Mr. Smiddy will speak along with Gavin Duffy of Dragons Den fame, Padraic O’Maille of O’Maille Group and David Duffy of The Economic and Social Research Institute.

Alf Smiddy

Alf is a chartered accountant by profession, having worked with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Cork and Dublin, and also at the most senior levels in the Irish and international beverage industry for over twenty years.

He was Chairman & CEO of Beamish & Crawford Plc for over twelve years, and on the Board and leadership team of Scottish & Newcastle (UK) Ltd (a FTSE 100 company, and the largest brewer and cider Group in the UK and Irish markets combined). He has also served in senior management and board roles across a broad range of other private and public sector enterprises in Ireland including the Cork Airport Authority, Cork Chamber, IBEC, and PLATO Ireland.

Alf is Chairman of Granite Consulting a digital marketing agency based in Cork., Quintas (Audit, Taxation, Wealth Management and Financial Services, and Quintas Energy), and of Eolas International Research Ltd.

He also runs his own company, Alf Smiddy & Company Ltd, which works with organisations in the private and public sectors in Ireland on organisational strategy, marketing and business development, and strategic financial

management.

“From Adversity to Success” – Failure is greatly underrated in this country.  Traditionally it has been perceived as a negative, odious and bad thing and to be avoided at all costs.  Imagine the consequences if every young baby grew up with this mindset. They’d never walk or talk and certainly wouldn’t ever become accountants.  All success is predicated upon layer after layer of failure. All high achievers understand implicitly that “failure is the breakfast of champions”.

“From Adversity to Success” therefore is firstly a seminar that reframes “Failure” as a temporary setback that provides the necessary learning, experience and wisdom that enables you to realise your full potential.

Secondly it presents 4 powerful strategies that can enable you to achieve your goals and ambitions faster and easier than you ever believed possible. Learn how to ‘FAIL’ spectacularly:

1. Focus on what you want.
2. Act massively in the direction of what you want.
3. Inspect what’s working and not working.
4. Learn continuously.

This conference is great value at €150 per person with the third place free with every two bookings.

For more details you can  download this brochure for the Chartered Accountants Cork Conference or contact Alf. Smiddy@granite.ie

For further information:

Mary Rose Desmond,
Regional Development Co-Ordinator,
Chartered Accountants Cork Society,
13 Ashwood,
South Douglas Road,
Cork.
Tel: 087 219 6935
Email: maryrose.desmond@charteredaccountants.ie

Leading Irish craft and design retailers, the Kilkenny Group have gone back to their roots with their newest venture, the Shanagarry Design Centre in east Cork.
Formerly the Stephen Pearce Centre, the 12,000 sq. ft. emporium has undergone a complete refurbishment and it was officially opened on Monday, May 31st by President of Cork Chamber of Commerce, Ger O’Mahoney.
Synonymous with promoting Irish design and quality Irish craftsmanship, the Kilkenny Group is owned and run by Cork business woman, Marian O’Gorman.
Set in a stunning location with a dramatic coastal backdrop, the gallery style Shanagarry Design Centre lends itself quite naturally to Kilkenny’s long tradition of supporting Irish art and crafts in action.

Alf Smiddy

The new Design Centre represents the expanding company’s eighth Irish store with outlets in Cork city, Dublin, Galway, Killarney and Cashel as well as a hugely successful online sales website (www.kilkennyshop.com)
The Shanagarry Design Centre offers customers the wide range of beautifully crafted pottery and accessories, jewellery and fashion, homeware and gifts for all occasions that the Kilkenny shops are renowned for.
Customers can browse through the collections of designers such as Orla Kiely, Alan Ardiff, Louis Mulcahy, Rachel Allen and Jack O Patsy, to name but a few, while soaking up the creative atmosphere of the Centre.
New to Kilkenny at the Design Centre is an exclusive children’s clothing and toy department with adorable fashions from Nicki B and Little Lily/Calla Lily and toys and books from Tractor Ted, Nino Toys and Think Pink Blue 2. Ideal for that truly unique kiddies gift!
The Shanagarry Design Centre houses six design studios where members of the public can observe at firsthand local artists creating their handcrafted pieces.

The new cafe at the Centre offers high quality, locally sourced food with fresh fish from Ballycotton, locally smoked salmon, meat and fruit and vegetables. The food is freshly prepared every day by Head Chef Frank Bouille. The menu includes home-made breads, cakes and scones; a selection of seasonal hot and cold dishes cooked to order and a tempting variety of mouth-watering desserts.

Speaking at the official opening, CEO of the Kilkenny Group, Marian O’Gorman said: “We are very excited about this, our latest development.It is a unique venture, the only one of its kind in the South of Ireland. East Cork is renowned for its creativity and as Kilkenny’s core ethos is promoting Irish craft and design, we believe this centre is the perfect location to showcase the best of both local and national talent. Our vision is to make the SDC a centre of excellence for Irish arts and crafts and we intend to work closely with the Craft Council of Ireland to achieve this.”

Ms O’Gorman welcomed newly appointed non-executive director, Alf Smiddy to the Kilkenny board saying he would be a great addition to the company.

“Kilkenny is a 100% Irish family owned retail company with eight stores now opened nationwide. These are difficult times for all retailers throughout Ireland, but we in Kilkenny are bucking the trend by expanding our company and taking on new challenges. We feel hugely positive about the future of Kilkenny as we adapt and grow to meet the increasing challenges of these changing times,” she said.
Ms O’Gorman said her ambition was to continue to grow and develop this
wonderful location into one of Cork’s most popular destinations for locals and visitors alike.
The Shanagarry Design Centre is open seven days a week. For further information about the Shanagarry Design Centre, the Kilkenny stores nationwide and the website, go to www.kilkennyshop.com

Google took action in early 2007 to change the results page, when one of the first high profile Google bombs returned George Bush’s official Whitehouse page as the first result for searches for “miserable failure”.

A Google bomb is defined as  an attempt to raise the ranking of a given page in results from a Google search, “often with humorous or political intentions.”
Using Search engine optimisation techniques and a steely determination, the Google algorithm can be fooled temporarily into prominently ranking such high profile pages for terms that have nothing to do with them. Such pages will already have a very high pagerank based on their high profile content and are ranked quickly for unrelated terms by being associated with the Google bomber’s chosen search term in the anchor text of links to the site.

The image below shows Barack Obama’s official Whitehouse page ranking at #1 for “wh0 is failure”. While Google took steps to remove the Presidential page from “failure” searches, it appears that some variations of the search are still getting through the filter. In Obama’s  defence, it is possible that, as the incumbent, he has inherited the ranking from the previous Google bombing of George Bush depending on how it was targeted rather than being the target of a new campaign.

1. The West Cork Hotel’s new website is now live.

2. Industrial Infrared heater manufacturer, Ceramicx Ireland has unveiled a new logo to put the finishing touches to the design of their new website.

3. Cork Contract Cleaning Company, Xcell Cleaning, merged with Ben Price services

4. Cork Auctioneers, Denis A. Barrett, have moved offices to 81 South Mall.

5. Ireland Travel specialists, myguideIreland, have launched a new range of escorted coach tours

see you next week!

We are looking for a Web Developer and IT Engineer who are passionate about their profession and looking for an exciting new challenge in a rapidly growing company.

So if you want to join a growing and energetic company then find out more at careers at Granite Consulting .

Google Sync allows users to synchronize their contacts, and other information, with Google’s Web-based services such as Gmail. Google Sync works with a vast range of phones including Apple’s iPhone, Windows Mobile phones, BlackBerry, and also phones from Motorola, Sony Ericsson and Nokia.

While initially we will be focussing on the areas of search engine marketing,  IT Services, Grant funding and Website development, Granite Consulting also offers services such as Marketing outsourcing. Marketing Outsourcing is an innovative service for SME’s that would like to hire someone of high calibre but their budgets will not allow.
Rather than hiring someone full-time, outsource your needs and only pay for the time spent actually working on your brand. With our service you will get strategic thinking from a qualified MBA who has worked with a number of Blue-chip organisations.
In fact this division will be staffed only with people who have experience working in blue-chip well known companies and have either an MBA or have spent time on the board of directors of a publicly listed PLC.

An article on CNN.com today outlines car manufacturers’ plans for integrating computer systems with their vehicles in 2009. Motor industry executives hope the new technological bells and whistles will put some sizzle back into stagnant vehicle sales. The plans range from a system that warns motorists when they drift out of lane to a fully functional dashboard computer. Read more at CNN.com…….