Web Awards Backslappery

September 30, 2010 · Posted in events, IIA Team · Comment 

The Irish Web Awards return again this year and have moved to the lovely surroundings of the Mansion House on Dawson Street, Dublin 2. The hundreds of nominations have been whittled down to the shortlists which were announced this week.

A big congratulations to the IIA Members who made it this far. I’ll be there on the night rooting for you all! Maybe I should get a vuvuzela…

In a shameless bit of backslappery, two of us here in IIA HQ are up for awards for our own projects. My very own, The Rosie View, a podcast about what’s on the telly box with Rosemary MacCabe, is shortlisted in the Best Independent Podcaster category. Darren Byrne’s site Culch.ie, a pop culture blog run with a number of Ireland’s best bloggers, is shortlisted in the Best Web Only Publication and Best Entertainment Website categories.

Our boss Joan is inordinately proud of us and made me write this blog post.  I swear.

We look forward to seeing you at this year’s awards. Tickets are on sale now and check out www.webawards.ie for more information.

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State of the Net Issue 18 now available

September 28, 2010 · Posted in State of the Net · Comment 

This quarter’s State of the Net produced by Amas in association with the IIA covers changing media habits, digital advertising, the continuing rise of broadband, the Digital Economy in Europe, online shopping habits, social media and online reputations.

Click here to download the PDF file.

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Have we got (online) news for you?

September 16, 2010 · Posted in events · 2 Comments 

The bad news for procrastinators and shilly-shalliers and latecomers is that the IIA Diploma in Digital Marketing brought to you in association with Irish Times Training and Prosperity Recruitment is SOLD OUT. The good news is that we will be running it again so don’t shilly-shally the next time! That’s you told now!

Jokes aside if you would like to ensure that you are the first to know about the next run of this Diploma, sign up for Events Alerts today. Email events at iia dot ie with “Subscribe” or click here.

The extra good news is that we are holding a training event next week which if you were really pretentious you might describe as a soupçon of the Diploma in Digital Marketing. I guess that makes me really pretentious. Eoin Kennedy of Slattery Communications presents a half day training in Online PR which will cover:

  • Changes in the Irish media environment.
  • Evolution of the press release.
  • Landscape Mapping and research.
  • Building a social media strategy
  • Social media guidelines
  • New PR tool kit
  • Blogger outreach and online relations.
  • Online Crisis Management
  • Irish case studies

The course is aimed at anyone responsible for their company’s communications, be it your sole responsibility or part of the everything that you do for your start-up. This course will help you approach your communications in a more organised manner and give you a better understanding of the landscape. Eoin will be presenting on this topic as part of the Diploma in Digital Marketing so it will give attendees an opportunity to check out some of the content of the Diploma. As an added bonus (like you need one!) we will give all attendees at the Online PR course a voucher for the Diploma when we next schedule it.

Now I wonder does Eoin discourage the use of words like soupçon…?

Register for this course in Online PR now.

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Head into the cloud

September 13, 2010 · Posted in Cloud Computing Working Group · 4 Comments 

Do you remember when having your head in the cloud was a bad thing? I suppose the back to school vibe has got me thinking that way! However the times, they are a-changing and getting into cloud is a must for any smart business. At the very least it’s imperative to know enough about it to know whether your company should or shouldn’t be. As ever the IIA are here to help! (Not only with an event, information and content but a discount code below too!)

I’ll admit, straight-up, that my knowledge of cloud computing was quite fluffy. It was greatly improved this time last year when I proofread the IIA Cloud Computing Working Group‘s (IIA CCWG) first draft of “Cloud Business: Assessment of the risks versus the benefits” which was made available last March.* This whitepaper gave me an understanding of the pros and cons of cloud computing, including a section that specifically focuses on SMEs’ use of cloud computing. It also includes analysis of survey data which queried types of cloud computing being used, adoption rates and future plans among Irish companies.

The reason I mention all of this 6 months after its publication is that the CCWG are holding an event next week on September 23rd in partnership with Engineers Ireland. Among other speakers at this event, Gerry Power, chair of IIA CCWG, will present findings of this year’s Cloud Computing Survey, a first step towards the collation of longitudinal data about Irish Companies and the cloud.

A copy of the results and first analysis of this survey, as well as a copy of “Cloud Business: Assessment of the risks versus the benefits” will be made available to delegates at this half-day event “Cloud Computing in practice: How companies are moving to the cloud“. Speakers at the event will security experts, adopters and cloud vendors. And there’s breakfast!

Register online for this event and use the code cloudblog to get a 10% discount today.

*This publication is available free to IIA members or for €295.00 to non-members. Please contact me at members at iia dot ie to get your copy.

Cloud Business: Assessment of the risks versus the benefits

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Aaaand I’m back!

September 7, 2010 · Posted in events, IIA Team · 4 Comments 

Roseanne Smith, Membership, Marketing & Communications Manager

What more can I say? I have returned from my leave and I’m looking forward to getting stuck in. Please feel free to contact me at members at iia dot ie if you would like to discuss your membership with me or just for a hello! I should also mention that until November I am working until 1.15pm daily.

My colleagues welcomed me back with the news that we have an exciting event coming up on October 7th: 8 Ways to sell more stuff. The final details are being ironed out but we expect to present a mixture of expert advice on key internet technologies for the retailer and case studies from Ireland and abroad on how to do it well and the pitfalls to avoid when retailing online.

Whether your company are seasoned retailers or thinking about taking the leap online, there will be presentations to interest you. Tickets are already selling but follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook or subscribe to the Digital Digest newsletter for further information over the next fortnight.

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