulley, Mulley Communications
12.35 LUNCH sponsored by Lenovo
13.45 – Situation normal, everything must change, Simon Wardley, Independent Consultant
14.35 The Business Challenges of the Future Low Carbon Economy, Niall Brady, Green Sigma Technical Development Manager, IBM
14. 55 Green IT @ STRATO, Rene Weinholtz, Executive Director for IT & Innovation, STRATO
15.15 Q&A Moderated by Dan Barry, Enterprise Ireland
15.30 Coffee Sponsored by Premiere Global Services
16.00 Green Computing – A leadership role, Tom Moriarty, EMEA Regulatory and Environmental Manager, DELL
16.30 Green ICT – How ICT will help deliver ESB’s Sustainability Strategy, Padraig McManus, CEO, ESB
17.00 Q&A Moderated by Tom Raftery followed by drinks reception sponsored by Smart Telecom
After October 31st, the rate is €300 for members and €400 for non members.
See you there!
BarCamp Cork II on November 1st
It has been over two years since the last one, but BarCamp is finally coming back to Cork. It’s soon, very soon, only four weeks away. The venue is the lovely Webworks building in the City Centre, just like the last time.
We have a strong vision for this event and we need your help to make it happen on the day. Please read the first set of posts and give us your feedback. If you think you’ll be attending, please register. As always with BarCamps, it is completely free with the costs being taken care of by our kind sponsors.
If you wish to sponsor or help, please read the “what we need” post.
We have two mottos for BarCampCork II “talking with, not talking at” and “less talking, more doing”.
If you don’t know what a BarCamp/Unconference is or have never attended one, here is a simple description from the main BarCamp site:
BarCamp is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos and interaction from participants.
Every attendee of BarCamp is expected to contribute in some way. That doesn’t necessarily mean you have to give a talk. But at the very least, you should take part in lots of the discussions that occur and share the knowledge you have in your area of expertise.
We’d love to see you down in Cork and we encourage anyone based outside of Ireland who reads this blog to consider flying in for the day.
Cross-Country OCC Hookup
Three of the Irish OpenCoffees are on at the same time tomorrow (Limerick, Waterford and Dublin). They are doing some live video hookups along with live blogging/tweeting/jaikuing. Sounds like it’ll be a lot of fun!
All the details over at Brightspark Blog.
