Competition time with the IIA

May 12, 2008 · Posted in Congress 2008, Membership · Comment 

Firstly I would like to welcome to our newest member Zircol.com. Zircol is a global, free to join online business network focused on helping Irish companies to grow and on helping Irish entrepreneurs and investors from the Irish community and diaspora worldwide to connect online in the time it takes to setup an account. They already have 6 networks set up including Zircol itself. These networks include a creation and innovation network, an entrpeuners’ network, a healthcare network, and the Wireless Ireland Network.

If you are interested in these networks and the potential they could represent for your business you might also be interested in our Congress which takes place on Thursday (so expect a sharp downturn in posts after today). I have one pair of tickets for Congress for whoever can tell me:

Q. Who is sponsoring our “Build a Great Website” breakout session?

Answers in an email to roseanne@iia.ie before 5pm Tuesday.

We have also notified the winner of last week’s IPod . So if you haven’t heard from us, better luck next time!

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Mad for the IPods

May 9, 2008 · Posted in Congress 2008, IIA website, statistics · Comment 

It was a sad day in the IIA office when I had to tell my colleagues that no, they could not do the survey and be in with a chance to win a 16GB Apple IPod Touch. So come next December if you are scratching your head and wondering what on earth should I get Roseanne, Fergal and Irene in the IIA for Christmas…

We had a great response so thank you very much to everyone who completed the survey. The results are available on our website – currently just available to members so please log in to access them*. We will announce the winner at Congress, on the IIA site and here next Thursday. Oh the suspense – it’s just like Next Top Model!

One statistic that interested me was the 46.9% who indicated that the absence of a business case was the main barrier to deployment of social networking and new media technologies. We hope, with the presentations of case studies at next Thursday’s congress, that those of you who wish to be convinced, will be and those of you seeking to convince, will have ample ammunition when next you are asked, “What’s so brilliant about social networking and new media anyway?”

And now for some Friday fun. For the 7.3% who responded “What are you talking about?!” when asked which social networking and new media technologies they use in their business I will leave it to the good folks in Commoncraft to explain it all. (Buíochas leis an Imeall don nasc!)

Have a great weekend and see you all next Thursday!

*Have you forgotten your username and password? Email members@iia.ie and I’ll get one out to you ASAP!

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Ask and ye shall receive

May 7, 2008 · Posted in Congress 2008, IIA website, Membership · Comment 

One thing that many of the delegates at our previous congresses asked about was the chance to get some one-on-one advice about website strategy. As the IIA is a member-driven organisation we take these suggestions seriously and so this year we developed a brand spanking new feature of Congress 2008. This year we bring you Web Strategy Clinics! We have organised 5 different clinics with experts from among our membership. These clinics will allow you to sit down for half an hour and pick their brains on your choice of the following:

Web Analytics, User Experience and Accessibility – iQ Content

Online, Mobile & Interactive Advertising – David Connor, Strategic Planning Director, eighty:twenty

Web Design – Rick McKee, Commercial Director, Tibus

Legal – Paul Lambert, Merrion Legal Solicitors

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) – John Ring, Technical Director, RingJohn.com

You need to register for the clinic of your choice* and give some details about your current situation so that you and the expert can kick off and waste no time on formalities. If you leave a comment below saying “hellohowareyou!” you can consider that done and get right into the meat of it!

* You can attend as many as you like – you’ll just have to register for each seperately. Enjoy!

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