2015
Table of Contents 2
Sponsor Acknowledgements
3
Programme Details
5
Awards
5
Supplier Workshop
7
General Information
9
Advisory Board
11
Speaker profiles
15
Your Entertainment
17
Testimonials and Photos from 2014 conference
Dear delegate, This year, Travel Centres hosts its 11th annual conference and supplier workshop at the wonderful 5-star Lyrath resort hotel. Every year, we try to put together a programme content that is both stimulating and relevant to our agency members. Last year’s theme was entitled ‘Navigating the Future’ and we felt that because we hadn’t fully explored the twin issues of the threats and opportunities facing the retail industry both in Ireland and globally, we should re-visit the topic — hence the title of this year’s event — ‘Back to the Future’. In somewhat of an elegant coincidence, it subsequently dawned on us that 2015 was actually the 30th anniversary of the original release of that iconic movie and indeed the second instalment of the BTTF franchise centres around the date of October 21st, 2015 when Marty McFly travels 30 years into the future. Such has been the positive impact that this film has had on the collective consciousness that many of you will have noticed many events in recent weeks that have celebrated (and indeed, re-enacted) that famous date in popular culture. The real serendipity however, of having chosen to re-visit last year’s theme (albeit from a fresh perspective) was that we had already decided since January of this year to run with a celebration of the music of the 80’s following a showcase gig at the O2 in London by this years’ post-gala dinner entertainment — The Monster Hits! Not the most original of names I will grant you, but just wait until you hear their sound! You’ll be rocking your socks off once again! The Travel Centres annual conference and supplier workshop has built up an enviable reputation within the Industry as one of the best events around and with your help we plan to keep it that way for many years to come. Always at your service
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Amadeus — Dinner wines, Friday evening
Celebrity Cruises — Cocktail Reception,Saturday evening
Ethiopian Airlines — All tea/coffee refreshment breaks during conference weekend
MSC Cruises — ‘Martinis & Manicures’, Saturday afternoon
Royal Caribbean — Saturday lunch
Travelport — Friday lunch
Virgin Atlantic — Gala Dinner entertainment
*Travel Centres would also like to acknowledge the support of the following three companies: Bookabed — Chocolates in room for agent delegates, Hertz — Discounted car rental for conference weekend, Travelport — ‘Changing the face of travel’ — Agent makeovers.
Sponsor Acknowledgements* Events such as this depend on the generous sponsorship that underpins much of the content featured over the course of the two-day programme. Although all our suppliers have contributed to the central funding that covers much of the main running costs, these suppliers in particular have dug deep into their pockets in order to show their appreciation for the business that you, our members generate for them year round. It is therefore only right and fitting that we should acknowledge them here.
All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Publisher’s Note: Whilst care has been taken in compiling the information contained in this manual, the publishers cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions. © Travel Centres 2015.
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Friday, 4th December 08.45 — 09.30
Registration (conference centre foyer)
09.30 — 10.00
Delegate welcome and year review (McCurdy Suite 3)
10.00 — 11.15
11.15
Closed Session # 1*
— 11.30
Morning refreshment break (sponsored by Ethiopian Airlines)
11.30 — 13.00
Closed Session # 2*
13.00 — 14.00 Lunch (Yindees Asian restaurant — 1 floor, above main foyer) sponsored by Travelport st
14.00 — 14.30
‘Data protection — four good reasons to be compliant’ — Hugh Jones, Sytorus
14.30 — 15.15
‘Vat & travel — the challenges’ — Dermot O’Brien, Dermot O’Brien & Associates
— 15.30
Afternoon refreshment break (sponsored by Ethiopian Airlines)
15.30 — 16.00
‘Building your online business’ — Carole Smith, Synneo
16.00 — 16.30
‘Passenger rights — regulation gone mad or a business opportunity?’
15.15
— Brian Whelan, Airhelp 16.30 — 17.00 17.00 —
‘How to practice disruptive marketing’ — Gavin Fox, Fox Marketing
17.15
Q & A session and conference close
— 19.30
At your leisure
19.30 — 20.30
Drinks Reception (old house lobby)
20.30 — 22.30
Dinner (old house) dinner wines sponsored by Amadeus
17.15
22.30 —
Late
Music in the X-Bar
*Morning sessions closed to Travel Centres members only. Afternoon presentations open to all.
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Saturday 5th December 08.30 — 09.30
Workshop registration
09.30 — 11.10
Speed-dating workshops — sessions 1-10 (McCurdy 2 & 3)
— 11.30
Morning tea/coffee refreshment break (sponsored by Ethiopian Airlines)
11.30 — 12.40
Speed-dating workshops — sessions 11-18
12.40 — 13.00
Royal Caribbean presentation** — ‘It’s worth the effort’ with Ben Bouldin
13.00 — 14.00
Lunch (La Perla restaurant) sponsored by Royal Caribbean
14.00 — 15.30
Speed-dating workshops — sessions 19-27
15.30 — 15.50
Afternoon tea/coffee refreshment break (sponsored by Ethiopian Airlines)
15.50 — 16.00
Presentation** (TBA)
16.00 — 17.00
Speed-dating workshops — 28-33 (free format hour)
17.00 — 17.10
MSC Cruises presentation** with Rebecca Kelly
11.10
17.10
— 17.25
Spot-prize draw and announcement of winners of ‘Changing the Face of Travel’ Sponsored by Travelport’
17.30 — 18.30
‘Manicures & Martinis’ reception (Maginnes Suite 1 & 2 — travel agents only!), sponsored by MSC Cruises
17.30 — 19.30
At your leisure
19.30 — 20.30
Cocktail Hour (XBar) sponsored by Celebrity Cruises
20.30 — 22.30
Gala dinner — dinner entertainment sponsored by Virgin Atlantic (McCurdy 2&3)
22.30 — 23.00
Charity raffle, prize draw and 2015 awards
23.00 — 01.00
Dancing to the Monster Hits
01.00 — 03.00
Disco
Table Plans for Gala Dinner Blank table plans for the Gala Dinner will be displayed on notice boards in the main function room throughout the day on Saturday. Please fill in your name on one of these table plans no later than 15.45 as the completed or partially completed table plans will be collected at 16.00. If your agency has four or more staff attending, a table plan with your name details will already have been pre-populated.
**(exhibitors in the two centre rows are kindly requested to lower their pop-up stands during presentations from the main stage) 4
AWARDS Four years ago, we decided to inaugurate an awards ceremony that would recognise the efforts of member agencies in supporting preferred suppliers. Following constructive comments from both agents and partner supplier alike, we’ve decided to dramatically reduce the number of awards categories for 2015 and also change the manner in which voting for such award categories is calculated. This year, the number of categories has been reduced to just 12 with due recognition and differentiation being applied so that smaller agents within the group are not being compared or having to compete against their larger colleagues. Such endeavours tend to be works in progress so who knows, we may mix things up even more for next year!
Supplier Workshop As with previous years, Saturdays’ supplier workshop operates on the ‘speed-dating’ principle whereby all the supplier tables will be arranged in alphabetical sequence around the room and divided into four parallel rows, numbered sequentially: 1, 2, 3 and so on. There will be two morning and two afternoon sessions, each of which will be divided into 10-minute segments. When each segment gets to the 8-minute mark, an announcement will be made via the Public Address system to the effect that there are just two minutes ‘wrap-up’ time left on the clock. This affords each supplier/exhibitor sufficient time to wrap up their presentation and get agent participants to fill in the answer to that suppliers’ relevant question on their ‘passport’/questionnaire. A countdown clock will also be 5
displayed on the main screen up on stage to help you monitor your timekeeping with each supplier. When the 10 minutes are up, all agent participants are expected to move on to the next numbered table in the sequence — e.g., if you are sitting at table 11, you then move on to table 12. If you are at table 40 and that is the highest numbered table in the room, then the table that you move to is table 1 and so on. You are not allowed to move from table to table in a haphazard or non-sequential manner as this creates problems for other suppliers and other agent participants throughout the day and thus diminishes the effectiveness of the speed-dating process. Each agent delegate is provided with a facsimile of a ‘passportlike’ document when they register. Each ‘passport’ contains the following information: 1 A brief set of notes/rules on how to participate throughout the day at the supplier workshop. Please read these rules/briefing notes carefully as any agents found to be in breach of them throughout the day will be excluded from the prize-draw. 2 An alphabetical listing of each supplier who is in attendance at the workshop reflecting a similar alphabetical placement throughout the room, together with a brief description of what they do (handy for suppliers that you are unfamiliar with or who you do not currently do business with) 3 A question based on the content of the presentation delivered to you during your 10-minute ‘date’ with that supplier, together with a space to insert your answer.
4 A place reserved for that suppliers ‘visa’ sticker, as proof that you visited that supplier. Each ‘passport’ document must contain not less than 28 ‘visa’ stickers out of as possible maximum of 33. Because there are more suppliers/exhibitors than there are sessions, no one can possibly see all suppliers. For this reason, staff attending from each agency should not sit together at each supplier table. You need to split up in order to cover all the suppliers present, between you — e.g. if person 1 sits down at table 5, then the second staff member should be at least 10-15 numbers away, e.g., table 20. All ‘passports’ are collected at some stage during the last hour of the speeddating sessions in the afternoon (i.e. between 4.00 p.m. and 5.00 p.m.) and an announcement to that effect will be made from the main stage. These completed ‘passports’ are used to select winners for several of the prizes given away at the end of Saturday afternoon. ‘Passports’ will only be considered valid if they contain ‘visas’ for not less than 28 suppliers — five less than the possible maximum of 33 ‘visas’. Because of the time constraints being imposed as a result of the awards section during the evening, the lucky winners of the prize draw will be selected under strict supervision (two supplier witnesses) and announced immediately at the end of the supplier workshop. Prize-winner’s names will be announced and shown on screen, along with a list of the prizes on offer and who they have been donated by. As each prize-winners name is announced, they will be invited to approach the stage and choose their prize from a selection of sealed envelopes — thus accentuating the level of surprise
upon opening and also making the distribution of the more valuable prizes more random and thus fairer!
Changing the Face of Travel ‘make-over’ prize One of the most innovative additions to the Travel Centres conference weekend in recent years has been the introduction of Travelport’s ‘Changing the Face of Travel’ business card draw where four lucky winners are selected at random to have a complete makeover done by a professional makeup artist. Aside from the obvious benefit to each of the recipients, the purpose of this conference feature is to reiterate the significant role that Travelport play in literally changing the face of travel in Ireland due to their industry-leading role in empowering travel agents through the functionality of their GDS platform and other complementary and innovative technologies. Anyone interested in getting their make-up done by a professional make-up artist should ensure that they hand in their business cards to Joanne Madden from Travelport who will be in circulation throughout the day, during the course of the speed dating. Travelport will pick 4 winners at random at 4pm to get made up for the night ahead. You need to be in the room when your name is called out as otherwise, we will move on and select another business card!
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GENERAL INFORMATION
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Closed Forum Please note that the morning sessions on Friday are ‘closed’ to non-members, trade press and suppliers but you are welcome to attend any of the presentations on Friday afternoon.
Check in Please note that check in at the hotel is not before 4.00 p.m. so if you are arriving on Saturday, please proceed directly to registration (located in the reception area of the dedicated conference centre) and either leave your luggage in the car (if using own transport) or leave in the care of the porter (if arriving via public transport). All luggage will be kept in a secure location until such time as you are in a position to check-in later — i.e. after 5.30 p.m. when the supplier workshop finishes.
Remembering your table number Anytime we break for refreshments or lunch over the course of both days, we recommend that you leave your conference bag containing all your paperwork, notes and giveaways on the seat that you have been occupying and just remember the number of your table so that when the workshop resumes after each break, you can collect your belongings and move to the next numbered table in the room. Remembering your table name immediately before each break will help us streamline our proceedings throughout both days.
Punctuality As we are working to extremely tight schedules, it is important that every delegate observes the times allocated for each event throughout the conference weekend — e.g. tea/coffee breaks; workshop segments, presentations, lunches etc. This will ensure the smooth running of the event and a better overall conference experience for all concerned.
Interim Presentations Because of the fast pace of the individual speed-dating sessions, we have scheduled a number of presentations (two in the morning and two in the afternoon) to help punctuate the day and allow suppliers (particularly those working on their own) to take additional rest breaks. Each presentation will be made from the stage area; be a maximum of 10 minutes in duration (the Royal Caribbean presention immediately before lunch will be an extended presentation lasting approximately 20 minutes)
and will take place immediately before both the morning and afternoon refreshment breaks and before lunch and before the prize draw at the end of the afternoon. Please observe the maximum duration of 20 minutes assigned to each tea/coffee break in order to ensure that all presentations start on time. Charity Fundraiser Four years ago, a group of high profile travel professionals comprising Ciaran Mulligan (Blue Insurance), Dave Walsh (Etihad Airlines), Yvonne Muldoon (United Airlines), Sinead Reilly (Travelport), Philip Airey (Sunway) and Lorraine Quinn (Royal Caribbean) organised an amazing family event called Travel Funday (www.travelfunday.ie). On August 16th of this year, the annual family outing which was hosted at Wanderers Rugby football club in Dublin raised an amazing €55,000 for the various nominated charities so Travel Centres wants to play its part in raising as much money as possible for these deserving causes. On each banquet table at the Gala Dinner, you will find an envelope containing a book of raffle tickets. Guests are encouraged to purchase a sheet of 5 tickets for €10 (or multiples thereof) by detaching any sheet(s) and depositing the relevant amount back in the envelope along with the book containing the counterfoils. Don’t forget to clearly write out your name and telephone number on the back of the counterfoils that you put back into the envelope. These counterfoils will be entered into a draw for a prize/ prizes donated by Travel Centres. One person at each table should assume responsibility for collecting payments from each of the other guests at that table before returning the envelope containing the book of counterfoils and monies to a Travel Centres staff member or one of the advisory board (see which agents are members of the advisory
board, further on in this programme). Details of the total sum collected will be publicly announced immediately after the Awards, together with ticket number(s). Don’t forget to bring cash with you! Suggestions A lot of thought and planning goes into arranging each year’s conference but we’re always receptive to new suggestions as to how we can improve on the delegate experience and make the content of these weekends more relevant to your business. Ideas on a postcard please. (Better still, just email them!) Testimonials Some of your colleagues will be absent from this year’s event and for a variety of reasons. If you enjoy yourself this weekend then we’d like to hear from you so we can share your comments/observations with those who perhaps take a little bit more convincing that such events are both relevant and worthwhile. Conference Hashtag# Help us promote this year’s conference through social media by tweeting your comments and observations to the Twitterverse at large by using the following designated hashtag #travelcconf. Our colleagues at Travel Media will be monitoring all communications and the best tweet or Facebook posting will receive a nice prize, courtesy of Travel Centres! 8
ADVISORY BOARD
Carolyn Davis
Maria Dilworth
Linda McNamara 9
The advisory board comprises seven member agents who, between them, represent the interests of the general membership and who, in conjunction with the management team, define the policies and supplier preferences of the group. The board positions are voluntary so board members donate freely of their time and expertise throughout the year in order to help drive the collective agenda of members. The board meets periodically throughout the year. The advisory board currently consists of the following members: Carolyn Davis, Liberty Travel, Letterkenny In 2002 and with over thirty years experience working in the travel and hospitality sectors in the UK, Cyprus and Ireland, Carolyn established Liberty Travel in Letterkenny. The agency has since grown in size and reputation to become Donegal’s leading travel agency. Her team of six staff has vast experience and love to travel themselves, bringing a wealth of knowledge to the client. Carolyn has embraced digital marketing and social media and identifies this as an important strategy for the way forward. Carolyn is the ‘Travel Section Expert’ for Highland Radio, Irelands leading independent radio station.
Maria Dilworth, Blackpool Travel, Cork Maria has been involved in the travel industry since 1976 and opened the doors of Blackpool Travel in 2000. After many years of living and breathing travel Maria took a sabbatical from the industry and earned her BCL Law Degree from UCC and practised as a solicitor specialising in Employment Law. Maria made a return to the travel industry in recent years and favours America and Spain as her holiday destinations!
Linda McNamara, Ace Travel, Newcastle West Linda opened Ace Travel 15 years ago to service clients in the West Limerick area and has grown over the years to become one of the top agents in the Munster area. Ace Travel has won several awards over the years and has a fantastic staff which offers professional and friendly service thus retaining clients year in and year out. Linda enjoys travelling and has undertaken some excellent trips all over the world. She also enjoys a good game of hurling whether at local level or the All Ireland finals. Declan O’Connell, Lee Travel, Cork Declan has been in the Travel Industry since 1975. Based in Cork City with offices in Midleton, Youghal and Ballincollig, Lee Travel now employs 26 people. Declan is a former board member of the ITAA and strongly believes in the future of the travel agent. He enjoys travelling very much and has recently clocked up his 60th country with a few more to go. Michael Bowe, Bowe Travel, Thurles Michael Bowe Jnr. is the 4th Generation of the Bowe family to run Bowe Travel. First established in 1906 by Michael’s great- grandfather — it has continued to thrive down through the intervening decades and is based in Thurles, Co. Tipperary. Michael was reared in the travel industry and like the rest of us, loves to travel!
Michael Geraghty, Cavan Travel, Cavan Cavan Travel was established in February 1988 by Michael and his wife Margaret, so he will be celebrating 27 years in business in 2015! His second office — Virginia Travel, was subsequently opened in November 2011 – great timing! Michael now employs seven staff between the two offices. Michael has been involved with Travel Centres since its inception. Italy is Michael’s favourite holiday destination. Tom Britton, Marble City Travel, Kilkenny Tom started in the travel industry in 1995. He is managing director of Marble City Travel, Kilkenny. Since 2010 Marble City Travel has increased its staffing from 3 to 10 with continued growth into 2016 planned. Marble City Travel have been the recipient of several award categories in recent years at the annual Travel Centres conference and Tom describes himself as a ‘cruise anorak’, having completed over 20 cruises in recent years
Declan O’Connell
Michael Bowe
Michael Geraghty
Tom Britton 10
SPEAKERS Carole Smith — Founder, Synneo Presentation: ‘Building your online business’ Carole Smith, Management Consultant and Social Media Coach, describes herself as, “Not a geek but someone who is really enthusiastic about how people and technology interact.” It’s that enthusiasm that drove Carole to help businesses boost their profits by showing them how to effectively use the social channels in targeting online consumers. Carole Smith
Dermot O’Brien
Brian Whelan
Hugh Jones
Gavin Fox
Ben Bouldin
Carole has always been interested in people behaviour. That, combined with a passion for travel and technology, had her work within the travel industry along with graduating as a Coach, Myers Briggs Consultant, NLP Practitioner and Counsellor. She has blogged about travel tech trends, social media and was a contributor with one of Ireland’s leading health magazines acting as their ‘Relationship Expert.’ She has presented social media training courses around the country and keynotes at conferences on a variety of topics from Emotional Intelligence to emerging tech trends. Over the past years Carole has been sharing her knowledge with the best and the brightest in the travel industry. E carolesmith@synneo.ie W www.synneo.ie
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Dermot O’Brien — Dermot O’Brien & Associates Presentation: ‘Vat and travel — the challenges’
Hugh Jones — Co-founder, Sytorus Presentation: ‘Data protection — four good reasons to be compliant’
Having had the intention for a number of years of establishing an independent, specialist VAT practice, Dermot did exactly that in 2004, and the firm is now recognised as the leading independent practice in the country specialising in Indirect Tax. Their core functions include carrying out VAT reviews for a broad range of clients — primarily in the financial services, retail, travel and state sectors.
Hugh Jones is a co-founder of Sytorus Ltd, a specialised provider of Data Protection training and assessment services. With his colleagues, Hugh provides professional Data Protection guidance, and is a frequent speaker at Privacy and Data Management events in Ireland and overseas. Through Sytorus, Hugh offers both general and bespoke training to organisations in the areas of data management and regulatory compliance. As a certified practitioner, Hugh also supports organisations striving to achieve and maintain compliance with Irish and European Data Protection legislation. He directs projects to design and deploy appropriate data management policies and procedures in relation to data privacy, data quality and records retention, and conducts regular on-site assessments and process evaluations on behalf of his clients.
Author of the text “VAT on Property: Law and Practice”, which was published by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland in 2009, Dermot served as President of the Irish Taxation Institute in 2006-07. Responsibilities in this role included regular meetings with the Board of the Revenue Commissioners and senior officials in the Department of Finance on a range of tax policy issues. Dermot has also chaired the TALC Indirect Taxes sub-committee and remains a member of that sub-committee. (TALC is the Tax Administration Liaison Committee which includes representatives of tax practitioner groups and the Revenue Commissioners, and exists to improve the system of tax administration in Ireland.) Dermot is regularly engaged by the IMF as an expert adviser on VAT and Tax Administration and has provided assistance and advice to the Governments of Moldova, Montenegro, Kosovo, Lesotho and Swaziland.
Hugh can be contacted through Sytorus (Hugh.Jones@Sytorus.com), or by mobile on (+353 87) 241 6892
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Gavin Fox — Founder, Fox Marketing Presentation: ‘How to practice disruptive marketing’ Gavin Fox is Managing Director of Fox Marketing and has worked with some of Ireland’s leading brands and organisations, including Web Summit, Unilever, An Post, Irish Cancer Society, Volkswagen, Microsoft, Honeywell, among others. He has almost 20 years business experience, having previously held senior management roles in sales and marketing across three separate industries (electrical/electronic, sports, and print marketing). Gavin lectures in Marketing Strategy and Communications at National College of Ireland and Dublin Business School. He holds an MSc in Marketing (First Class Honours), having previously graduated from the Marketing Institute of Ireland. Gavin has written articles on marketing for The Sunday Business Post and Irish Marketing Journal. He is author of the book “Marketing Mate - The Essential Easy Guide to Marketing for Trades People”. He also writes a blog discussing smart marketing and how to practice it. Gavin believes the rules of marketing have changed dramatically in recent times. In the highly connected world we live in, consumers are exposed to more marketing and brand messages than at any time in history. Many of these messages will go unnoticed, as consumers have become extremely selective with what they give their attention to. Gavin is passionate about helping brands disrupt their audience in a way that not only gets them to notice their communication, but motivates them to think and act differently as a result. w www.foxmarketing.ie. E gavin@foxmarketing.ie 13
Ben Bouldin — Director of Sales UK & Ireland, Royal Caribbean International Presentation: ‘It’s worth the effort’ Ben Bouldin is Royal Caribbean International’s Director of Sales for UK & Ireland, where he heads up a 30 strong sales team, focused on deepening trade relationships and improving sales for the business. Ben and the Royal Caribbean leadership team are committed to growing the cruise category and dispelling the myths about cruising. In his short time in the business to date, he has doubled the size of the sales team and launched Royal Caribbean’s industry leading agency recognition programme ‘Club Royal’ — all key steps in building and rewarding strong trade relationships and helping convert more holiday makers to cruising. Prior to joining Royal Caribbean International in January 2014, Ben held a number of senior roles at PepsiCo International and so, as well as bringing fresh eyes to the travel industry, he has exceptional experience of working with high profile international brands. This big brand experience has enabled him to successfully build on Royal Caribbean’s existing industry-leading track record within the cruise sector and lead the sales team to new heights.
Brian Whelan — Country Manager Ireland & UK, Airhelp Presentation: ‘Passenger rights — regulation gone mad or a business opportunity?’ Brian is a communications consultant who evolved into an advocate for air travellers’ rights after spending ten years advising the Commission For Aviation Regulation. The giant gap between air passengers’ rights and their awareness of them is something that has bothered Brian since he first became the PR advisor to the Commission for Aviation Regulation (CAR) over 13 years ago. Between unreturned taxes, fees and charges (TFCs) for missed or unused flights and compensation for delayed or cancelled flights that goes uncollected, Brian estimates that airlines in Europe hold on to over €8 billion in funds that rightfully belong to passengers.
Brian founded www.airtaxback.com in 2012 to help passengers recover their unused TFCs and last year, Airtaxback joined forces with another champion of the consumer, www.airhelp.com who recover compensation for people whose flights have been delayed or cancelled. Brian is now Country Manager for Ireland and the UK for Airhelp and he works closely with travel agencies, tour operators and travel management companies, helping them to help their customers recover what is rightfully theirs.
Winning the contract to advise the CAR, he observed first-hand the transformation in the industry, as travel agent numbers declined, but passenger numbers rose. In the absence of agents to guide passengers through the small print of air travel, he argues, passengers are left at the mercy of airlines. “They are largely unaware of their rights and those that do try to pursue them are either ignored or bullied by airlines … sometimes both”.
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YOUR ENTERTAINMENT Everyone remembers different things about the 80’s. From perms to shoulder pads, Dallas to Bros, there’s a lot to be embarrassed about. But in among all the hairspray and spandex there were tunes – real tunes, killer tunes - tunes played by real bands, sung by awesome singers and they’re all buried in the back of your memory, just aching to be revived! On a mission to bring the real hits back, this band plays nothing but stone-cold classics. Rock your socks (and leg warmers!) off to incredible tunes those other bands are simply too afraid to tackle. Monster Hits is no ordinary 80’s band! Imagine a band made up of the best session musicians in the UK, with boundless energy and passion for what they do, performing your favourite hits and looking like they are having the best time of their lives doing so! They only play the hits that instantly get you on the dancefloor and keep you there all night! Collectively, the Monster Hits band members have played with an incredible range of artists, including Lady Gaga, The Darkness, Robert Plant, Belinda Carlisle, Huey Lewis, Nik Kershaw, Melanie C, Gareth Gates, Ronnie Wood, Martin Fry of ABC, The Drifters, Haircut 100’s Nick Heyward - and we’ve even got a star of BBC1’s The Voice on lead vocals!
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Fantastic conference again. Many thanks for another fantastic conference and a great weekend in Killashee. Thank you so very much to yourself and Bernie for what was an absolutely fantastic conference, probably the best I have ever attended.
Well done on another successful conference. Well what can we say! Another fantastic Conference this year and you have outdone yourselves yet again. 17
Absolutely Fantastic Dominic – you should take great pride in the effort you put into ensuring the conference is a success.
I just want to say a big thank you to you Bernie and the crew. This has to bé the best Conference that I have ever been at very well run and the best networking event. I know i have heard how good it is from you but wow it was amazing fab I really enjoyed it. Thank you so much to you and your crew no doubt I will bé back next year. You truly are the best at what you do. For us this was by far the best event and the careful planning and organisation was evident on the day...so well done to you all!
Congratulations on the huge success of the weekends conference and all the hard work you did to ensure it went as well as it did! We’re already looking forward to 2015 !!
Always an important date in the calendar and not to be missed. This year’s event was even bigger and better organized.
Saturday was brilliant loved the passports and with the stickers it worked really well for us on the stands and the agents themselves. 10 mins was prefect also. 18
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