Online Marketing New Ideas (OMNI)

Moving on ...

The Irish Internet Association (IIA) announced today that Fergal O'Byrne will be moving on from the his post in the IIA in September. Fergal will become the new CEO of Remote Video Technology company Sonru.com.

During his 4 year tenure O'Byrne has overseen the substantial growth of the association. He leaves the organisation in the strongest position it has been in, since its launch ten years ago. The board is confident that the next CEO will continue to build on the excellent position the IIA is in today.

O'Byrne is due to officially step down at the association's AGM on September 10th. He will continue in his current role until a new CEO is identified and to ensure a smooth transition to the new CEO.

Maeve Kneafsey - Chair, IIA and MD, Elucidate said of O'Byrne's record at the IIA, "Fergal has built the Irish Internet Association into one that provides real value and expertise to its membership and is recognised as the authoritative voice of the Irish Internet industry.

His commitment, professionalism and understanding of both the internet sector and the needs of our membership has been exceptional. On a personal note I have greatly enjoyed working with such a talented CEO, and will miss his input which has seen the membership grow by over 50%, the establishment of 8 active working groups and the engagement in joint industry activities such as the Internet Growth Alliance and the Failte Ireland E Business Development Initiative. I am also confident that the strength of the association will attract some very strong candidates that will see the association further develop services to members, representing the interest of the Internet industry and fulfilling our mission of connecting, informing and educating."

Fergal O'Byrne, IIA CEO, announcing his departure, commented, "This has been a fantastic organisation to be involved in. I have met many enthusiastic business people over the last four years who are committed to making the internet an integral part of their business. I am proud of the work the Association has been able to carry out thanks to a very encouraging Board, chaired by Maeve Kneafsey, an amazing team in Roseanne and Irene, and a membership that has continually supported the work we do."

Working with Remote Video Technology

I was recently involved in a project to hire someone for a call centre position. It was a technical hire and there were about 30 candidates for the first round interview. The company I was consulting for were using a new tool called Sonru; basically it allowed the candidates to be interviewed remotely, using a webcam at their own convenience. Thsi was impressive enough but the real kicker was that the interview panel; me based in Wexford, the HR manager in Dublin and another HR manager in London could all view the responses when we wanted to and share comments in a secure environment.

I have to say the process was amazinging easy to use and very carbon emission friendly as well.

Home Turf - speaking at a New Ross Chamber Event

I am delighted to be speaking at an event in my local town, New Ross. The New Ross Chamber of Commerce asked me to give a presentation entitled Growing Your Business Online. It is all part of the Spirirt of Enterprise week, which hosts a huge number of events and should be a great undertaking.

My event includes speakers such as Blaise Brosnan, Tony Kerins, Ronan Brazil and Paula Ronan, so there should be something for everyone. Please come along (though you need to register in advance with the chamber) and get involved. Hopefully, I will see you there.

2008 Net Visionary Awards

The nominations have now closed for the 2008 IIA Net Visionary Awards. Over 280 nominations were received which well surpasses last year's figure. Hopefully, I might see you all at the awards on October 30th - get your tux back from the cleaners and I'll see you there.

Net Visionary Voting Open

Voting for the 2007 Net Visionary Awards is now open. You can vote in 14 different categories and it is completely free!

Calling all visionaries

The Net Visionary Awards nominations are now closed and my good friends over at the Irish Internet Association tell me that the volume of nominations was nearly double last year's. The Net Vis Awards are unique in Ireland in that they are free to enter, are voted on by the peers and colleagues in the industry and run by a non-for-profit organisation. Be sure to cast your vote this year.

Shane Ross - why you should vote for him

I know readers of this blog are mainly interested in areas relating to Online Marketing but I want to take a brief time-out and ask that, if you are eligible, you would consider casting your vote for Senator Shane Ross in the forthcoming Seanad Elections. The reasons? Very simple really;

In my role as CEO of the Irish Internet Association we tried hard to lobby Government about our pitiful broadband availability. Despite many calls, emails and letters few politicians took the time to meet with me. Senator Ross was the exception. Not only did he meet with me on a number of occasions but he also had a deep understanding of why this issue is so important to Irish business and society. He displayed a keen insight into both the problems relating to broadband and the solutions to rectify them.

I believe he is one of the small group of earnest political practitioners who genuinely care about the issues, not the sound bytes. If you look at the work he has done in the area of Broadband, including getting a debate in the Seanad on his own motion relating to the issue you will, I hope, agree. I would strongly urge you to vote for him and would be happy to discuss or debate why I am backing his candidacy. He is a doer not a talker.

IIA Congress 2007

The IIA National Congress 2007 is being held on May 17 this year. Google, eBay, Bebo, Microsoft, Realex Payments and many more are featuring at this major networking event. The full line-up is available here - last year it was well worth the visit so maybe I will see some of you there.

Invest Northern Ireland Seminar

I am attending Invest Northern Ireland's seminar in Ballymena and the level of speaker and orgainsiation is excellent - some good lessons to be learned for runnning further events. Putting the seminar agenda on the back of your name badge is an innovative idea that I have not encountered before.

I have attended sessions delivered by eBay, Realex and I will be delivering one on behalf of the IIA later on. I also met denise cox of Newsweaver who I have not seen for a while. She has even started to blog, which should be worth checking out. If there are any other bloggers at the event perhaps you would care to comment about your experience of this seminar.

Widgets, Blidgets and so much more

So, just when you thought you had got to grips with the nomenclature; blogs, podcasts and rss feeds. Now you have to deal with widgets and blidgets! I am not even going to try to explain to you what they are. If you are reading this blog post just look to the right of the screen and you will see a widget in a small scroll bar - this is the Irish Internet Association's blog and you can get it here instead of having to visit it there. Once I get my head around all this I will post more but at first glance it looks like a blogger's viral marketing wet dream ...