Ian Taylor (Speaker)

On May 23, 2008 Ian Taylor became the youngest Irishman to stand on the top of the world. In June 2007 Ian and friend set out to climb four mountains on four continents in one year with Mount Everest being the final climb. Before June 2007 he had only climbed one mountain over 5,000m. Ian also took on a charity element, raising €70,000 to build the Mt. Everest primary school in Uganda with Irish charity Fields of Life.

From + 40c to – 40c Ian braved his own demons and the mountains. He saved a fellow climber’s life and four months after being told he wasn’t the right material for Everest by two professionals, he successfully made it to the summit of Mount Everest. This was a true story of teamwork, drive and ultimately success.

Based in the US and Ireland, Ian has years of experience of managing teams in a business environment. He also leads and trains teams for mountain expeditions around the world and has done so with great success. Ian has climbed Kilimanjaro 12 times now, aiming for 50 summits, he has lead hundreds of people to reach their goals in the mountains. A team Ian lead to Kilimanjaro in September 2011, just released a book about their journey.

In June 2009 Ian lead 14 novices to the summit of Mont Blanc “Astonishing, this is virtually unheard of ” – Simon Lowe Managing Director. Jagged Globe

Ian’s Everest DVD Documentary ‘ A Summit Calling ‘ is one to watch out for and he also has a book coming out on his amazing journey. ‘A story that needs to be told’ – Jim O’Dea

Ian is involved with the Ireland to Everest 2012 ascent of Mt. Everest, using his skills helping others achieve their dreams on Everest.

Ian has set up his own Trekking company Ian Taylor Trekking, training teams for their treks around the world. Ian is a team leader, motivational and Leisure consultant.

Orlaith Carmody – Speaker – “Making the Media Work for You”

Orlaith Carmody is Managing Director of Mediatraining.ie – a communications and management consultancy she set up in 1991 with Gavin Duffy – and a motivational speaker and commentator. A Journalism graduate, she wrote for national newspapers and magazines before moving into broadcast news reporting/producing first with LMFM and then with Century Radio. She was a senior staff journalist with RTE throughout the nineties, specialising in political reporting.

She was appointed to the Board of RTÉ by the Oireachtas Committee on Communications in December 2009, following public competition, to serve a five-year term, and joined the Board of the HRM Recruitment Group in 2011. She holds an MA in Film and Television from DCU and is a director of six separate SMEs.

Gareth Dunlop (Speaker & Judge)

Based on 15 years of direct commercial experience helping businesses use the internet more effectively, Gareth advises companies on how to get the most from the internet and how to get best value from their web and digital marketing agencies.

Previously Gareth was the MD of iON, a leading digital strategy and marketing company, headquartered in Belfast and with major clients in 15 countries. Prior to that he was theMD of Tibus, one of the largest and most successful web development agencies in Ireland, from 2002 to 2009 when it was sold to UTV Media. Since 1996, he has gained massive commercial experience advising blue chip clients in Ireland, UK and Europe(SPAR, DHL, Post Office UK, BBC) on internet strategy and best practice.

A former Board Member of the Irish Internet Association, and Chairman of WeddingsOnline.ie, Gareth writes & lectures extensively on internet related matters. He occupies regular columns in SiliconRepublic.com and the Irish Independent in the Republic of Ireland, and Business Eye magazine in Northern Ireland.

Bláithín O’ Reilly Murphy (Speaker & Judge)

Bláithín O’ Reilly Murphy is a Wedding Consultant & Author with over 8 years’ experience in the Wedding Industry. Until 2009 she ran the successful wedding consultancy Distinctive Weddings, under which she wrote her first wedding book; Distinctive Weddings; Tying the Knot without the Rope Burns. She now divides her time between a select number of Wedding Planning Clients, lecturing to Event Management & PR students, writing the successful blog, Wedding High, travelling in Ireland and Abroad on speaking engagements and on her latest project; ‘The Book More Brides Program’ which is aimed at helping Wedding Professionals dojust that! Bláithín is regularly quoted and featured in the media around the world, most notably on E! Online and the bestselling book ‘How to Start Your Own Business’ by Robert Ashton.

Mark Richardson – MIITD, MIMI (Speaker)

Director of Training & Recruitment Specialist

Mark has 20 years experience working in a variety of industry backgrounds and specialises in training, recruitment and business development. He is widely regarded as a one of Ireland’s top training professionals who brings incredible energy and passion to every project he engages with and has a tremendous ability to bring the very best out of people at every level. He is also highly regarded for his recruitment and interview skills, with a exceptional track record of identifying and developing talent.

Mark’s training career commenced working with Dale Carnegie Training and he is now Managing Director of the Europa Academy in Swords, which is an international conference and training center, also known as the home of The Apprentice TV series. He has designed and developed a ground-breaking training programme for sales specialists, aimed at creating a new breed of professional sales person. A former Executive Board Director of a National Company, Mark is an experienced professional working closely today with National/ International Corporations and SMEs, developing their people and their businesses.

Ian Dodson (Speaker)

Ian is the founder and Managing Director of the Digtal Marketing Institute.  He is also the Managing Director of WebKitchen.ie, a Web Design Firm he founded in 2005.

Ian has over 15 year experience in both IT and Sales having worked for SAP and Oracle Consulting.
Ian specialises in strategic guidance for organisations bringing products to market through the internet and has been instrumental in the growth of some ground breaking online businesses.

He is a graduate of the University of Limerick and is a regular lecturer and speaker on digital marketing topics.