Between the full time job, the renovations of the house, the two cats and a bit of freelancing – the blog was bottom of my To-Do list! I’ll be back again soon though – I promise!

In the meantime – follow me on Twitter or say hello to me via LinkedIn or Facebook – links on the side of this page!

Yes, a Saturday.

Yes, it starts at 10am.

Yes, I hope that the Trinity rugby team will be playing outside….where I can see them!

Looking like it’ll be interesting but not too sure. Unproven models can sometimes fit in perfectly with the market – other times, the organiser or delegates  miss the point completely and it’s a disaster. Will keep you updated either way.  I think Thinking Digital is a great example of an unproven model totally knocking the socks off delegates and funders alike. It’s setting the tone for other events in the North East and beyond.  Prices are steep, but well worth it.

Excited, but not enthused by the sign up method. It doesn’t seem uniform. I kept my description short and sweet but others are short of  “War and Peace”.  Is there some bettter way of preventing self promotion??

Likewise, speakers are not being pushed as much as they should be. It would be good to get a bit of background on them, a little bit of self promotion on their side may ensure that delegates know what they are signing up for.  One speaker (John Whelan) describes himself as a “Terminal entrepreneur”, really not too sure if that’s a good thing.

Having said all that, I do have three people on my “must meet list”, which will probably grow as I identify those speakers and delegates that I could benefit from. I’m thinking (in no particular order….)

1) Pat Phelan -  This man appears everywhere, so it might be wise to assume he knows a) a lot of people in digital  b) he’s no fool c) he’s a good person to speak to if you want to get the lay of the land in Ireland from a digital perspective.  He’s got a good run down of what he does on his site, but this is by no means the end to his talents and network.

2) Daragh Doyle – self styled (modest)  guru of all things community. Describes himself as : “Boards.ie Community Manager, entertainment and events blogger and sharer of awful jokes.” You can also add him on LinkedIn.

3) Evert Bopp – Founder of the Business Camp and all round ambitious risk taker. It would be interesting to hear what his experiences are in terms of self funded ventures, events and incubators.

I might throw in a few of the delegates that caught my eye, but not too sure if it’s a factual bio or just shameless self-promotion.

If anyone fancies a cuppa while I’m over, grab me while you can – I’ll only be in Dublin for the day!

Will be giving it a whirl next week and updating this post as I go……must go and plan that in!

A really great mix of companies in NYU:poly Incubator too. You can find the list here.  I wonder whether they have “pizza nights” or similar get togethers? Different sectors, different obstacles but the same story – working on something you love and a passion for success.

Got some exciting and terrifying projects coming up – all change in camp aoifebeefah but I’m a great believer in preparing for the worst and hoping for the best.  I’m not a major risk taker, preferring to bet on a sure thing.  Having said that, some of my future projects will see me jumping head first into the unknown. It’ll be exciting right??? Perhaps….maybe…let’s hope so anyway!

Stay tuned for the uphill battles and downhill struggles and ultimate success – I hope! Feel free to ping me – I’ll be resurrecting some of my old social media sites soon and launching some new projects on my new upcoming site.

You heard it here first! LOL

So what is Twestival?

Twestival grew from a group of Twitter users who wanted to meet some of their Twitter contacts offline and raise money for charity at the same time. After a few successful smaller events, Twestival went global on the 12th of February, raising much needed funds for charity:water.

This time volunteers are coming together to raise money for local charities in their own constituencies. If you want to get involved, please go to the main Twestival site and locate your local Twestival.