Christmas Party Season - photo courtesy of Zazzle.ca
I am delighted to see that there are as many Christmas parties being booked this year, everyone is just being a little smarter with their money. So with that in mind I am putting together some very special deals… I will publish those during the week. In the mean time, here are some tips on how to save money and be a little smarter this year without appearing stingy…
The Office Party...... afters.....
These have been published by my good friend Rob Hard of About.com and composed by Greg Jenkins of Bravo Events a leading event management company in California…
The most obvious one is to negotiate hard – but avoid hard balling too much on the food or you will find you notice it in the taste… easy to prepare foods that don’t require a lot of people to serve will be the most cost effective – a good old stew, chicken dishes etc are the most cost effective!
It is not too late to book your party – I will post about availability and bargains you can still avail of!! For best rates, contact me as I have group discount rates negotiated with hotels and venues in Ireland.
I am putting together a list of the best Christmas Party Deals all around Ireland and what is still available to book. Those will be posted during the week…
Meeting Facilities, Bush Hotel, Carrick on Shannon
Joe Dolan and his team at the Bush Hotel,Carrick on Shannon, Co Leitrim, Ireland is to be congratulated for their achievements in creating a green venue for conferences, meetings and events. The below is an extract from a press release that will be in the papers tomorrow. The hotel is a great place to drop in for a meal and has a variety of space for meetings and events…. will post more on that when I stay there and do a review. But I would know the hotel and the great reputation it has locally as I grew up 10 miles away.
“Communication Award. The award recognises exceptional promotional activities to
increase public awareness of the EU Ecolabel – the EU’s label for environmentally friendly goods and services. The three winners, selected by a jury of environmental
and communication experts, were announced at a ceremony in Brussels last night.
The Bush Hotel in Carrick-on-Shannon, Co Leitrim, which became the first hotel in Ireland to be awarded the EU Ecolabel in Marchthis year, won the service provider category. The hotel was praised by judges for raising awareness of the EU Ecolabel through a variety of promotional tools, including an in-house awareness campaign, a suppliers’ charter and organised site visits.
The European Commission has announced the winners of the first EU Ecolabel
Communication Award. The award recognises exceptional promotional activities to
increase public awareness of the EU Ecolabel – the EU’s label for environmentally friendly goods and services. The three winners, selected by a jury of environmental
and communication experts, were announced at a ceremony in Brussels last night.
The Bush Hotel in Carrick-on-Shannon, Co Leitrim, which became the first hotel in
Irelandto be awarded the EU Ecolabel in March this year, won the service provider
category. The hotel was praised by judges for raising awareness of the EU Ecolabel
through a variety of promotional tools, including an in-house awareness campaign, a suppliers’ charter and organised site visits.
I have held 2 events at the Guinness Storehouse and have got great feedback each time ” the staff are easy to work with and are professionals”. Last week I attended Bizcamp there – I worked with Keith on finding the venue. Most of the stress of the day is taken away for the organiser if the venue are on top of things, provide excellent service and serve a decent cup of coffee! This is the case with The Guinness Storehouse – Happy Arthur Guinness Day!
The Review -
Location – Dublin City, at the site where Guinness is brewed – about a 15 minute walk down the keys from Dublin City Centre, 10 mins by Luas or a quick taxi ride. It is also very close to Heuston Train Station and on the Luas line which makes it so accessible.
What is it perfect for? If you are looking for a venue that is a little bit different, this is the one. You enter via the Visitors Centre which has a very touristy feel to it, this I like as I can pretend that I am on holidays. You can just skip through the line to pay to get in if you are attending a conference. There is plenty of signage to direct delegates to the conference floors.
Main room at the Guinness Storehouse, great for an event or conference
The main Aural suite is on the 3rd floor. This will accommodate about 300 people seated. Lots of room outside for tea/coffee area. You can feel and hear the buzz of the visitors centre, the building is a large atrium, built in the shape of a Pint of Guinness in the centre so you can feel the atmosphere from the whole venue.
Smaller meetings – Break out rooms – up on the next floor – in the business centre area. There are 5 rooms here that will hold up to 70 people.
Food - prepared by Campbell Catering – tasty and flexible with a choice of menus for every budget.
For that Special Event - there are 3 other venue spaces available for evening parties. During the day they are open to the public but a great private party venue for evening entertainment – choices are -
Gravity Bar
Panoramic views of Dublin, a great Venue
Brewery Bar
Great Party Venue
Source Bar
Party Venue Option/Drinks Reception
To avail of the discounted negotiated rates that FindaConferenceVenue have, do get in touch. ciara (at) findaconferencevenue.com. 353 ()) 21 4928941.
We are the experts on hotels and venues in Ireland and will do the legwork involved in finding a hotel or venue. It is a free service to the Meeting Organiser.
We are holding a focus group at The Rubicon Centre, Tuesday September 29th – 5pm. If you are interested in participating, please do get in touch, or post a reply to this post.
Conditions - you must be a meeting or event organiser and have arranged an event/conference in the last year.
Ireland can now compete even more with the world’s serious Conference Destinations by offering a tax relief to companies booking a conference in Ireland – yeah! 13.5% VAT can be claimed back on accommodation – this is both to individuals attending a conference and to companies arranging a conference in Ireland. This is great news as it really does help to make Ireland even more competitive as a destination for Conferences in Ireland.
Interestingly – Concentives are becoming verrrrrrry popular – they are a mix of a conference and incentive – companies only have to book a conference room (must be fore 50 people or more) for a morning and then have a jolly lined up (I mean a meaningful experience showcasing Ireland) for the rest of the trip.
Tax Back Internationalare the company that are processing these claims – they are very helpful and knowledgeble on the ins and outs of it. There are offices world wide as well as Dublin and Cork!
Irish companies can claim VAT back through their normal VAT returns.
Every little helps!! For more tips on how to save money when organising a conference read the following posts…
Have you ever arranged a meeting or conference and it ended up costing a few hundred or even thousand more than what you had expected??
Kingsley Hotel Cork - great conference room
Wouldn’t it be great to arrange a conference or meeting and know exactly what it is going to cost? When presented with the bill there are no hidden surprises such as extra tea/coffee, LCD projector, flip chart etc?? I quote most of my clients a day delegate package which will include 2 tea/coffee breaks, lunch, meeting room rental and lcd projector/screen. Clients find it is much easier to calculate what the cost will be besides adding up all of the elements individually. If you are quoted €35 per person and you know you have 100 people attending it makes life a lot easier.
That is what it is all about – making life easier for the client!! That is my aim in life and how I get repeat business.
Rob Hard of About.com/Event Planning has written an article on this- it is an interesting perspective as he writes about it from the US point of view and the European point of view. I did not realise that most American Hotels still quote individually or a la carte so to speak on all the separate aspects of a conference.
For more tips and ideas on how to arrange a conference or event check out the following posts. Or feel free to call me directly for my expert advice – 353 (0) 21 4928941.
Radisson SAS have rebranded and are now Radisson Blu! I have rates negotiated with all the hotels in Ireland. There are some fantastic hotels in the brand, I consistently get great feedback from clients who use the Radisson Blu Royal in Dublin City Centre. It is a great Dublin Conference Hotel and I find the team excellent to work with.
With the below delegate rates there are no hidden surprises. I request most quotes now in day delegate format so that you know exactly how much an event is going to cost. My clients prefer it for budget reasons and it is much easier to compare costs across the board too. Of course, using a venue finder, I do all the leg work in comparing prices, and putting it all in the one easy to read format. I also know where to negotiate with hotels and where the most room for negotiation is. Check out the conference and meeting deals below – they all help in arranging a Conference or Event on a shoe string budget!
Day Delegate Rate from €29.00 per person
to include:
1 x tea/coffee break
Lunch – soup / sandwich / tea/ coffee
Main meeting room hire
LCD Projector, screen and flipchart
Jugs of iced water , pads , pens
Free Wi-Fi Access
Minimum numbers apply in all hotels
Main meeting room hire
Lunch – soup/sandwich/tea/coffee
Tea/coffee break
LCD Projector, screen and flipchart
Free Wi-Fi Access
Jugs of iced water, pens and pads
Minimum number apply in all hotels.
24 Hour Delegate Rate from €159.00 per person
to include:
Day Delegate Rate (see above)
Overnight accommodation incl. breakfast
2 course dinner with tea/coffee
Free Wi-Fi Access
Minimum number of 10 delegates alpply in all hotels.
15 meeting rooms including boardrooms and a video conferencing suite, which can host a small meeting for 12, a large theatre-style event for 400 or a sit-down dinner for 300!
It is estimated that there are 22,000 events held in Ireland every year! Great numbers. But how many of them fulfilled their purpose or even had one to start out with??? Most events held in Ireland are arranged by someone who is not a professional conference organiser – they end up having to do it, but it is not their main job. It is a massive task to pull of correctly, so don’t try it alone, do get help.
Found this photo when I googled Conference Photos – figured they deserved the plug seeing as their website came up on page one.
As an event organiser, you definitely want to avoid the following -
Delegates wondering why they came, it didn’t meet expectations.
The venue was too hard to find and directions were not clear enough.
The room was too hot or not enough ventilation and no air conditioning!
The room was not set up properly and you couldn’t see the presentation properly.
The service was terrible and the venue couldn’t even serve a decent cup of coffee!
They all sound like basic enough elements to get right, but you would be surprised how often they are not.
To avoid embarrassing situations such as the above, ensure your event has 2 main elements -
A purpose
A Plan!
We will go into these in more detail in the next post. In the mean time, click though here for expert Conference Organiser tips…
Posted by ciara feely 
Posted by ciara feely 
Posted by ciara feely 
