03.23.07

Spring

Posted in Feminism at 2:49 pm by Sarah

has indeed sprung – be sure to buy the ST on Sunday to read first hand my thoughts on the subject

Busy again this week. I spoke at the IIA gig on Wednesday in the Shelbourne. A most enjoyable and informative evening though I have mixed feelings about the redecoration of the hotel. The lobby is gorgeous and removing the lift is a great move. The Lord Mayor’s Lounge and the Horseshoe Bar (not that I ever drank in it anyway – 55+ rich loud wankers in it most of the time – and yes they are still there) look perfect but the bar the bar, oh woe. Remember the old bar that looked out on Kildare St? Well they punched through the wall into what was the No. 27 Restuarant so its now much bigger – which is good – but its all VERY shiny and black and crystal. The old place was a bit dingy. I feel like I couldn’t go into the new bar unless I was seriously dressed up whereas in the old bar you could wear jeans. Only question remains is what the bedrooms are like? I think I won’t get to see them. When M and I make rare overnight trips to town we stay in the Merrion and I love its cosy atmosphere. I can’t see myself jumping ship.

Anyway, the speeches. Funny thing was how Tom Murphy and I were talking about separate things (he on how blogging effects PR, me on how blogging effects journalism). We both came to two similiar conclusions: all talk of blogging being disruptive to either is bullshit. The mainstream media continues to drive the agenda and while PR and newspapers need to keep an eye on blogs, the old rules still fundamentally apply. Secondly, any attempt by either the corporates or the newspapers to muscle in on blogging will only work if they are willing to freely participate. The social dynamic of bloggging is key.

Richard Delevan made brilliant use of power point (I felt very antidiluvian by bringing a speech although several people did say afterwards it was nice to hear someone talk without having to look at a screen at the same time..but am not entirely convinced!) Anyway, he was talking about how de young people, while seen as wasters by their seniors because they’ve been reared on text messaging and Bebo, actually have excellent qualities that employers could use. He said that these digital natives have a gaming approach to life (thinking about strategy all the time), they are rankers and raters, they are authors and…something else…multitaskers? Anyway, it was a really interesting approach and most enjoyable.

TJ McIntyre in the confident style of the practised advocate which I love, scared the SHITE out of me and everyone else about all the innocent little ways we can get ourselves sued as a result of our online activities.

Oh and everyone referenced Twenty Major which was funny and thanks to Twenty, I got to use the word cunt in my speech. That’s a first.

Then last night I was out too (you know, I think I am developing a social life – its quite strange getting used to leaving the house in the evening) at a charity gig in Barberstown Castle. The tickets were €200 EACH so I was extremely relieved when the organiser promised that not one penny was going on administrative costs. It’s an organisation set up by Java Republic and O’Brien’s Sandwich Bars CEO’s David McKiernan and Fiachra Nagle, with other hobnobs like solicitor Philip Lee on board. The upshot is that when they were out buying coffee in Ethiopia they stayed over night at the village instead of flying in and out as is normal and when they saw the condition of the water supply they were appalled. The water is a mud rain water pond into which everything from dead animals to faeces is dumped. The result is that the people have all kinds of terrible diseases which clean water would save them from. The best water supply is 4 miles away so they are going try and get this village clean water. Fiachra is a friend of ours, which is how we heard about the event. Oh some of the coffee buyers I have spoken to are not all that gone on Fair Trade coffee. They reckon there is still a lot of middle management taking a generous slice and that the fixed price deal actually works against the growers when the price of coffee goes up. They think its better to buy direct and just be ethical about the source.

The thing about attending these events though is the shock at how much money some people have. The place was jammed – they’d had to turn away several tables and the auction on the night was robust and saw tens of thousands more raised. Plus there was a silent auction and plus there was a raffle – with tickets at €25 a go and most people bought two. For instance, one man bought a giant chocolate egg for 2k and was going to give it to a children’s hospital and his 2k went to the charity. I’d say they cleared €150k on the night – and that was a Thursday night. These events are going on every weekend. Some of them I despise because you know there are a lot of people making money out of them, but as I say this one had no costs attached.

And I got to re-wear a ball-dress I bought years ago. Fourth outing, all to different audiences. You see, it WAS an investment.

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