Google opened a hot new venue in Dublin just a few weeks ago. The Foundry – A Conference Centre designed to inspire, communicate and help companies build their business community. They went for a “Posh Garage” look – exposed ceilings, funky design, splashes of colour. Who was the first conference client to experience it – Ikea!
“It is a digital, conference centre and networking place to bring together the best people, share best practice and help super charge the economy” as described by John Herlihy, Head of Google Ireland. There is a Google Hang out room (Hang out on Air), for companies to hang out with and talk to their customers. Lots of fun gadgets and even a shopping experience. At long last, a space to inspire thought and innovation as a conference centre. Can’t wait to see it for myself. A tour is in the works for my next visit to Dublin. I have 3 clients it will suit perfectly for 2014 and 2015 conference venue enquiries.
Auditorium style it can fit 360 conference delegates.
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.
HOW TO PLAN A CONFERENCE – source In Any Evenet UK – www.inanyevent-uk.com
Step One – Planning
Decide who is going to be involved in organising the conference. Set up a conference planning committee. Arrange a meeting to establish what work needs to be undertaken, by whom and set timescales. Obtain handover notes if this event has been previously organised by other committees.
At this initial planning meeting is essential that you set your event objectives. For example these can be along lines of:
•What is the conference aiming to achieve? What as an organisation are you trying to achieve by hosting this event?
•Who are you trying to impact? Define your target audience in terms of delegates and sponsors?
•How do you define success?
Decide on dates for regular planning meetings and produce notes from meetings together with action points.
Step Two – Work in Progress
From the planning meeting draw up an activity schedule together with list of actions, status of actions and deadline dates. This will become your working schedule.
At each planning meeting produce an agenda based on the headings of the activity schedule. Produce meeting notes together with actions. These together with the activity schedule will be what you use to plan your event.
Step One – Planning
Decide who is going to be involved in organising the conference. Set up a conference planning committee. Arrange a meeting to establish what work needs to be undertaken, by whom and set timescales. Obtain handover notes if this event has been previously organised by other committees.
At this initial planning meeting is essential that you set your event objectives. For example these can be along lines of:
•What is the conference aiming to achieve? What as an organisation are you trying to achieve by hosting this event?
•Who are you trying to impact? Define your target audience in terms of delegates and sponsors?
•How do you define success?
Decide on dates for the regular planning meetings and produce notes from meetings together with action points.
networking area Hotel Europe, Kilarney, Co Kerry. Great conference hotel.
Step Two – Work in Progress
From the planning meeting draw up an activity schedule together with list of actions, status of actions and deadline dates. This will become your working schedule.
At each planning meeting produce an agenda based on the headings of the activity schedule. Produce meeting notes together with actions. These together with the activity schedule will be what you use to plan your event.
I stayed overnight at the Clarion Hotel recently and had a great experience, it is very much accommodates the business traveller and is a great Conference venue and Meeting hotel in Dublin City Centre.
What I loved –
*Lolly pops and water on each conference table
* Natural light through-out
*Power shower
*Personal wake-up call – that was bang on time.
* High Powered Hair dryer
First impressions and location — The Clarion Hotel is a great Dublin business hotel, it is located in the IFSC and convenient to the O2 Music Venue and close to the Dublin Convention Centre opening in 2010. It is also -
• within walking distance to the heart of Dublin City Centre
• will have a Luas line on its door step next year
• the fact that it has its own car park is a big advantage, I do feel however that signage from the car park to the hotel could be improved as the car park elevator does not lead directly to the hotel lobby.
The atmosphere is business like and professional, all staff were attentive to my needs, in particular Joe who escorted me to my car and carried my bags. He has been in the hotel industry for over 10 years and is a true hospitality professional.
There is a choice of up to 3 roomsfor groups of up to about 80-110, with plenty of break out space –
all rooms are airy with lots of natural light
the needs of the meeting organiser have also been thought of with registration facilities outside each and a meeting tool kit in each room
Free Broadband facilities
ceiling mounted projection system which can display, laptop, DVD and VHS display and of course climate control
For me theColumbia room in the basement was my favourite with plenty of space out side the room for tea/coffee facilities.No rooms are far from the restaurant/bar area which makes networking at tea/coffee break time easy to do.Overall there are10 rooms ranging in size from 4 to110 theatre style.
Accommodation –
The Video says it all really. If you are a light sleeper, request an “internal” room, not over looking the Quays as early morning traffic may disturb you. It didn’t wake me up but I am not a light sleeper! I had a great nights sleep, beds and duvets were very comfortable.
Great size gym with exercise classes and a lap pool
This Dublin City Centre business hotel is well equipped with a large gym and swimming pooland I particularly like the fact that there are exercise classes that guests can join each evening.You can also avail of a choice of newspaper delivered to your door in the morning.
Overall I found the hotel to be well thought through for business, conferences, meetings and events and I met a guest who stays there every week so that is always a great reference.Joe was very accommodating and assisted me to my car with my baggage and refused to accept a tip.I very much liked the genuineness of his guest service.
Check out other independent hotel reviews I have done -
At FindaConferenceVenue.com we go the extra mile to come up with different ideas for team building days out of the office. Raising money for charities and worthwhile causes can be an excellent team building activity to consider. This is a great way for your company to not only support the work of a local organisation but also provide a perfect team building, networking event in an innovative manner.
This way both participants and charities win. On the one hand, participants will have an unforgettable experience and contribute to social responsibility and on the other hand charities will gain big support as they receive little or no government funding.
Interesting activities would involve, working with the elderly, working with the young and working with disadvantaged groups, assisting with housing projects – painting walls, general tidy up of an area, helping to insulate housing for the elderly or a school for disadvantaged kids.
Whatever responsible team building activity you choose remember to make it a shared experience for all the team members. Involve and include all of them and take plenty of photos to post on the company website, share with clients and have posted in the cafeteria. Finally, make it a worthwhile and sustainable cause.
At FindaConferenceVenue.com we are making it easy to plan corporate events. Below are some great ideas on how to plan a ‘Green’ Team Building event.
Team building activities can also be used as a means to raise awareness among employees of concepts like Corporate Social Responsibility, fair-trade and the ripple effect of these. These concepts are the talk of the town but most people are unclear of what they really mean.
One of the star ‘responsible’ team building activities is ‘Tree Planting”. It can be a great day of fun and easy to plan. It consists of employees planting trees in reserves and managed woodland so as to preserve the nature and contribute to offset their carbon emission. This way your company will work towards a more sustainable, lower carbon-emitting events industry and your employees will have fun while learning the concepts of sustainability.
Rooted in Irelandis an oak planting project in Drumconwell, which is just outside of Armagh. They are open to having a group but it would only be in Spring or Autum, as these are the times at which they plant.The following are a few suggestions on great outdoor team building venues in Ireland – Toddsleap – only 90 mins from Belfast and Dublin, Killashee House in Naas – 45 mins from Dublin, Fota House in Cork- a beautiful stately house with themed park and golf course, or a the perfect Boutique Hotel in Kenmare – The Brooklane.
Welcome to the blog of Ciara Feely, the founder of FindaConferenceVenue.com, Ireland's expert on Conference Venues in Ireland. Ciara offers a free service researching and giving advice on venues in Ireland for Conferences, Meetings and Events. Just call or email her. The website is a comprehensive listing of over 500 venues in Ireland – independently search for venues and send an enquiry directly through to the venue.
