Derry-based 360 Production Hits the Beeb

360 Production’s series Digging for Britain starts BBC2 this Thursday.

Cast Your Vote in the Digital Circle Elections

If you’re a member of Digital Circle PLEASE make sure to cast your vote in the steering group elections.

The candidates include:

• Alan Anderson, Blue Tube Design and Creative Boom Belfast
  
• Ryan Adams, Future Media Delivery Team, BBC Online, Northern Ireland
  
• Caroline Connor, Business Development Manager @ Culture Northern Ireland
  
• Martin Gilchrist, Referalot Ltd, Gilchrist & Co (NI) LLP
  
• Mary McKenna, Learning Pool
  
• Ian Sayers, Giant Associates
  
• Matthew Scott, Digital Director, Ten Alps Vision, Ten Alps PLC

And as I’m sure you’ve noticed, there’s even one from the NW!

Derry Gets Its First Digital Champion

After a packed day of interviews on Tuesday, the Digital Derry project have appointed the city’s first Digital Champion – me.

There were some pretty cool people in for it so I’m kinda chuffed and looking forward to getting stuck in. Things don’t kick off officially for another week or so but it’s fair to say that there’s a helluva lot on the agenda.

First off, I’ll need to buy a costume and cape to go with the job title (underpants on the outside is apparently optional). After that, I’ll be sitting down with members of the digital action team (which includes some great local businesses alongside UU, NWRC, DCC, ILEX, LCC and any other acronym you can think of) to start planning what we’re going to do.

What I’m really interested in though is making the entire process as open and inclusive as possible.

As you might expect, I’ll be blogging just about everything as we go (with a new website to come) but I’m also keen to meet with absolutely anyone who’s interested in digital content in Derry and the NW. In short, we’re open for business and open to ideas.

I’ll put together a proper post soon – to fill you in a little on what the broad plans are for Digital Derry – but in the mean time, feel free to give me a shout anytime on Twitter, Facebook or by email.

Mark Nagurski

(NB: Any suggestions for a better job title will be warmly appreciated)

Network Jam – Small but Perfectly Formed

A huge thanks to Stephen Brown, Sharon Hearty et al for organising Network Jam at the CoLab in Letterkenny on the weekend.

It wasn’t a huge event in terms of numbers (say about 30 people in attendance) but it was one of the most enjoyable entworking events I’ve been to in months.

A relaxed, informal atmosphere. Plenty of free space and time to get to know people. Nice sandwiches. A diverse crowd. And all peppered with some good talks. What else could you ask for.

Officially, the point of the day was to kick off Business In Action, a ‘user-generated’ cross border networking project akin to the successful Dundalk / Newry business club.

Which makes a lot of sense. Letterkenny is just 20 minutes down the road and yet we’re often more willing to look to Belfast as our greatest opportunity to network outside of Derry.

I’m looking forward to seeing how Business In Action develops and helping out however I can. If you’re interested in getting involved, make sure to drop them a line.

Network Jam – Sat, March 6th, Letterkenny

Network Jam
Saturday, March 6th,
CoLab, Letterkenny (Here)

Kick off: 9:30 am
Cost: FREE

More info: www.businessinactionnetwork.com
Register: www.eventelephant.com/Networkjam

Network Jam takes place on Saturday 6th March 2010, in the CoLab,
Letterkenny. Organised by ‘Business in Action’; a new cross-border ‘user
generated’ networking group the event is designed to be a “refreshing
approach to networking with other small to medium sized businesses on both sides of the border”.

Running from 9:30am to 4pm, this one-day workshop will feature a range of talks from entrepreneurs and professionals who are successfully engaged in cross-border business from both the service and commercial sectors.

These are all small to medium sized business people ready to share their
knowledge about how they have grown their business by working with their neighbour county in the North or vice versa.

There’ll also be a contingent from the highly successful ‘user generated’
Dundalk/Newry Business Club discussing how they have created a successful network of “People Doing Business with People”.

Pop it in your diary as a prefect opportunity to meet new people, share
experiences and challenges, take away new ideas and, most importantly,
some fruitful new contacts.

You can register by visiting
www.businessinactionnetwork.com

How I Lost the Derry Business Awards

The Derry Business Awards took place on Friday night at the City Hotel – and despite a few nominations for OpenCoffee folk, I can officially announce that:

• I am not Derry’s Business of the Future
• Donal Doherty is not the Entrepreneur of the Year
• Donal’s Foyle Fashion Week is not the Tourism Initiative of the Year

Despite the bitter sting of defeat, a few sociable beers eased the pain and a good night of drunken schmoozing was had by all.

Maybe we should start our own awards?

(And congrats to Donal for the two nods!)

Huge Congratulations to Learning Pool!

Derry-based eLearning company Learning Pool announced a 5-year multi-million pound deal to provide online procurement training in association with the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS).

The company will start rolling out the suite of products to the public sector in South Africa and neighbouring regions early next year.

Obviously it’s great news for Learning Pool, but it’s also a great demonstration of how regionally-based businesses can compete – and win – on a global scale.

Congratulations all ’round!

Two Derry Events Worth a Look

For those of you interested in online marketing (which should be everyone) or making the best use of your intellectual property, there are two InvestNI events taking place in Derry next week that you need to check out.

Online Marketing Workshop

Tuesday, June 16 – City Hotel – 9:30am to 4:30pm

“The workshops will allow participants to interact directly with the Speaker and delegates will learn about current SEO techniques applicable to their specific business. Attendees will also increase their awareness of Pay-per-click advertising, learning how to plan, setup and monitor online advertising campaigns that bring real results.”

The last time I checked, this one is currently booked out (a good sign) but you can still register for a standby seat.

Register here

Intellectual Property: Protect and Exploit it in the Digital, Film, TV and Music Business

Wednesday, June 17 – Magee Campus – 8:30am to 1:30pm

“Most businesses generate their own intellectual property.  In the development stage of any product it is important to ensure that you do not infringe any third party copyright and your intellectual property is fully protected.  Creative individuals and businesses should, therefore, be protecting their designs, brands, logos, software and content creations.”

In other words, if you’re in the business of creating anything you need to be there. And, it’s a great lineup of speakers including

• ELearning guru Donald Clark,
• Derry’s own Andrew Ferris from music label Small Town America,
• iPhone app developer Malcom Barclay,
• Marice Cumber – Director and Founder of Own-IT,
• Matthew Forde – Media and IP lawyer, Forde Campbell LLP,
• Davy Sims – former BBC producer
• and Stuart Worthington – Leading Authority on Music Management.

I’ll most certainly be there and hope to see you too.

Register here

Who’s Blogging in Derry and the North West?

I had a conversation last night with the better half about the (apparent) lack of bloggers in Derry and the North West in general. It followed a similar conversation with one of the editors from the Derry News last week.

So, I thought it would be worth the effort to compile a list of the few Derry / NW bloggers that I am aware of and invite anyone I’ve missed to add themselves to the list.

Derry Bloggers / NW Bloggers

• Me (Mark Nagurski) at iddictive.com and reallypractical.com and a whole mess of clients websites
• Donal Doherty podcasting at ConverseBusiness.co.uk
• Jase Bell at jasebell.co.uk and thisislimavady.co.uk
• The LearningPool team at learningpool.com/blog and elearninglounge.com
• Chamber of Commerce (a bit out of date)
• Local writer and journo Claire Allan has one (good), as does Derry Journal editor Martin McGinley
• The Derry News uses a blog format to (it seems) repurpose articles from the paper

I know there must be more, so please add any you know of (including your own) in the comments below ….