I just received an email about an event taking place this month and hosted by Wicklow County Enterprise Board.

As the details are not on their website here is a summary as I think it could be of interest to some of our readers:

Title: "Developing an Online Strategy for your Business"

Venue: Parkview Hotel in Newtownmountkennedy

Date: Thursday 19th April 2012

Time: 2pm until 5pm 

Cost: FREE

Book your place: online booking for the event is here

Topics:

• How to get your website mobile enabled and how to engage with your market through mobile. 
• Running effective email marketing campaigns
• Website traffic conversion tips.

So if you are in County Wicklow and are looking for some tips to help you with your digital marketing you might want to check out this free event.

MORE FREE TRAINING PROGRAMMES

Remember if you can not attend this event, you can check out my series of FREE content rich webinars taking place in 2012 - our next event is on 18 April 2012 and I will be covering essential tips for using Google Plus in your business.

Here is a terrific conference taking place this week if you are in the area of education and training, including institutes of technology, universities, and industry in Ireland. It will be also be of interest to all teachers, lecturers and researchers in the field of e-Learning and information and communication technologies - it's the EdTech 2011 conference taking place in Waterford on 1 and 2 June 2011.

The conference is being hosted by the Irish Learning Technology Association with Waterford Institute of Technology and Professor Lisbeth Goodman (founder of SMARTlab Digital Media Institute) is the keynote at the conference.

The conference includes the following:

• research papers representing the process and/or findings of current research projects in technology enhanced learning, or elearning.

• short practioner papers demonstrating speculative or experimental approaches that fall within the theme of the conference.

You can access the abstracts of the research reports here of the papers that will be delivered at the conference (PDF).

There are also 4 free workshops that you can attend:

Tuesday 31 May 9:30 – 4:30:

Beginners Animation with MEDEA2020 (20 places available):Getting started with animation as a way of engaging learners.

Thursday 2 June from 2:30 – 5:00

1.Intermediate Animation with MEDEA2010: How animation can motivate and stimulate learning from an educational and media production perspective.

2.Designing for Learning: facilitated by keynote Ewan McIntosh

3.Mobile Learning Gadget Show: demonstrations, show and tell, apps and gadgets for the mobile learning generation.

And if you are not able to attend the conference you can follow the Twitter hashtag #edtech11

 

Earlier this week I noticed a new Digital Marketing programme has been launched in Ireland - this one from the Marketing Institute of Ireland.

The programme is part-time in the evenings and is delivered over 13 weeks.

The programme covers :

• Digital Marketing Strategy − where it fits within corporate marketing strategy
• Developing a Digital Marketing Strategy using Digital Marketing Frameworks
• Search Engine Marketing
• Email Marketing
• Social Media Marketing 
• Online PR and Reputation Management
• Affiliate Marketing
• Mobile Marketing
• eCommerce
• Site Optimisation − Design and User Experience
• Targeting International Markets through Online
• Analytics and Data Strategy
• Customer Retention and Relationship Building Online.

At the time of writing this there are no details online of the investment for the programme.

You can find out more details and how to register here.

Other programmes i would also recommend that you check out are the Digital Marketing programmes run by the Digital Marketing Institute who were the first to the market back in the Spring of 2009 with a 12 week part time Digital Marketing Programme and a one week Bootcamp running in the UK and in Ireland and the Irish Internet Association / Irish Times Training Digital Marketing Programme which has been running a 12 week part time programme since the Autumn of 2010. Note - I am a lecturer on both programmes.

If you are unsure which programme to choose, look at the curriculum to see which fits your needs and also speak to past attendees of the programme. All three programmes are faciliated by people who are using digital marketing in their business each day so will be practically orientated.

If you are considering attending any of the programmes I teach on make sure that you register for my newsletter as I make available disount codes for subscribers where I have an agreement to do so with the course organisers.

 

Are you looking for some inspiration and support to manage your business at this time? Then check out the forthcoming workshops from Jack Black and hosted by Horizon Speakers taking place on 16 and 17 June in Galway and Dublin respectively.

The seminars which are a day in length will be covering:

• How to manage your stress
• Highly useful tools to ensure you maintain a “Positive Mental Attitude”
• How to ensure you set goals that cause you to overcome procrastination

• How to communicate and negotiate better in meetings and one on ones
• How to improve your problem solving skills through becoming more creative and innovative
• How to perform at your very best whatever the circumstance or situation you find yourself in
• How to harness all this to impact your businesses profitability.

‘Jumpstart Your Business’ with Jack Black is for Business Owners and Professionals will take place in Galway and Dublin on Thursday 16th and 17th June 2011. Tickets are priced at 1 for €127 or 2 for €197 ( if you book before 7 June 2011 on a special early bird), following which tickets will be €147 for one person and €247 for two people attending.

Looking to develop an iPhone app for your business? Then check out the forthcoming training course from Big Wave Media.

On the 1 June they have a one day course for marketing professionals, web masters - in fact anyone interested in an overview of iPhone Apps and the related technology as opposed to the in depth coding experience.

If you are looking to design an App, commission one, or simply looking to find out more about how they are built, and what they can do for you or your business, then this programme looks to be a good overview as it covers the different types of Apps, technologies, the key terminology, the designing and building process, and related terminologies, and typical obstacles.

Find out more about the programme and book your place online here.

Are you a small business in Ireland and still wondering how social media can support your marketing programme?

Then check out this event to be held on 22 March and organised by four Skillnets networks (Carlow Kilkenny Skillnet, Waterford Chamber Skillnet, South East Micro Skillnet & Southern Tipperary Skillnet) and which I have been involved in organising and will be facilitating on the day . We will be exploring how your small business can benefit from the opportunities available using social media platforms.

These new tools provide us tremendous opportunities – however many business owners are not sure how to integrate them eectively into their current marketing plans.

It is such a fast moving area perhaps you have been asking yourself how can you stay up to date with current trends and how do you determine what is the relevant approach to help us achieve our business goals?

Perhaps you are already using social media in your business but are unsure how to convert the Fans on your Facebook Page or your followers on Twitter into potential customers or referral partners?

Are you concerned that you are perhaps getting drawn into the social web and before you know it there goes another hour and you are concerned that you are not getting the most out of your social media marketing?

If these are some of your concerns then we hope you will join us for this conference where you will have the opportunity to hear rst hand from business owners just like you who will share their insider tips and tricks to how their businesses are beneting from integrating social media marketing into their marketing and promotions.

THE AGENDA

Current trends in social media marketing - why these are relevant to your business and the one thing we all must do to manage the reputation of our business online - Krishna De, BizGrowthNews.com

Benefiting from business blogging - Case Study; Gary Gubbins, Red Nose Wine

Let’s talk Twitter - Case Study; Robert Ryan, Lady Umbrella

Creating a community of fans on Facebook - Case Study: Peter Grogan, Emagine Media

Common mistakes and essential tactics for integrating social media into your marketing plan – Krishna De, BizGrowthNews.com

Content matters – guidance on how to create engaging content that matters to your customers - Krishna De

Capturing your questions – time to reect on the ideas you have heard and submit your questions for the panel discussion

‘Round The Room’ – an opportunity for you to begin to create your social media marketing plan for your business, sharing ideas with fellow attendees

Ask the panel – the panel of speakers will address your questions to help you be more eective with your social media marketing – facilitated by Krishna De

YOUR INVESTMENT

This programme is being heavily subsidised and is just €25 to attend.

HOW TO BOOK

Download the event details from SlideShare and complete the booking form or contact Jackie Ryan, Southern Tipperary Skillnet on 052 612 6500 or email skillnet@clonmelchamber.com

FOLLOW THE CONVERSATION ON TWITTER

The Twitter HashTag is #smcya

 

Here is an interesting programme if you are interested in getting involed in developing mobile applications hosted by the Institute of Technology in Tallaght:

The programme will be running from February to March 2011 as an evening course and the curriculum covers:

• Designing Software Mobile Devices—Mobile Platforms Overview
• Wireless Technology Overview—Architecture and Design
• Mobile Web Technologies
• Mobile Software Development to target Android, JME, iPhone and JIL compliant devices.

It certainly looks worth exploring if you want to ride the crest of mobile marketing in Ireland.

Are you looking to invest in your personal development in 2011 then check out the forthcoming session hosted by UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School in association with The Irish Times, where if you are looking to study for an MBA you can attend a series of FREE breakfast lectures to give you a taste of what you would find on an MBA programme.

The first breakfast lecture of the series, is called 'Marketing for growth during a recession", and is being give by Professor Damien McLoughlin, Professor of Marketing and Director of the Marketing Development Programme, and will take place at UCD Smurfit School in Blackrock on Wednesday 2nd February 2011 at 7:30am-9am

Register to attend here.

Are you looking to host your own event or programme but want to keep our outlay to a minimum then it is likely you have considered finding sponsors.

In my experience in running live events and conferences, in the current economy this is becoming increasingly challenging. However done well with a great plan sponsorshops could help you not only cover your expenses for the event, but can even make a profit BEFORE the event.

• For example you could look for sponsors to:
• Run a live event and get sponsors to pay for the conference room, cover catering costs or even the conference materials
• Create a virtual event and get sponsorships to cover the costs of your wrbinar service, creating transcripts and your online advertising to market the event

My friend and PR expert Shannon Cherry has been working with her clients to help them attract lucrative sponsorships and she is now launching a Sponsorshis Programme where she will teach you how to create those winning sponsorship partnerships.

I have known Shannon for some years and her programmes are always rich in content and practical solutions that you can implement with ease.

Find out more about her programme what starts on 21 September 2010.