Former Sawdoctor in line to ‘Ignite the West’ next week
Johnny Donnelly, ex-drummer with the Sawdoctors and the brains behind last year’s hugely successful celebrations surrounding the Volvo Ocean Race in Galway, will be in Westport on Friday night, May 7. to ‘Ignite the West’.
This new series of talks, which aim to showcase the region's resources of imagination and entrepreneurship, get underway at 8pm on May 7 at the The Mill Times Hotel.
Westport based ‘Ignite the West’ promoters Steve Daley and Dermot McCabe are bringing the Ignite formula, which has spread like wildfire across over 200 cities across the world, to the west of Ireland.
They describe ‘Ignite The West’ as a ‘cabaret event that harnesses our collective imagination to champion new business opportunities, inspiring lessons learned, ambitious social projects and some hilarious gibberish to make everyone laugh at breakneck speed’.
“Ignite aims to become the social event in the west's calendar for those who want to share new ideas over a beer; encapsulated in the Ignite motto: ‘Enlighten us, but make it quick’,” Steve told The Mayo News this week.
The concept is simply: speakers have five minutes to get their idea across - with twenty slides which revolve every 15 seconds on the screen. There’s no time for waffle. You have to get up there and tell your tale.
The promoters feel the range of speakers at the first ‘Ignite The West’ gig is ‘guaranteed to fire your imagination’ and the first name on the list is ex-drummer with the Saw Doctors, Johnny Donnelly.
He will be rattling off his personal story of Galway's Volvo Ocean Race stopover in 2009. As founder and managing director of event productions company Arcana, Johnny was responsible for the hugely successful celebrations that showcased Galway as an entertainment mecca second to none in the world.
UPDATE The line-up for Ignite the West continues to hot up, with the Centre for Design Innovation in Sligo’s Justin Knecht is now confirmed to speak. Knecht, a self-described design evangelist and entrepreneur, born in the US but brewed in Ireland since 2006, will be revealing how good design can help you find the perfect pint. Other now-confirmed speakers from the north west include creativity trainer Heather James; serial entrepreneur and social-media trainer Johnny Beirne of downloadmusic.ie; and telecoms and broadband evangelist David Mullins.
UPDATE Three more speakers have been confirmed for Ignite the West. Padraig McKeown, the man behind the national ‘save our country from economic ruin’ competition, Your Country Your Call, will speak on what makes a PR man tick. Inimitable brand guru Mark Conguista, Head of Interactive at Irish International BBDO and Proximity in Dublin, will deliver a presentation on marketing. Web technologist Alastair McDermott, a native of Newport, will be enlightening us on his own journey from programming geek to internet entrepeneur.
UPDATE The line up for Ignite the West continues to grow. Now on board is Mayo’s own Clare Carroll, who will share her vision for oddjobgiant, a new website that helps users to find local tradesmen for odd-jobs at home and in the office. Also signed up are furniture designers Alan Flannery and Colin Gannon, neither of whom take the world or themselves too seriously. Alan and Colin will showcase th ideas behind their new start-up Groove Furniture. Then Travis Zeray, founder of ClewBayOutdoors.ie, will whizz through his vision for outdoor tourism in Mayo.
UPDATE More speakers have been announced for Ignite the West, which takes place on Friday, May 7. Achill artist and surfer Shane Cannon will enlighten the audience about the zen of creativity. Local optician Clodagh McGovern will then take the floor and make a spectacle of herself. Other Mayo speakers will include Fintan Conlan (One Man and His Van), smart energy pioneer Colm Rochford of Powersavvy, and diet-book author Fiona Hoban.
Other speakers will be released over the coming days on www.mayonews.ie. For more information visit ignitethewest.com or the Ignite The West Facebook page
