Ken McGuire

Category: Events

  • Creative Camp Returns To Belfast

    Creative Camp in Belfast December 3rd
    Creative Camp in Belfast December 3rd

    Creative Camp is returning to Belfast and it’s coming up pretty soon – this Friday to be precise.

    Blick Studios and Trans Urban Arts are linking up to bring back Creative Camp, the free unconference for people from all walks of creative life. If you’re familiar with the BarCamp / BizCamp style setup then you’ll find yourself right at home with Creative Camp.

    It’s being held at the Blick Studios building in Belfast and kicks off at 10am on Friday.

    The blurb…

    CREATIVE CAMP is a free un-conference event for people who are passionate about creativity and want to make things happen. CREATIVE CAMP is an event designed to combine the best of creativity, business and technology in a unique format to encourage networking, collaboration and peer on peer learning. Participants are invited to give talks, do demonstrations, and show their work and it is these participants who then set the agenda, decide on topics and generate the content, demos and portfolio presentations.

    The event’s purpose is for people from creative industries to meet, network, and learn from each other. This includes Graphic and Web Designers and Developers, Artists, Filmmakers, Photographers, Musicians, Fashion Designers, Students, Educators, entrepreneurs and any other creative practitioners who have ideas, innovations, experience or inspiration they want to share.

    Registration is closed for the event, such is the demand, but they are operating a waiting list system. If you want on it, drop an email to info@blickstudios.org or stop by CreativeCampBelfast.co.uk for all the details.

  • Science Week Off And Running

    Science WeekNovember 7th (yesterday) marked the start of Science Week for 2010, running November 7th – November 14th. With over 400 events taking place across the country in the next few days, Science Week is the biggest annual promotion of science to the general public with the aim of the week to promote

    • the relevance of science, engineering and technology in our everyday lives and
    • to demonstrate the importance of science in the future development of Irish society and the economy.

    Locally (in Kilkenny) there are three events listed on ScienceWeek.ie.

    A practical examination of farm animal digestive systems

    Details: 2pm, November 10th, free admission. Takes place at Kildalton Agricultural College, Piltown.
    An opportunity to examine the ruminant and monogastric digestive systems. Ideal for students undertaking the Leaving Certificate Agricultural Science course. This is not for the faint hearted so be warned!!!

    Mobile Planetarium incorporating a science and astronomy show.

    Details: Nov 10, During school hours at Presentation Secondary, Loughboy. Invitation only.
    The planetarium has a detailed night sky with 3,000 star points. There will be a live interactive presentation using images and video to illustrate our universe and solar system.

    Schools Science Display

    Details: Runs Monday 8th – Friday 12th, 10am to 5pm at Castlecomer Discover Park. Free to general public.
    A display of Science project work from local schools in the foyer of the visitor centre at Castlecomer Discovery Park

    You can submit events you’re organising or involved in and find more events in your area at ScienceWeek.ie

  • Kilkenomics – Ireland’s first Economics Festival

    With THREE festivals taking place in Kilkenny this weekend between the Rockfall music festival, Savour Kilkenny Food Festival and the World Conker Championships / Festival, news comes by mail of another festival for Kilkenny, this time Ireland’s first economics festival. Of course, it’s not just all about business as some of the country’s leading economists and commentators will be joined by some of Ireland’s leading comedians.

    Economists including David McWilliams, Bill Black, Martín Lousteau, Ha-Joon Chang, Vilhjálmur Bjarnason and Philippe Legrain are world class, all offering intelligent opinion on what just happened and what needs to happen next.

    Commentators including John Lanchester, Peter Antonioni, Fintan O’Toole, Constantin Gurdgiev, and Olivia O’Leary all offer a unique take on our current circumstances and creative ideas for our future recovery.

    Comedians, including Des Bishop, Colin Murphy, Karl Spain, Fred MacAulay, Neil Delamere and Barry Murphy all know how to find plenty of humour in dark times.

    By the read of the release and Kilkenomics.com, they’re also introducing a new currency to Kilkenny for the weekend which can be used against shows, books and anything else on offer under the festival banner.

    It all takes place in Kilkenny, November 11th – 14th with twenty four events on over the four days. You can buy an individual ticket for any of the shows or a season ticket for €80/€100 which gets you

    • 5 x shows of your choice (subject to availability)
    • 1 x signed book of your choice from the book list below*
    • 1 x ticket to Festival Club
    • 1 x 20 Marbles to spend in Kilkenny on the festival weekend

    For all the info, check out Kilkenomics.com.

  • FoodCamp Hits Kilkenny This Friday

    Minty Fresh
    Creative Commons License photo credit: thegardenbuzz

    A first for Kilkenny and quite possibly the country, FoodCamp (book your tickets) takes place this Friday at the Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel as part of the Savour Kilkenny Food Festival. It’s an all day affair, kicking off at 10am and running through to 4:30pm. The venue works a treat for these kind of events, I’ve used it myself in the running of PodCamp locally a few years ago. But more importantly, it’s a chance to bring foodies and food producers together under the one roof for over 20 different talks and an afternoon panel discussion.

    Some of the topics up for discussion on Friday include

    • Health Tips for Foodies
    • The Place of Food Safety in Professional Small Food Businesses
    • Getting a Product to Market
    • Social Media, the Web and building your Food Business
    • Trends in packaging/ingredients/processing technologies in the seafood industry.

    The panel discussion, taking place after lunch is entitled Digging Ireland out of the recession – Artisan produce, Food Innovation and Guerrilla Marketing and features John McKenna (chair), Dr Susan Steel (BIM), Helen Finnegan (Knockdrinna Cheese), Una Fitzgibbon (Bord Bia), Margaret Jeffares (Good Food Ireland), Paul McCarthy (Teagasc) and Rozanne Stevens (Chef).

    I’ve the ticket booked but the lunch box yet to be packed. There is a lunch option available at the hotel which if you pick up a €15 ticket or go the recession-busting FREE day route IF you bring along a lunch enough for yourself with some more to share. I’ve a cracking red rice recipe I’m mad to try out so may well load up on that for lunch on Friday afternoon.

    For the past three years I’ve been involved heavily with the Rockfall Festival which runs the same weekend (October Bank Holiday annually), a role which I’ve stepped out of this year so I’m looking forward to getting tucked into some of the foodie treats on offer for the weekend.

    Get the run down of the day here, the full list of speakers here and book your tickets here before its too late!

  • Heading To Media 2020

    Media 2020

    Courtesy of Mediacontact.ie, I’ll be heading along to Media 2020 tomorrow in Croke Park in Dublin for a day long conference that includes presentations from BBC, RTE, the Guardian, the Irish Times, CNN, Google, Channel 4, and Realex Payments amongst others.

    According to Mediacontact.ie, the aim of the conference is to

    • Understand the key domestic and international trends that will shape the media in the future.
    • Explain the techniques, and strategies for reaching new online audiences.
    • Give you detailed information about the technologies, websites and applications that will capture the zeitgeist for the next five years.
    • Network with key influencers in the media industry.

    Just over a year ago, my own business took a step in a new direction, went through a little re-branding, and came out the other side with an additional focus on all things media. While web design and development is still the busiest element of the business, the shift from Event Ireland to Event Media has allowed me to open new doors in the world of design, music, theatre and radio and reach out to new audiences for each.

    Online and offline, dealing with the media has become a near daily part of work life on some level, certainly moreso when it comes to the music and theatre side of life so I’ll be very interested in hearing what the big players have to say about the changing face of media and thoughts on what’s coming over the next few years. Plus it’ll be good to get out of the office and meet some new faces.

    If you’re heading along and we’ve not met before, feel free to say hello. I’m here on Twitter, here on LinkedIn, and I’m aiming to be in Croke Park for breakfast. Hashtag for those following the conference on Twitter tomorrow is #med2020.

    Check out the Media 2020 lineup and details here or grab yourself a pdf brochure download.

  • WordCamp Ireland All Weekend

    WordCamp Ireland

    WORDCAMP IRELAND takes place this weekend, kicking off this morning in my own back garden (Kilkenny) where hopefully I’ll get to pop my head in for a few minutes over the course of the two days.

    Langton House Hotel is the venue for the first Irish WordCamp conference and for bloggers, techies, non-techies and WordPress users of all levels there’s plenty to choose from. Things kicked off informally last night with some nibbles, drinks and a photowalk around Kilkenny and registration has just opened this morning for the start of talks proper. Up first are Hanni Ross & Sheri Bigelow, Leo Ibanez & Loughlin O’Nolan and Daryl Koopersmith all split across the three tracks – Intro, Bloggers and Tech.

    Check the full WordCamp schedule.

    Langtons are looking after the catering and judging by mentions of croissants and scones for the morning, lunches in the afternoon and the (ticketed) dinners in the evening, along with a special WordCamp cocktail menu, nobody will be going home hungry. There’s full childcare available, free wifi for all and plenty for speakers and attendees to link up with.

    For those who haven’t picked up tickets yet, there are limited numbers available on the door with tickets today available for €50 and tomorrow (Sunday) available at €25.

    It’s possible I’ll make an appearance this afternoon disguised as a clown (or I could be mistaken for a clown in the garb I’ll be wearing for the day) so if you see a grown man running in the door of Set Theatre wearing lime green dungarees, a bright pink shirt and a very white face, do say hello. To all those visiting Kilkenny for the first time, you’ve got the weather for it, you’ve got plenty to see and do so don’t miss out on what the city has to offer as well!

    Follow WordCamp Ireland on Twitter.

  • Digital Ideas at The Digital Festival

    Shel Israel Speaking at BlogOrlando
    Creative Commons License photo credit: whiteafrican

    DIGITAL IDEAS should be in plentiful supply in Dublin this Wednesday with The Digital Festival taking place in the Berkeley Court Hotel in Ballsbridge. Early bird tickets are long gone but there’s still the possibility of buying a full-price ticket for €375 (plus VAT) before Wednesday.

    What does the €375 get you?

    How about a day with the following speakers –

    • Peter Kim, MD of the Dachis Group, speaking on “Social Networking & Social Business Design in 2010 and beyond”
    • Tim Duggan, Founder & Director at Mercury Girl Inc speaking on the revolution of Apps and how the explosion of production, engagement with and use of apps alter the communications landscape.
    • Shel Israel, speaking about real world stories of how Twitter has dramatically helped companiesgrow, provide greater customer service and changed the dynamic of the human conversation
    • Martin Bailie, Planning Director at Glue London speaking on digital consumer insights.
    • Russell Davies, The Open Intellegence Agency, speaking on blogging and business in a connected world.
    • Brent Hoberman, co-founder of LastMinute.com, delivering keynote talk on “Digital Growth – Opportunities for the future and some lessons from the past.”

    You can download the full running of the day (PDF) here.

    Speaker list does look quite good, with each allocated 50 minutes on stage, three talks in the morning and three in the afternoon, sandwiching an hour for lunch and wrapping with an open panel discussion with all speakers. Those interested in getting more details about tickets can check the site or phone +353 1 284 6096.

  • Blogging The Arts Festival

    Xi and Si

    The Kilkenny Arts Festival, now in its 36th year, opened on Friday night and for the duration of the festival I’ll be hiding out over on the festival blog, with myself and John Morton making contributions to the festival content manning the blog / Twitter and video output until Sunday the 16th.

    For me personally it’s a fantastic way to see the festival, having missed out on much of last year’s offerings due to our own (via Devious Theatre) commitments to producing Smitten (2008). Friday took in Aleksandar Madzar, Aka Moon and Black Machine opening to a weekend featuring RSAG, Julie Feeney, Amiina and much more. Throughout the week I’ll be attending a myriad of theatre, music, visual arts, crafts and literature events and working on bringing those to the web for the festival.

    If you’re attending anything at the Kilkenny Arts Festival or talking about it on Twitter, there’s also the #kaf hashtag that’s currently being used to track festival chatter online. If you do manage to spot me at an event, be sure and say hello.

  • Wing Your Way To A United Game for the Irish Society for Autism

    Keith nudged a few of us about a charity auction taking place for the Irish Society for Autism. I’ve done the road trip to a Premier League game. I’ve taken the bus to Dublin, got the ferry, the bus to Liverpool, spent silly money on taxis, the bus back to the ferry, the ferry trip itself, the long road home…

    Forget that.

    Solicitor to the stars, Gerard Keane has provided a prize of a chauffeur-driven trip to the airport, a private jet to Manchester, overnight accommodation, match tickets to *any* Manchester United game at Old Trafford between now and the end of the season and the same chauffeur and private jet home.

    Bidding on the prize closed out yesterday at €1,200 and to make a bid, you’re asked to email Carl at carl@reviseonline.ie before the auction closes on Sunday coming at 8pm.

    Keith’s original post…

  • Tis The Season For BarCamps

    Tis the season for BarCamps, surely. Tomorrow I’m off to BizCamp in Dublin where I’ll join in the region of 200 other entrepreneurs, freelancers and free thinkers in the first business-focused BarCamp to be held here (nice to see another “themed” BarCamp running). Registration starts from 9am tomorrow and with the early train leaving Kilkenny pre-7am I’ll be hoping to make breakfast in Dublin. Talks are scheduled for between 10am and 5:30pm ish and there’s a draft schedule here.

    BizCamp Limerick follows on March 21st for those who can’t make Dublin tomorrow (it being “sold out”) or are looking for another helping of talks from more business people. The Limerick session is being held in UL and at time of writing there are currently 71 attendees and 19 speakers registered.

    Two events that I’m going to miss (will be out of the country) are the ACE (Awakening Creative Entrepreneurship) in Derry running March 25th – 27th and OSS BarCamp in Dublin on March 28th which runs in DIT’s Kevin Street Campus. While all the speaker slots have been filled, if you’re interested in going to OSS BarCamp, leave a comment on the attendees list.

    Finally, in April we’ve got BarCamp Belfast coming up. I haven’t been to Belfast since August 2006, catching Steel Pulse in the Andersontowns Leisure Centre (what a gig!) and it will be good to get across the border and meet some more web heads for the weekend. It’s going to be held in The Black Box on Saturday April 25th and already there’s over 110 signups, the makings of another great day.

    The best thing about all of these events is that they are free.

    If you’re looking to get out and meet some likeminded people – business types, designers, web heads, geeks, startups, entrepreneurs and more – then get yourself to one of these events because that’s where you’ll find them hanging out.

  • Kilkenny Open Coffee, Tuesday March 3rd

    Kilkenny Cafe

    We’re down a few regulars (regulars being those who were at the first two gatherings) but Kilkenny’s third open coffee is set for tomorrow, Tuesday March 3rd at 11:30am.

    The venue, as on previous days, will be the Kilkenny Cafe at Market Cross Shopping Centre, High Street, Kilkenny. Check IGOpeople.com for more.

    Each of the previous mornings have seen new faces introduced and hopefully tomorrow will bring more of the same. If you’re involved in the tech / web / a startup or want to come along and meet people working in those spaces then join us tomorrow morning from 11:30am.

  • Creative Entrepreneurship UnConference for Derry

    ACE Awakening Creative EntrepreneurshipI like creative things. I like creative people. I like people who get up off their arse and start something, creative or otherwise. So it’s great to see word of the Awakening Creative Entrepreneurship UnConference hitting Derry at the end of March. With recent BarCamps, CreativeCamps and Unconventions hitting Belfast, it’s great to see another UnConference heading North, this one taking in the full weekend of March 25th to 27th.

    What is it?

    “Awakening Creative Entrepreneurship [ACE] is a collaborative unconference, a showcase, and a multi-track Creative BootCamp for creatives, business leaders, support agencies, students, developers, technology providers, and VCs looking to develop and/or discover the next big thing. ACE revolves around a multi-track creative business development programme which offers the opportunity to win on several levels – for traditional businesses, support agencies, and creatives alike! ”

    Speakers over the weekend include Edward T Colligan (CEO at Palm), Andrew Shorten (Platform Evangelist at Adobe), Sean Melly (Chairman of PowersCourt), Brian Kelley (Senior Advisor for Deutsche Bank), Greg Rewis (Creative Suite Evangelist Worldwide at Adobe), BarCamp favourite Martha Rotter (Microsoft Ireland).

    The Official Blurb

    “The technology world will converge in the North West from 25 to 27 March when Silicon Valley comes to Derry/Londonderry for the ACE UnConference, which has been funded through the Arts Council’s Innovation Fund. The not to be missed three day UnConference for Creative Entrepreneurship will see senior figures from the world’s leading creative technology and communications companies visit the region including Palm, Adobe, Powerscourt, Deutsche Bank, Nokia, Microsoft and DemonWare among others. The delegate driven industry event provides an opportunity to showcase the talent of local creative industries and will act as a platform for local entrepreneurs to access global expertise within an open innovation environment. Tickets for ACE are free, and with demand expected to be high, it is essential you register your interest to avoid disappointment.”

    I found more on it here or check the official site for details .

    Booking & BizCamp

    Tickets are FREE so if you’re thinking on heading along, book now before it winds up like BizCamp – sold out. There’s no way I’ll make it to Derry on the weekend (giving a course in Kilkenny on the 26th before heading out of the country) but I will be at BizCamp for the most of the day on March 7th. Registration for that is closed but if you’re in Dublin for breakfast on the day, let me know. Rumour has there’s breakfast nibbles on offer.

    Registration, however, is open for BizCamp Limerick. If you’re around on March 21st, get booking for that too!

  • Slow Down, Go Further, Share A Car?

    G-Wiz London #002 28 07 2007
    Creative Commons License photo credit: thingermejig

    I met Paul Brennan, the man behind Future Proof Kilkenny some months ago and I always meant to slip a note into the blog about the events Future Proof run here in town.

    This week, coinciding with EU Mobility Week, Future Proof Kilkenny are hosting a seminar on Sustainable Transport. While some of the talks will look at Kilkenny’s plans for cycling, the future of city motoring and more, one of the talks will come from Mike Newham of GoCar, a new pay-as-you-go car-sharing business launching in Cork this Friday.

    I’m particularly interested myself in how GoCar will do in Cork and if there’s a possibility we’ll see something like it happen elsewhere in the country (as opposed to something like DublinTraffic.ie).

    Following a light lunch there will also be a demo of the REVA electric car in Butler House carpark. The event (half day) takes place in Butler House, is priced €15 and you can grab all the details here.

    Note: Trying the Photo Dropper plugin for WordPress 2.5+ to grab Creative Commons licensed images for the blog posts. Another thing I’ve been meaning to do for quite some time.

  • Silverlight Heads For Big Screen In Dublin

    Silverlight Heads For Big Screen In DublinAn email yesterday from Fergal Breen points me to another event I’m likely not to make but what matters is that IrishDev.com are behind a Silverlight event being held in the Cineworld Complex on Parnell Street in Dublin on Thursday fortnight (September 27th).

    The event is free but registration is required to attend. Things kick off at 7:30 in the evening and the bar opens at 9:30pm allowing for some good networking opportunities.

    On the event itself…

    Rich internet applications are the foundation of Web 2.0 and there are a host of new tools out there promising to help you deliver interactive, animated web applications. Microsoft has recently released Silverlight – their sparkly new platform for delivering rich internet applications, which focuses on high-def experiences and media streaming. Silverlight works cross-platform and cross-browser, supporting Firefox and Safari as well as IE, and Mac and Linux.

    In September, Martha Rotter, from the original Silverlight crew, invites you to witness how Silverlight can light up the web with Rich Interactive Applications. Join her, free to learn how to use Silverlight at Ireland’s largest cinema complex. It’s Silverlight, on the silver screen. If you see one movie this year, skip it and join us instead. Next year, they’ll be attending your Silverlight RIA.

    Find out more about the Silverlight event by clicking here or contact 1890 81 21 00 for details.

  • 2 Chances For Networking This Week

    There’s two free events on this week that should a) educate you and b) give you the chance to catch up with some like minded people and make a few connections.

    First up is the next series of the Help Yourself seminars in Carlow which Aidan and Keith are running. The series has been extended of late from Kilkenny into Carlow and until recently the Carlow talks have been looking at internet marketing. This week Keith is taking the lead through a discussion on free software for your business, software that will afford you the same functionality of the bigger mainstream commercial packages but you can avail of for free. There’s a chance for networking pre and post session and the hour long meet in the Carlow County Enterprise Board building (on O’Brien Road) takes place tomorrow (Thursday) at 1pm.

    If you’re up for a drive (which I won’t be as I’ll be on the stage with The Devious Theatre Company), Queens University Belfast plays host to BarCamp Belfast, the first of the cross-border BarCamps. I missed the Dublin one courtesy of being tied up with KilkennyMusic.com and certainly won’t be making the Belfast one but if you’re thinking of attending, check out all the details here. The list of attendees looks a bit lower than previous events (Cork, Waterford, Dublin etc), possibly due to the event being held in Belfast and I would assume there’d be a larger northern contingent heading.

    Names I do recognise in attendance include John Breslin who is flying up to speak on the “Semantic Web 2.0”, Ina O’Murchu and Derek Organ. I’ve only been to Belfast twice in the last year or so, the first time for a gig and the second to head to the airport (cheaper to drive to and fly from Belfast to Toronto than go to Dublin) but its a nice city, QUB is a great establishment and should make for a good setting for the BarCamp so best of luck to everyone going, enjoy it!

  • Buy, Sell and Do Business Online This Thursday

    The IIA National Congress happens this Thursday in the Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel in Killiney with ‘buy, sell and do business online‘ being the theme of this year’s congress.

    The Congress will analyse the upward trend in eCommerce and other online business activity. International and local speakers from leading eCommerce ventures such as Google, Bebo, eBay, Microsoft, Hostelworld and Realex Payments have been lined up. The congress will feature case studies and delve behind the online trends tracked by the IIA.

    The keynote address at the end of the day should be interesting with Mark Charkin (Bebo’s head of sales in Europe) speaking about monetising Bebo. Other speakers include Dermot Nolan (BOI Business Banking), John McElligott (MD, eBay Ireland), Ray Nolan (CEO of WRI and Hostelworld aka the crowd who have gotten Boo.com back off the ground).