Content is King 2010

Captain Pat O Connor
Press Officer
The Defence Forces

Captain Pat O’Connor has worked in the Defence Forces Press Office since 2008 as a Press Officer and Spokesperson for the organisation but has also established the Defence Forces Social Media platforms. The Defence Forces are recognised as one of the early adopters of social media in the public sector with their Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Flickr pages being particularly popular with the general public, potential recruits and media alike.
 
Pat has an educational background in communications having completed a B.Sc in Communications (Film & Broadcasting) in DIT Aungier St. and a M.A. in Political & Public Communications in DCU where his thesis focused on the use of social media as a political PR tool. Pat has also completed military media & communications courses with both the UK armed Forces and Swiss Armed Forces.
 
Pat is currently the project manager for the redesign of the Defence Forces website www.military.ie and development of the Defence Force iphone/android applications.

Colin Hetherington
Managing Director
ZOO. Digital

Colin Hetherington is managing director of ZOO. Digital online advertising agency. ZOO. develop digital channel strategies, creative and content for clients.
Some current clients include the European Commission, LYNX , innocent smoothies, 3 mobile, Cornetto and Allianz.

He has been involved in digital marketing for the last 11 years. He started out with i-traffic in San Francisco back in 1999. From there he came back to Ireland to work in Pigsback.com. In 2006 he established the Dublin office of agency.com.

Follow Colin Hetherington on Twitter @zoodigital

Conor Pope
Journalist
The Irish Times

Conor Pope is an awarding-winning journalist, broadcaster and best-selling author. He has worked in an online environment with The Irish Times for over 14 years and since 1996 has played a formative role in the development of online news and information services in Ireland.  He is also Pricewatch editor of The Irish Times and writes extensively about consumer issues, has a weekly radio slot on the Ray Darcy Show on Today FM, appears frequently on radio programmes and presented RTE One's popular Living Lightly programme which was broadcast before Christmas 2009 and again in the summer of 2010. His Stop Wasting Your Money books, published in 2008 and 2009 made it onto the Irish bestseller lists.

He also tweets far too much than is good for him and feels lost when he is out of range.

Follow him on Twitter @conor_pope

Crystal Swing
Music Group
Music Group

Crystal Swing comprises Mary Murray- Burke and her son and daughter, Derek and Dervla. They shot to international fame in 2010 when they put their video up on You Tube and received tens of thousands of hits across the globe. This year their single The Hucklebuck reached No.1 in the Irish charts.
 
The highlight of their career to date was when American TV talk show Ellen DeGeneres invited them on her show.

They have been performing on a professional level for almost three years and have recorded two very successful CD's, Sweet Dreams in 2007 and The Best Years of Our Lives in 2009.

Each member of the band offers their own unique style of performance. Mary is a keyboardist and vocalist and her repertoire is drawn mostly from the Country and Irish genres.

Derek is the lead singer with the band and is also an accomplished guitarist. He takes his inspiration from the showband era and legendary performers such as Brendan Bowyer and Brendan O' Brien.

Dervla has a unique Country and Western singing voice and a sparkling stage presence.

Follow Crystal Swing on Twitter @crystalswing

George Hook
Presenter
Newstalk

George Hook is a sportsman, broadcaster and author. In 2002 Newstalk gave him his first prime time radio show The Right Hook, and since then George Hook has become one of the biggest names in Irish media. His meteoric rise at a time of life when he himself suggests, that “he should be consulting an undertaker” has rarely been equalled in broadcasting history in Ireland.

He is a 3-time winner of the British Chambers of Commerce, best individual speaker award and in 2006 he was the Dublin Chamber of Commerce’s most popular speaker.

In 2005 George published his best selling autobiography Time Added On.

In 1997 he became a fixture on RTE’s television rugby panel with Tom McGurk and Brent Pope and quickly established himself as a fearless but knowledgeable critic of the game.

Follow George Hook on Twitter @ghook

Herb Kim
CEO / Founder
Thinking Digital Conference

Herb Kim is the Founder & Director of the Thinking Digital Conference which takes place annually in May at the world renowned Sage Gateshead Music Centre in North East England.

His company Codeworks also organizes The GameHorizon Conference, The DIBI (Design It Build It) Web Conference and The Gateshead Digital Summer festival

Codeworks also facilitates two regional company networks - Codeworks Connect & GameHorizon which enjoy 400 paying company members between them.

Kim’s work at Codeworks and the Thinking Digital Conference was recently recognised by being included as part of the 2010 MediaGuardian Top 100.

Previous to Codeworks, he spent 15 years in various management posts in the Internet, media & mobile sectors including O2, Bertelsmann, Blackwell's, IBM & Dow Jones. He earned his MBA from the Wharton School of Business in Philadelphia and my undergraduate degree from Princeton University.

Follow Herb Kim on Twitter @herbkim

Jenni Lloyd
Director of Strategy
Nixon McInnes

Jenni Lloyd heads up the strategy practice at NixonMcInnes, a democratically-run consultancy who use the intersection of social behaviour and digital tools to help large organisations become more human. A digital veteran, she built her first website in 1995 – for Unilever. This lead to a stint with the BBC where she designed the first Top of the Pops website and pursued an interest in interactive TV.

On first joining NixonMcInnes, she was instrumental in the agency’s evolution into social specialists in 2006. Jenni now leads the team responsible for helping major corporate clients such as TUI, Nectar and Channel4, find their feet in the new social realm.

Jenni is a speaker at a range of industry conferences and delivers the Social Media module for the IDM Certificate in Digital Marketing.

Follow Jenni Lloyd on Twitter @jennilloyd

Jennifer O'Connell
Editor
TheJournal.ie

Jennifer O’Connell is the editor of TheJournal.ie, the news site which allows users to read, shape and share the news.
 
She is also a weekly columnist with the Sunday Business Post and a frequent contributor to a number of national radio programmes.
 
She has 14 years’ experience in journalism in a variety of roles, including features editor with The Sunday Business Post; reporter with RTE television news, and producer with the independent production company, Liberty Films.

She tweets (far too often) at @jenoconnell.

Neil Molloy
Owner
The Hop Inn

Neil Molloy is the owner of the The Hop Inn pub in Athenry, Co. Galway.

We first came across his mad antics on Facebook where he promotes his pub "The Hop Inn" with a series of weekly videos.

He is a colourful character to say the least; irreverent, ridiculous, laugh-out-loud funny and you could be forgiven for thinking he's a younger brother of Pat Shortt's.

Neil has since set up a YouTube Channel for The Hop Inn where he posts his videos, and in a few months he has gone from having a few hundred fans to almost 3,000.

Neil's use of YouTube is one the funniest and most innovative examples we've seen of a small  business getting enormous benefit out of social media and we're looking forward to meeting him in person..

Nic Newman
Journalist and Digital Strategist
Founding member of BBC News Website

Nic Newman Is a journalist and digital strategist who has played a key role in shaping the BBC’s internet services over more than a decade.  He was a founding member of the BBC News Website, leading international coverage as World Editor (1997-2001).

As Head of Product Development for BBC News (2001-07), he helped introduce innovations such as blogs, podcasting and on-demand video. Most recently he led digital teams (2007-10), developing websites, mobile and interactive TV applications for News, Sport, Weather and Local. He has played an important part in the development of social media strategies and guidelines for the wider BBC. He is the author of two in depth studies on the impact of social media for the Reuters Institute for the study of journalism at Oxford University - where he is currently a Visiting Fellow.

Follow Nic Newman on Twitter @nicnewman

Pat O'Mahony
TV and radio producer, director and presenter
Chairperson

Pat O’Mahony is a TV and radio producer, director and presenter. RTE TV have recently commissioned him together with Coco TV to make a 2010 version of their end-of-year news internet search programme.
This summer he made One Evening In July for Radio 1 about his friend, Olan McGowan, who broke his neck diving at Dublin's 40 Foot 15 years ago and who's been a wheelchair user ever since.

Last summer Pat produced Ireland’s Biggest ‘Hits’ 2009 a television programme on our internet news search habits with Coco TV for RTE 1, which was shown on New Year's Day.

Last year he also made Pat’s University Challenge for Radio 1, in which he spent a week in DCU while it was celebrating its 20th year as a fully-fledged university - and where he himself studied for his Communications degree from 1983-'86.

Prior to this, Pat's spent 11 years in the UK as a freelance TV and radio producer/director/presenter. While there he reported for the BBC's consumer TV programme Watchdog, and he produced Reporters At War, an Emmy-winning TV series for Discovery on the history of war journalism. He also produced and directed films for Channel 4 and Five.

Follow Pat O'Mahony on Twitter @patomahony1

Rick Kelley
Head of Mid Market Sales
Facebook

Rick joined Facebook in June of 2009 as the Head of Mid Market Sales in EMEA.  In this role, Rick helps oversee Facebook Europe’s expanding advertising efforts with an emphasis on emerging brands, mid size ad agencies and large direct response advertisers.

Rick spent seven years starting and leading similar teams for Yahoo! in both Boston and Barcelona, Spain.  A native of Boston, Rick currently lives in Dublin with his wife Kim and son Ben.

Sebastien Missoffe
Director
YouTube

Sebastien joined Google 4 years ago and is currently Director for YouTube, EMEA Online Sales and Operations. He was previously Head of South Europe for Online Sales with responsibility for advertisers and agencies in France, Spain and Italy. Prior to Google, Sebastien spent 9 years with L'Oreal in sales and marketing positions including launching a new men skincare brand for Lancome.

Sebastien is Franco-Swiss, he holds an MBA from INSEAD and speaks 5 languages including Greek. He is based at Google's EMEA headquarters in Dublin, the second largest office within the Google network

Timo Luege
Senior Communications Officer
International Red Cross (IFRC)

Timo Luege is a senior communications officer at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). He is responsible for the organization's website and leading its social media activities.
 
In 2008, after Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar and more people turned to the IFRC's Flickr-channel than to the organization's website, he convinced the organization’s management to further explore social media. Since then, Timo has assisted National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies with their social media activities and has developed the IFRC's social media staff guidelines.
 
Earlier this year, Timo spent three months in Haiti as a spokesperson for shelter-related topics.
 
He has worked as a journalist since 1999 in print and broadcast media, primarily as a news editor in Germany.
 
Follow Timo Luege on Twitter @timolue or read his blog: http://sm4good.com

Tom Scott
Comedian
www.tomscott.com

Tom Scott is a geek comedian. He won the Kevin Greening Award for Creativity at the Student Radio Awards, once got in trouble with the Cabinet Office for his version of their Preparing for Emergencies site, and has been described as a "sometime internet funny man" by The Register. He runs the British part of International Talk Like A Pirate Day, and recently ran for Parliament as "Mad Cap'n Tom".

His work has been featured on BBC One and Channel 4, in print media worldwide, and at the Paraflows net-art exhibition in Vienna.

He also once got five gold runs on 'Blockbusters'.

Follow Tom Scott on Twitter @tomscott

Will King
Founder
King of Shaves

Will King is the founder and CEO King of Shaves, experts in everything to do with shaving. King founded the company in the early 1990’s inspired by his long-running battle with razor burn, By 1997 the company’s turnover was over £1m, and doubling year on year. In 2000, after securing a fragrancing licence deal with Ted Baker plc, they sold the first King of Shaves products in America.
 
Sales in 2004 were just over £11m and King of Shaves is now number two in the UK shaving market, ahead of Wilkinson Sword and Nivea and second only to Gillette.

In 2009, King launched his first book How To Build A Great Business In Tough Times, which quickly reached the No. 1 Business Book on sale in WH Smiths, where it stayed for the whole month of September.

In 2009 King of Shaves won the T Mobile Company of the Year Award at the Fast Growth Business Awards and in 2008 was crowned the CBI and Real Business Company of the Year.

Will was the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2009 Regional London & South Winner.

Follow Will King on Twitter @kingofshaves

Lightsource - Corporate, tv, event lighting

Lightsource are suppliers of an innovative range of conventional, led and automated lighting fixtures for rental and sale. They have recently added a complete range of led display products and screens as well as a full range of draping and starcloth products.

61c Heather road, Sandyford,  Dublin. 18.
T: 2938970/71
F: 2938947 fax
E. Billy@lightsource.ie
W. www.lightsource.ie/www.starcloth.ie

Avtek

Avtek Solutions Ltd provides quality audio visual support in the conference, events and incentives market both in Ireland and abroad.
As part of the Eurotek group of companies, Avtek has over 40 years of industry experience in audio visual and event production on a European and worldwide basis.
We pride ourselves in our established reputation for customer service and attention to detail. We set ourselves high standards in all aspects of our business and consistently ensure that we deliver a thoroughly professional product.

Contact: Tony Lanigan
T: (01) 294 1677        E: tony@avtek.ie        W: www.avtek.ie

Kantar Media

Kantar Media Ireland is the leading media monitoring and analysis provider in the Irish market, delivering insight and intelligence on press, broadcast, Internet and social media activity for thousands of Irish brands.  Kantar Media operates in 50 countries across the globe helping clients master the momentum of the media.

Trademarc Design & Print Solutions

Trademarc is a design and print company with the ability to produce high quality design, large format print, digital print and offset print. Our experience in all areas of the design and print process is boosted by the fact that all elements are produced and controlled under one roof.

We specialise in providing a high quality, reliable and efficient service. Our aim is to produce a piece of work that sends exactly the right message, creating an impact that the reader will be compelled to delve further and read on. Our design approach is about creating a unique look that will create a positive impression for our clients product or service. Our design team offers a multi-discipline design service that combines strategy, creative thinking and technical expertise.

t. +353 (0) 74 932 2640   f. +353 (0) 74 932 1972
e. marc@trademarc.ie      w. www.trademarc.ie

The Irish Times

The Irish Times was established in 1859 and has earned an international reputation as Ireland's quality daily newspaper. News reporting from throughout Ireland is accompanied by reports from a comprehensive network of foreign correspondents, as well as sports and business coverage, features and arts sections, lifestyle, jobs and property. The real strength of The Irish Times lies with the particular composition of its readership comprising an exceptionally high ratio of business and professional readers.

www.irishtimes.com  is the online edition of The Irish Times and is the definitive brand of quality news aimed at Irish internet users and the Irish interest market. The Irish Times site moved from ireland.com to irishtimes.com following the successful integration of the print and online newsrooms in early 2008.