Guest Blogger
Attack of the Killer Robots. Well, not really.
A guest post from Randall Snare of iQContent
Good websites are great business. That doesn’t mean that offices everywhere will soon be human-less and we’ll all have to bow to the mightly computer as it tells us, “I cannot do that, Dave.”
iQ Content knows good websites
The theme of this year’s iQ Content Boot Camp is ‘make money, save money.’ Better websites do improve your bottom line, not because one computer can do the work of five people, but because a good website increases productivity, sales, services and publicity; freeing up your staff to do the work a website can’t do.
Boot Camp 2009, iQ Content’s annual web conference is chock-full of recession-busting courses:
• Social Networking for Profit
• Driving Self Service Online
And more. We have over 20 courses from 9th – 11th June at the Radisson SAS Royal Hotel. IIA members and readers can get a 20% discount if they book online. Use the code ‘IIA’ to receive this special offer.
Freebies
We’re giving away one full 3 day ticket to Boot Camp. To enter, go to www.iqcontent.com/bootcamp and answer this question:
Who is presenting Information Architecture that Works?
Email your answer and contact information to Cory-Ann Joseph, at coryann.joseph@iqcontent.com by end of business day Friday 5th June.
Congress 2009
Bloggers do Congress
Many of the delegates at IIA Congress 2009 shared their impressions, notes and photos of the Congress and now I’d like to share them with you! Please leave a comment if I have missed your review, photos or other media about the event and I would be delighted to add it.
Krishna De shares some really evocative photos of both the Congress and the Net Visionary Awards – have a gander you may see yourself there! Speaking of which you might like to check out the “official” IIA shots on Pix.ie
Keith Shirley gives a very measured review of the two days and his feedback is appreciated. He was involved in our breakout sessions as a members of the Social Media Working Group and he also stepped up as a Social Media mentor on Day 2 so big thanks to him!
Conor Lynch includes a Qik interview with a participant of the Social Media Breakout Session in his review
Eoin Kennedy’s review includes some of the content from the Social Media Breakout Session which should help you with your Twitter strategy for starters.
Gita of Agile Technologies includes reviews of the 3 breakout sessions she attended and are well worth a look.
Fred from Channelship managed to interview two of the plenary speakers from the Congress and I’m including the vids below for you. You can hear the complete speeches from Colm Lyon, Realex Payments, Trey Harvin, dotMobi, Ronan Harris, Google and Colm Long, Facebook as MP3s on the IIA site.
Social Media Working Group
Social Media Case Study – PaddypowerTrader.com Blogs
Continuing the Social Media Working Group’s series of case studies is Michelle Daly from Paddypower was the second of our two case studies at the launch of “Join the Conversation: A Guide to Blogging for Business” Please find her presentation below. Thanks to Brendan Hughes, FBD.ie and chair of the IIA Social Media Working Group for recording and preparing the slide show below.
State of the Net
State of the Net Issue 13 now available
Net Visionary Awards 2009, Congress 2009
Badges and congratulations for IIA Net Visionary Award Winners
A great night was had by all last Thursday in the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Dublin Northwood at the Net Visionary Awards. You can check out the cut of all the winners in our gallery on the Net Visionary microsite. You can also check out more photos from the event and the preceding Congress on Pix.ie.
If you are one of the winners please click on the appropriate badge below and display it with pride!
Uncategorized
Delegates & speakers at IIA Congress 2009 share real experiences of online business
At the IIA Congress 2009 “Better Business Online in a Tough Economy: Money, Marketing, Monitoring & Mobile”, sponsored by Realex Payments, over 300 delegates from a broad range of Irish business sectors were provided with two days of information, advice and networking.
Speaking at their largest industry event to date in Ireland, Facebook’s Director of Online Operations, Colm Long, highlighted how businesses can take advantage of the Facebook platform, saying: “There has never been such a great opportunity for businesses and organisations to connect with new users and customers around the globe. The web is now firmly at the centre of our daily lives and allows businesses of all sizes to raise awareness, connect with new customers and grow not only in Ireland but more importantly in export markets also.”
Maeve Kneafsey, IIA Chair, addressing the delegates during the plenary session, acknowledged that the needs of Irish businesses have changed with the recent economic upheaval.
“What Irish businesses need today are insights that will allow them to take action, not theorise. This is always a test for most businesses when you start to apply Web technology to help solve real business challenges.
“The 2009 IIA Congress was all about sharing real experiences that illustrate the successful use of the Web to build business, engage customers and make good choices on how to use the Web effectively. It is clear from the examples shared by companies such as Realex Payments, dotMobi and the other speakers, that Irish online businesses are and can successfully compete on a world stage.
“The 2009 IIA Congress also looked down the line, and provided us with a foretaste of how the latest Web innovations will provide new opportunities for the consumer and business. In particular, allowing us to search for information in a less time consuming way and returning results that are far more personalised to suit our needs.
“Colm Long from Facebook, one of the most innovative users of the next stage in web communications, offered us a direct insight into how the web of the future will look, while Trey Harvin, CEO of dotMobi, pointed to the likely explosion in Ireland of mobile web content. One thing is certain, the Web will continue to be the most dynamic, constantly changing and preferred source of information across multiple media channels.”
Colm Lyon, CEO Realex Payments, spoke about devising a strategy for accelerating growth in an internet business, finishing his presentation with the announcement that Realex Payments were one of a group of five founding members of the Internet Growth Alliance initiated by Enterprise Ireland which aims to support in a practical way the international growth ambitions of Irish businesses. More information available at www.alliance.ie.
A key industry event, the Congress also included an afternoon of breakout sessions coordinated by the IIA’s Working Groups. Delegates also had the option of attending one to one web strategy clinics on specific topics. These clinics were booked out well in advance of Congress.
This year the IIA & Enterprise Ireland Net Visionary Awards took place on the evening of May 21st allowing delegates to mix a productive day of business with a celebratory evening of pleasure.
The newest feature of this two day event is Meetball, a free Demonstration and Networking Breakfast on Day 2 which allowed those who could not make it on May 21st to meet some of the IIA members and find out more about their products and services.
Uncategorized
Muzu.tv announced as Overall IIA & Enterprise Ireland Net Visionary Awards Winners
Over 320 guests celebrated the best in business online at the annual IIA & Enterprise Ireland Net Visionary Awards held in the Crowne Plaza Dublin Northwood on Thursday 21st May.
Following a three-stage process of nominations from the public, judging by a panel of their peers and voting by the public, 15 winners were announced from amongst 71 shortlisted business people.
The IIA Board choose the Overall Net Visionary winner, awarding this accolade to individuals that they feel have developed a visionary online product or service. Announcing this year’s winner, Maeve Kneafsey, IIA Chair, pointed out that the only limit to Irish companies’ reach worldwide is their imagination: "This year’s Overall Net Visionaries, Ciarán Bollard and Mark French of MUZU. TV, have developed a TV website and distribution platform that shows that world beating businesses can be founded and funded here in Ireland. MUZU TV is an inspiration to the current and future generations of Internet entrepreneurs who know that the Internet means that there are no boundaries on what we can do in Ireland, the only limit being our imagination."
Developing this theme, Fergal O’Byrne, IIA CEO, commented, "This is the third year that the visionary behind a niche application with global appeal has been presented with this award. In 2007 it was Fergus Burns of Nooked.com, and in 2008 Pat Phelan of MaxROAM. Now in 2009 Ciarán Bollard and Mark French of MUZU.TV have been honoured for creating specialised applications that leverage the power and global reach of the internet to create sustainable and scalable businesses."
"We’re really honoured to have received such a prestigious award," said Ciaran Bollard, CEO and co-founder of MUZU.TV. "It’s truly the icing on the cake in what has been an amazing year so far, with a host of new deals with major and independent record labels and accelerated growth in consumers using the site particularly in the U.K. and Ireland. MUZU now has one of the largest music video offerings on the web, covering everything from live concerts, music documentaries and official music videos from thousands of the biggest artists in the world. MUZU continues to receive incredible support from the music industry and advertisers alike and we look forward to building upon these relationships and making the site a global success."
Amongst the winners in the other 15 categories were Puddleducks.ie, a small company based in Carrigaline, Co. Cork. They were nominated in two categories and won the prize in the Best Online Trader category. Aedan Ryan, Director of Puddleducks shared what winning a Net Visionary award means to them:
"As a small home-based business, winning an IIA Net Visionary award means a huge amount to PuddleDucks. There is a great deal of satisfaction to be gained from starting up and building up the business to this stage where we have received recognition from peers in the Irish web community. We are honoured to be in the company of so many fantastic examples of Irish enterprise."
Mike Brennan CEO of RateMyArea, a recent start-up, was delighted to win in the Best Social Media Category saying, "We are thrilled that RateMyArea has won the ‘Best Use of Social Media’ category. Our nomination is a testament to our community of Raters and the great local knowledge that they share. They help businesses understand the importance of social networking and being part of the online conversation and that using a website like ours is different to more traditional advertising, which is essentially just shouting at people!"
The Irish Internet Association held the Net Visionary Awards as part of their Annual Congress, allowing business professionals to mix an evening of pleasure with two days of information, advice and networking.
Winners in all 15 Categories below:
Category | Winner | Company |
Overall Net Visionary | Ciarán Bollard and Mark French | MUZU.TV |
Best Business Blogger sponsored by ICAN | Damien Mulley | Mulley Communications |
Best Business Podcaster sponsored by Hostelworld.com | Krishna De | BizGrowthNews |
Best Online Financial Service sponsored by DataElectronics | Warren Healy | LocalLotto.ie |
Best Online Trader sponsored by Realex Payments | PuddleDucks.ie | PuddleDucks.ie |
Best Use of Social Media sponsored by FBD | Mike Brennan | RateMyArea.com |
e-Government Award sponsored AIB Merchant Services | Sean Murphy | Xwerx Media Ltd. for GreenWave.ie |
Innovation Award sponsored by Microsoft | Jacquie Branagan | Births Deaths Marriages Ltd |
Internet Entrepreneur sponsored by Digital Marketing Institute | Andrew Molony | GreenJobs Ltd. |
Internet Marketer sponsored by Tibus | Ger Karlsson | DoneDeal.ie |
Journalist Award sponsored by Elucidate | Emmet Ryan | Freelance |
Mobile Internet Innovation sponsored by Zapa | Trey Harvin | dotMobi |
Online Tourism sponsored by Fáilte Ireland | Stewart Stephens | Gulliver InfoRes / GoIreland.com |
Social Contribution sponsored by IEDR | Ruairí McKiernan | SpunOut.ie |
Web Designer Excellence sponsored by SitesToGo | Nicholas Merrigan | Newmedia |
Web Developer Excellence sponsored by dotMobi | Iarfhlaith Kelly | WebStrong for Twission.com |
Congress 2009
Winning blog post(s)
Big thanks to Ann, Dorothy and Ivan who all entered our recent blogging competition. I thought their entries were all great: Ann’s had a lovely personal touch, Dorothy’s was creative and fun and Ivan’s was totally on message for his blog as well as sharing some great reasons with his readers about why they should come along to Congress.
In light of this and the fact there was only three entries AND because it’s Friday and I am feeling magnanimous I would like to give each of the entrants one ticket rather than award a pair to any one winner. It’s my compo and I’ll make up the rules as I go if I want to 🙂
Congratulations and see the three of you next Thursday!
Social Media Working Group
Social Media Case Study – Puddleducks on blogging
This week’s case study is the slideshow presented by Aedan Ryan at the launch of “Join the Conversation: The Guide to Blogging for Business” in April.
Thanks to Brendan Hughes, Chair of IIA Social Media Working Group and Technology Manager with FBD.ie for preparing the slideshow.
A short aside – Making an audio recording is a handy tactic if you would like to reuse your presentations on your company blog. You can easily attach a good quality digital voice recorder to a sound desk to record your voice. (I have an Olympus DS 30 with a Sony ECM-MS907 Mic) You can go even simpler and just record straight to your recorder. I noticed Alan O’Rourke of Spoiltchild using iTalk on his iPhone at an event recently – this app is free. If you are doing the presentation at an external event make sure you have the permission of the organisation for whom you are presenting before posting the presentation on your blog.
Uncategorized
Meetball Demonstrators
For those of you attending our inaugural Meetball (and if you’re not, why not? It’s free, there’s breakfast included; all you have to do is register and get up early on May 22nd) please find below a list of the companies who will be demonstrating:
Interleado
Realex Payments
Sonru
Puddleducks
Applied Signs and Display
Mobiun
Emily Tully PR
Agile Technologies
Digiweb
Glasseye
We still have a few seats at the breakfast table left so to ensure there’s a rasher in it for you (we’re still finalising the menu so don’t quote me about that rasher!) please make sure to register for the FREE event. You don’t have to be attending Congress to join us – this is a seperate event! And did I mention that it’s FREE?