Entrepreneurs, innovators and people with ideas in the West region are invited to get involved as both speakers and learners for an upcoming conference with a difference.
Organised by entrepreneurs, for entrepreneurs, Bizcamp Galway on September 11 is the first event of its kind to be held here in the west . Based in NUI Galway, the day -ong event follows the model set by previous events held in Dublin, and most recently Limerick with great success.
Dave Kelly, Director of Ambient Age and one of the Bizcamp West organisers, said: “With growing unemployment rates, we rely on the successes of innovators and entrepreneurs for our future economic success and prosperity. We are asking people from the West to come to Bizcamp and learn and share from each other.”
“The Bizcamp event is deliberately not about sales pitches, we want to hear about skill sets you wish to share, to lessons learned, to valuable experiences gained within your business.”
Bizcamp already has an exciting panel of speakers lined up, but organisers still want to hear from people in the region who would like to present a short talk.
Speakers will give a 20-minute presentation, with 10 minutes for open discussion, on a topic of their choice. Bizcamp is not necessarily a ‘techy’ event and topics will vary from starting your own business, to marketing, to presentation skills, to design, finance, web and social networking and stress management.
Members of the business community, VC’ and angel investors, as well as representatives from the relevant state agencies, will also be there on the day to share their experiences and provide the necessary information to guide fledgling entrepreneurs in the right direction.
Continuing the theme of innovation and entrepreneurship, Michael Fitzgerald, founder of OnePageCRM.com and a Bizcamp organiser states “Bizcamp is all about encouraging, mentoring and supporting innovative and ambitious business ventures.
“There’s so much going on in the areas of technology, medical devices and industry in general in the West of Ireland right now. It’s a really exciting time, and we wanted to provide a platform for entrepreneurs to meet with new people outside their main circles to share and learn from each other.”
You can register online to be a speaker or attendee at www.bizcamp.ie/galway
Bizcamp organisers
Dave Kelly, Ambient Age
Dave Kelly set up and runs Galway-based web design and development company, Ambient Age. When not designing and building websites that make life easier for clients and their customers, he is working to complete mybeautyboss.com, a web application to help owners of small beauty businesses. Dave previously worked as a researcher in Information Systems and part-time lecturer in web development.
Michael Fitzgerald, FitzDesign
A design engineer by trade and problem solver by nature, his career has taken him from designing equipment for testing Olympic athletes to the development of consumer products for multinational companies. Now running his own successful web development and marketing business www.FitzDesign.ie, he has brought with him the emphasis on usability, design and build quality – which is reflected in the company’s award winning SaaS web applications www.OnePageCRM.com and www.SwiftAccounts.ie
Paul Killoran, Starlight Solutions
Founder and managing director of Starlight Solutions, Paul started life as an engineer before traveling to London to train in dance. It was there that the fusion between the logical and the creative happened - Starlight was born. Today, Paul and the rest of his explorers create web apps and animation. They're currently building Starolas - a web application for managing academic conferences. They've also created animation for TV and film.
Mark Campbell
Founder and CEO of 3D medical multimedia company eMedia, Mark is an experienced user-centered designer with a passion for interactive multimedia design, and design-led innovation. Mark and his team assist life science and medical companies communicate the benefits of their medical technologies to patients, investors and clinicians using 3D visualisations, and more recently have developed a range of innovative mobile health education software apps called PocketAnatomy - 3D interactive human body apps for the iPhone and iPad.
