There are 21 Galway festivals registered as members of AOIFE (Association of Irish Festival Events with their Head Offices in the Old Dispensary of the Town Hall Theatre) , many of whom were in attendance at this year’s conference. Galway City Arts Officer, James Harrold, said that it’s now more important than ever for festival and events to pull together through events such as the AOIFE conference; “I think the sector is under so much pressure, particularly financial pressure, ar scath a chéile a mhaireann na daoine, we really have to pull together and make it happen, there’s a great sense of support amongst everyone here over the two days, it’s great to see.”

Ballinasloe Fair and Festival and the An tSuca Fian Summerfest had delegates in attendance and native Brendan Flynn ( brother of Leo) led the Clifden Arts Festival delegation which he founded and has successful Directed over 30 years.

Representatives from Fáilte Ireland and the Arts Council detailed the difficulties of the year ahead, while festival representatives remained positive in their abilities to deliver quality programmes for their upcoming festivals and events. Steven Schmader, the president of the International Festival and Events Association in the conference’s opening address said to festival organisers, “take the time to step back and take a look, you can’t imagine the massive impact you have on your
community.”

There was a strong focus on the up and coming generation of festival and event organisers at this year’s conference. A new feature this year was the placement partnering sessions, students from NUIG, UL, LIT, WIT, Sligo IT and UCD and DIT were in attendance, both crew and delegates. They were given the opportunity to bring along their cv’s and to meet with festival organisers and suppliers.

It was the Association of Irish Festival Events’ 18th annual conference and fourth to be held in the town’s four star hotel . It ranks as one of the busiest Winter Conferences in the country and a lot of other venues are naturally interest in hosting it.

It was held in association with Fáilte Ireland and received greatful support from Galway County Council. Delegates and some locals were treated to an impromptu Live Performance by the Jimmy Hendrix of the Irish Accordian –Martin O’Connor on Thursday evening . The event is set to return next year in November.

After a hugely enjoyable two days of conference  its back to working in The Business of Fun for all those who attended and helped make the conference one of the most successful to date! With over 300 delegates from the world of festivals, events, business, and third level campuses, as well as our international visitors and speakers, The Business of Fun proved to be an informative and energetic gathering.

 Engaging and thought-provoking speakers shared stories and tips in 5 separate strands, and lively discussions provided much food for thought for the coming festival season. Slides from the presentations can be viewed here. Videos of the presentations will be uploaded in the coming days and photos from the two days can be viewed here.

The inaugural Placement Partnering saw over 60 third level students meet with festival producers; many coming away with prospective internship opportunities. If your festival needs a hand in the lead up to your next event we have a number of student requiring internship placements, click here to view their CVs. If you are a third level student and wish to have your CV included in the Placement Partnering please email your CV to sofia@aoifeonline.com

We have already received useful feedback from many attendees but if you have anything you wish to share with us in your evaluation of the conference please let us know by clicking here

And remember, you can follow our live conference tweeting here and join the conversation using #bizfun

Announcing the full shortlist of festivals nominated for this year’s Carlton Irish Festival Marketing Awards 2011! Carlton Marketing Awards Nominations 2011

The Carlton Irish Festival Marketing Awards will take place on 11th November 2011 at 8.30pm in the Carlton Shearwater Hotel Ballinasloe. The awards celebrate the best festival visual marketing material of the season. These annual awards celebrate the best of the Irish festival marketing materials and highlight the quality of the work undertaken by festival committees across the country.

TO VIEW CVs OF THOSE LOOKING FOR INTERNSHIPS CLICK HERE

So we just confirmed that we have over 80 students arriving at The Business of Fun with CVs in hand to take part in the Placement Partnering workshop!

These third level students are in the market for work placement across a variety of disciplines – such as Event Management, Marketing, Research, Digitial Support, Multimedia, Sound and Lighting etc. A lot of our campus colleagues are required to undertake a certain amount of hours work experience to complete their courses  so if your festival needs a hand why not pop into the workshop and find a student to join your team

The Placement Partnership takes place on the Thursday 10 November between 2pm-6pm

Your inclusion in the 2012 Database of Festivals and Events. Don’t miss out!


Deadline, Sunday, November 6, 2011

Dear Tourism Colleague,
Fáilte Ireland is currently compiling its Festivals and Events Database for 2012

The database of qualifying Festivals and Events will be used to inform all promotional activity carried out by Fáilte Ireland and its partner agencies and to update on www.DiscoverIreland.ie, which is visited by 3 million people annually and backed by an extensive marketing campaign.

The database will also be circulated to Fáilte Ireland regional offices, Shannon Development, Dublin Tourism, Tourism Ireland offices, domestic and international media and domestic and international travel trade as a tool to promote and generate interest in Ireland’s diverse festival and events product.

• All appropriate Festivals and Events, whose organisers complete the online form before the deadline, will be considered for inclusion in the database and for profiling on www.DiscoverIreland.ie. In addition, a number of events will be selected from time to time during the next 12 months to feature in various publications and other media.
• To submit details of your event, please visit www.DiscoverIrelandEvents.com and complete the online form. Important: the website provides advice to completing your form to help ensure that you have all your required information to hand.
• Good quality photographs of your Festival/Event are extremely important too. You should submit them via the same website noting that you need to FIRST complete and submit your event details and, only then, follow on to upload your photos separately.
• If you have any queries please contact John Leonard who is co-ordinating the database on behalf of Fáilte Ireland. Email: John@DiscoverIrelandEvents.com or Tel: 065 689 3843.

DEADLINE for submission of information is 21.00hrs, Sunday, November 6, 2011

Despite the tough economic climate some of our Irish Festivals have enjoyed a hugely successful season in 2011. Friday’s closing session will give us a sneak peak into the success stories from 2011 as we hear tales from the festival directors of The Galway Arts Festival, Waterford Tall Ships Festival, Gaelforce Events, Fleadh Ceol, and the National Ploughing Championships, and draw on their experience to develop the Do’s and Don’ts for next season

darragh doyle

Darragh Doyle knows about the internet. He spends his summer days volunteering and tweeting at festivals and events and his nights blogging about them. He’s helped charities, festivals and arts organisations big and small get the word out efficiently, effectively and electronically; he’s broken a couple of World Records; he knows what a trending hashtag is and he shares very bad jokes on twitter. He does not have a blue nose in real life. He writes on Yay.ie and loves it @yay_ie

Darragh wants to tell you the 10 things he hates about you! in the case of most of you he is referring to your internet habits. Most of you…

From email to press release, twitter to website, Darragh Joins our Social Networking & Digital Marketing stream to share the 10 things he doesnt want you to do online anymore; the 10 mistakes that you’ll never make again!

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TWEET: The Business Of Fun #bizfun @AOIFEonline

The ‘Business of Fun’ Conference will be held on the 10th and 11th of November in the Carlton Shearwater Hotel in Ballinasloe in association with Fáilte Ireland. This is the definitive festivals and events conference with streams that will cover all aspects of producing successful festivals and events. This is where the art, people and business of festivals and events converge.

Book before 14th October and save 15% using the code “earlybird“