If you are in the hotel business in Ireland, here is an event that you need to ensure that you attend taking place on 27 September 2011 in Dublin.

It is the fifth in an annual series of expert annual seminars for the hotel industry, organised by Bookassist.

The curriculum will be covering how to understand the meaning and value of your brand, take advantage of your web presence and social media, leverage online to boost offline sales, tackle revenue and yield management in an internet and social media age, and tap into new trends in mobile and search in order to generate real direct revenue.

You can register online - the investment is just €150 plus VAT and to encourage you to bring your members of your team the investment in total is just €250 plus vat.

Be sure to say hello if you do attend.

Here is a summary of the itinerary.

9.30     Peter O'Connor, ESSEC France -The Offline/Online Marketing Mix

10.15     Oonagh Cremins, The Innovate Room - Practical Revenue Management

11.30     Giancarlo Carniani, BTO Italy - Management and Optimisation of OTAs

12.15     Yahya Fetchati, COO Bookassist - Group Discount Sites

13.45     John Fanning, Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School - Understanding Your Brand

14.15     Mark Dolan, Ecommerce Project Manager & Ciaran Rowe, Senior Search Strategist, Bookassist - Your Website, Your Channel - Get in Control

15.15     Des O'Mahony, CEO Bookassist - Reputation Management

15.30     Krishna De - Optimising Facebook for Hotels

16.00     Mark Dolan, Ecommerce Project Manager, Bookassist - Bookassist Apps for Facebook

16.15     Des O'Mahony, CEO Bookassist - Mobile Trends

16.30     Paul Dooley, Director of Client Services, Bookassist - Closing Summary

16.45     Close of conference

Next week is the start of the Mountains to Sea Book Festival in Dun Laoghaire which has a great series of workshops for anyone who is interested in writing their novel, their memoir or even songs. The festival takes place from the 1 - 11 September 2011.

Be sure to check out the site and plan your itinerary before they get fully booked up.

I've been watching with interest the CoderDojo events running in Cork for teens over the last month and I am therefore thrilled that they are now about to take place in Dublin starting the 27 August 2011.

They have secured a space in Google’s Montevetro building. They still need support in the form of donations including the loan of laptops for those Dojo attendees who can’t get access to one. They also need about 50 USB keys (1GB or above) so that they can have Ubuntu ready-to-go on USB keys rather than having to spend time installing Ubuntu and all the software on laptops.

Coder Dojo is an environment where young people can meet similar minded peers, learn new skills, participate in various activities and learn about all the areas of IT. They provide a syllabus of various areas of programming (iPhone dev, Web dev, etc.) to be completed and rewarded with various levels of ability.

Check out their website and also register your youngster or explore how you can help. I'm hoping my 11 year old just might be interested in attending.

 

Over the years as a professional speaker I have had the opportunity to share the stage with almost all the Irish Dragons from Dragons Den - so I am thrilled to have been invoted to now join Bill Cullen the host of Ireland's Apprentice and known for his no-nonsense approach to business for a conference taking place on 22 September 2011 at the Europa Academy Swords.

In an early planning meeting it suddently struck me that on the day of the conference there will only be 100 days left until 1 January 2012 - so the idea of creating your 100 day plan was born - and that is exactly what we will be covering - how to get yourself in gear so that 2012 is your best year ever.

Bill Cullen will be speaking in the morning about managing your personal motivation.

Mark Richardson will be covering ideas on how to sell your way to success.

I will be covering how to unlock new streams of revenue through marketing your business online - and I will be covering practical tips and providing guidance on the most common mistakes people are making with their digital marketing and how you can avoid them. I am not just going to be talking about social media!

We have also planned the day so you will have plenty of time

TWO IMPORTANT POINTS IF YOU PLAN TO BOOK A PLACE

1. Book by Wednesday 31 August 2011 and recieve a 30% discount, reducing the ticket price to €87.50 per person which is a huge 30% saving

2. When you book your place mention on the booking form that you heard about the event from me - put "Biz Growth" in the box that says "where did you hear about the event" on the second page of the booking form. I will get notification and after you have attended the event I will host an exclusive webinar about how you can use LinkedIn to support you in nurturing your network and boosting your sales in 2012. This is not because I will get an affiliate or referral fee for attendees - it's becasue I want to encourage you to attend to get your business in great shape in 2011.

In summary here are the details:
 
Date: Thursday 22nd September 2011
 
Duration: 1 Day from 9.00am – 5.00pm with registration from 8.00am
 
Course Code: BC113
 
Venue: Europa Academy, Balheary Road, Swords, Co Dublin

Investment: €125.00 per person or 2 places for €210.00 (early bird price of €87.50 per person until 31 August 2011. Book online or contact Peter Finnegan, Sales and Marketing Manager at peter@europaacademy.com or call him on 01 883 9212 for further information.

I hope to see you there.

I remember when I first set up my own business and at the time I hosted a women's radio show and also spoke and wrote about women in business. As part of my research I explored the importance of the female consumer - it's well known that women influence in the order of 80 percent of consumer purchases in the US ad Western Europe.

I was therefore delighted to be approached by the organisers of Purse Power: How to Engage and Influence the New Irish Female Consumer which is Ireland’s first ever seminar focused exclusively on marketing and communicating to Irish women.

The event is a half day seminar and will feature keynotes from authorities in marketing to women and also showcase new Irish research.

In summary the details are as follows:
             
Date:  Thursday, October 6 2011

Timing: 9am – 12:30pm OR  2pm – 5:30pm

Venue: The Round Room, The Mansion House Dawson Street, Dublin 2, Ireland

Investment: €175 per person.

This seminar will explore who today's Irish female consumer really is, how she really thinks, and why she really buys - both online and offline. If you have products and services where you are looking to attract the female consumer, then I highly recommedn that you check out the conference. Be sure to say hello if you attend - I will be speaking in the afternoon.

Are you in the Public Sector in Ireland and exploring how to use social media as part of your communications plan? Then check out the forthcoming Social Media In the Public Sector Conference being organised by Public Affairs Ireland if you are looking for inspiration and learning from your peer group.

I am delighted to be kicking off the conference with a session on five practical ways to integrate social media communications to support your organisations communication goals.

In summary here are the details of the Social Media in the Public Sector Conference:

Date: 14 September 2011

Time: 9am to 4pm

Venue: Public Affairs Ireland

Investment: PAI Subscribers Price: €325.00 / Single Delegate Price: €395.00

Following my session the other areas that will be covered in the conference are:

• Policy surrounding Social Media
• Using Social Media as a tool in Crisis Communication
• Public Sector Case Study An Garda Siochana
• Public Sector Case Study Eircom/Meteor
• Legal Perspective of Social Networking
• Legal case studies.

If you do decide to attend, be sure to say hi!

 

The same day as the Digital Insight Conference you will find the first day of Ireland's first Internet Expo in association with Irish Internet Association.

The Internet Expo is setting out to provide practical advice through the free seminar programme that is taking place on both days and the opportunity to meet suppliers for products and technologies that are relevant to growing your business online.

As the tickets are free I highly recommend that you register online and find an hour or two to head down to the Internet Expo.

If you are interested in digital marketing then check out the forthcoming  Irish Times Digital marketing conference, supported by the IIA.

Speakers include representatives from Facebook, Google, Hostelworld, Microsoft and The Telegraph.

Here is the event in summary.

Time: 1.30pm - 5.30pm

Location: The Concert Hall at Royal Dublin Society

Ticket Price: €135s + VAT - note the Early Bird ticket is €95 + VAT (to 14 September 2011) and the Super Early Bird: €65 + VAT (to 5 September 2011)

All early bird and super early bird ticket purchasers will receive a €50 google adwords voucher courtesy of Google.

The agenda promises to cover:

• Effective Search marketing - tool and tips to maximise revenueHow to grow fans and audience - The Done Deal social media story
• The power of mobile - tools to consider when harnessing mobile as a marketing tool
• Industry Panel Discussion with Google, Microsoft and Facebook
• Best Practise Global Digital Marketing Campaigns

The website for  Digital Insights Conference also mentions that they will be announcing details of a competition for all attendees of the Digital Marketing Conference with the chance to win a Digital Marketing campaign across irishtimes.com to the value of €5,000.

Remember that conferences are not the same as training and workshops so this event is ideal if you are looking for inspiration and ideas and of course the opportunity to network - don't expect to learn HOW to implement the ideas shared - that's where you need to explore training and development programmes like this this one.

 

Looking for an interlude this week and the opportunity to meet some new people? Then check out the Dublin Tweetup taking place on 20 July 2011 at Kehoes, 9 St Ann Street between 6-9pm.

The event is organised by Christian Perry, Executive Producer of Silicon Valley's largest startup mixer, SF Beta - he is looking to explore bringing SF Beta to Dublin, and Jack Kissane, Head of Communications for Dublin-based Skillpages.

Check out their Facebook Event for more information. And there is even a chance you could get your first Pint of Guinness bought for if you 'pay with a Tweet' from their Eventbrite Page. (You'll have to act fast!)

Are you an ambitious online marketing specialist looking for a role in digital marketing and social media for one of the leading food brands in Ireland?

Then check out the position of On-line Marketing Executive (you might consider this to be like a junior brand manager) for Danone's baby business based in Deansgrange, South Dublin.

This is an exciting role and the organisation is investing in its integrated marketing to increase awareness of their brands and to support the activities of their sales and marketing functions - Danone Baby Nutrition brands include Aptamil and Cow and Gate.

The salary for the role is in the order of €30,000 - €35,000 ans the closing date for applications is 10 June 2011.

The Baby Nutrition division of Danone specialises in food for the healthy growth and development of infants and toddlers (0-3 years old) through an extensive range of safe, nutritionally superior and convenient products.

The role will report to the Customer Relationship ManagerTeam Leader and has important external contacts with Parents-To-Be, Trade Customers and Health Care Professionals.

As an example of some of Danone's innovative thinking in digital media, they recently partnered with Irish Health to make available the Child Immunisation Tracker iPhone App.

You can download a full job description and profile of the role here.

Applications should be addressed to Orna Forde, HR Director, Danone Ireland Limited & Danone Baby Nutrition by email orna.forde(at)danone.com.

Note - no headhunders or recruitment agencies please.