Ireland 2011 - What a Year!
Ireland takes the world stage
It’s been a big year for Ireland, with an extraordinary number of high profile events that have put Ireland firmly on the global map and clearly demonstrated that Ireland has mass appeal and can cope with the most complex of events. With the New Year upon us, we look back at some of the biggest and best events that took place in Ireland this year.
Two powerful heads of state and a CEO
In May of this year three of the most powerful & influential people on the planet descended on Ireland, beaming images of Ireland to a truly global audience. Within a 10-day period, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg visited the European HQ in Dublin just days after US President Barack Obama dropped in to his ancestral home in County Offaly for a flying one day visit – and last but not least a historic four-day event, Queen Elizabeth II’s visit to Ireland, the first visit by a British monarch since Ireland gained independence. The Dublin Convention Centre, the world’s first carbon neutral convention centre, and one of the venues visited by the Queen, hosted a landmark special event held by the British Embassy on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh. The evening included a reception for 2,000 guests, a fashion show and a concert of Irish music, dance and theatre.
Although Zuckerberg’s visit made the news in Ireland, the State visits of President Obama and Queen Elizabeth reached a truly global audience. These high-profile visits generated enormous amounts of exposure for Ireland as a destination and the logistical and security challenges posed by the presidential and royal visits were immense. Tourism analysts in Ireland found that the Queen's landmark visit generated almost 12,000 newspaper articles and almost 1,400 TV news clips across the globe – the majority of these in the UK.
Founders and the Dublin Web Summit
An exclusive, invitation-only event for some of the world’s most successful tech entrepreneurs, including the founders of YouTube, Skype, Netflix, Rovio, GroupMe and StumbleUpon ran alongside the Dublin Web Summit, one of the biggest tech events in Europe.
F.ounders treated their international guests of honour like rock stars with attendees going on a pub crawl with Bono, eating dinner in Trinity College’s famous library and an impromptu orchestra performance as part of the after-dinner entertainment. The next day, the Prime Minister of Ireland Enda Kenny addressed the conference just before the attendees were transferred to a reception with the outgoing President of Ireland Mary McAleese.
Started by Paddy Cosgrave to provide Irish start ups and tech companies with the opportunity to network and learn from other entrepreneurs, investors and influencers at half the cost of comparable events in Europe, F.ounders and the two-day web summit, held at the Royal Dublin Society (RDS) hosted over 1,500 delegates and included intensive networking, impressive/lavish dinners and of course plenty of our legendary Irish hospitality.
2011 OMC European Championships
Three thousand participants from 23 countries and an association representing one million retailers worldwide - The Organisation Mondiale Coiffure (OMC), the world’s largest hairdressing and beauty organisation - chose Dublin to host the 2011 OMC European Cup Hair & Beauty Championships held at the Royal Dublin Society (RDS).
The Irish Hairdressing Federation embraced the challenge of hosting one of the biggest hairdressing events ever staged in Ireland and the RDS certainly rose to the challenge. The OMC World President Salvatore Fodera commented that the OMC European Cup in Dublin was ‘the best organised event they had seen.’ In addition, the organisers said that the RDS was the best ever venue and completely met the needs of the competitors.
World Statistics Conference
The 58th World Statistics Congress of the International Statistical Institute (ISI), one of the oldest scientific associations in the world, held their major bi-annual conference at the Convention Centre Dublin (CCD) in August.
They brought close to 2,500 of the institute’s 2,000 elected members (the top statisticians in the world) and 3,000 other (associate) members to Ireland to attend the 5-day conference.
Paul J Crowley, Head of International Relations at the Central Statistics Office and Project Manager for the Conference said “As the hosts for staging this major world conference, it was very important that we selected the right venue for both Ireland and for the ISI. A strict tendering process was used and the interview panel was very impressed with the facilities and the operational management of the CCD.”
The CCD worked closely with the Irish Central Statistics Office and MCI-Europe who were appointed to be the Professional Conference Organisers and were more than impressed with Dublin as a modern city with the capacity to host a conference of this size and magnitude.
“It’s been an impressive year for Ireland. Recent visits by Barack Obama and the Queen have helped Ireland to showcase its wider charms and how much it has to offer. The business events sector has been very mindful of reducing costs and making it cheaper than ever for visitors, making Ireland a truly competitive destination."
David Boyce, Head of Business Tourism, Tourism Ireland