Wednesday 13 January 2010

The Dragon and the Apprentice: Top Tips for Business Success in 2010

This event was held on Monday 11th January to raise funds for the coming season's schedule of free training seminars for Irish Women in Business. The two main presenters were Bill Cullen, chief taskmaster of The Apprentice
and Sean Gallagher, "the firiest dragon of them all".
The MC for the day was Michelle Daly, a real new media wiz, and she and Tara Wilson Black, founder of IWIB, seem to have done the lion's share of the backroom work, ably aided by a team of helpers. A number of other presenters took part. And the day was brought to a rousing end of astonishing quality by Veronica Canning, she of 'Shoeisms'.
Michelle, Veronica and Tara seen here with Bill Cullen.

The event was outstanding for the positive energy that characterised its organisation and execution - the team even managed to manifest a thaw so that the snowbound could travel to be there! Outstanding too were the level and quality of sponsorship it brought together, with services being donated free by a number of companies. Michelle made sure that those who could not attend had live updates on Twitter and YouTube, and some great photos have been posted on Facebook. I was fortunate to secure a stand within the conference room to showcase my work and was delighted to get to know the gracious visitors to my stand.
Bill's advice was based on the principles in his book, Golden Apples, while Sean emphasised the need to respond to change with positive action. A common theme was the importance of passion along with a willingness to work hard but smart, and to have someone to bounce ideas off - an 'accountability partner' to use Sean's American expression. Other speakers reinforced the theme of keeping one's energy positive on many levels, and Veronica ended the day by inviting us to formulate a 'big audacious aim' - I sheepishly reduced it to BAA as my nmemonic, pardon the pun! This BAA to be where and what we would like to be three years down the road. It had worked spectacularly for her, why not for us too?

Saturday 9 January 2010

Winter Wonderland

Check out the amazing snowy photos of Ireland under a blanket of white!
http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0107/snow_gallery.html

This link came to me courtesy of my lovely horticultural hort'curious friend Ena Ronayne who does a great gardening blog.

I'll be travelling the snowy roads tomorrow to get to the Osprey Hotel in Naas, I have taken a stand to show my jewellery at the exciting event, The Dragon and the Apprentice. I'll try to post a report on it afterwards...