I'm not sure that these images can convey the In Hand Guides to you as well as actually holding one of them in your hand can do. It's like having your own MP3 player giving you a personalised tour of wherever you are. According to inventor and promoter Trevor Winckworth, "In Hand Guides offer a new concept to promote city tourism - hand-held audio guides to the cities of Cork, Dublin and Galway. The credit card sized guides are self-players with a built-in speaker and are accompanied by a map, information card and a wrist strap." We have a few samples in the office and they're really the business! And we can see a huge demand for them for conferences and other tourism. Trevor tells us that: The devices store and present digitised speech in any language and have a wide range of potential applications in the areas of Tourism, Corporate advertising, Health information and Gift merchandising.

The four visitors guides and their package are an ideal guide/gift to visitors coming to Ireland or the relevant cities. For the small organizer of events it makes the perfect promotional gift, with a business card added to the package. The guides can also be sold to attendees or could be loaned out. The audio guides can be tailored to suit the needs of museums, heritage centres or public attractions, to mention but a few. In Hand Guides can provide a complete audio service from script preparation to audio production in most languages. For more information about the tailored service, contact Managing Director Trevor.

In Hand Guides are also just about to launch their website, www.inhandguides.ie, which will be up and running by the end of January. We have had a sneak preview and can warmly recommend a visit! For sales enquiries, general enquires or further information please use the following contact details: In Hand Guides Ltd, 14 Castlepoint Court, Camden Rd, Crosshaven, Cork.
Managing Director: Trevor J. Winckworth; Mobile/Cell: 353 (0)87 2313285 Office: 353 (0)21 4833720; Sales Enquiries: sales@inhandguides.ie; General Enquiries: info@inhandguides.ie

We love Michelle Bailly - her good humour and positive attitude just shine through and can't help but put you in a good mood. So we were delighted to hear that she has come up with a new concept to help us make the most of our most precious instrument - our voices!

Drawing on her vast experience in TV, theatre, singing, and corporate T&D, Michelle bridges performing arts methods with practical solutions promising to entertain as much as educate you. Her clients include First Trust Bank, Guinness, Dennys, Nortel and FAS. See www.michellebailly.com for more.

'The Voice Clinics' begin at 7:30 am with light breakfast and opportunity to network, followed by a 1 hour session of vocal discovery. It is designed for anyone whose results depend on their ability to influence others.

The first Clinic is Monday, February 18th, 2008 - Room 103, National College Ireland, IFSC, Dublin. A west coast event will follow shortly.

As this is a ‘taster’ event, it is complimentary for NEO members. Numbers are limited though, so please respond quickly! Contact Michelle at 091 638838 or michelleATmichellebailly.com (replace the AT with an @ symbol) Come and experience your true vocal abilities! What’s the worst that can happen....a little less sleep one day? And the best that can happen…..?

No, that's not a curse - it's a genuine congratulations to Pat Delaney and Padraig Gilligan on being invested with the Order of Inisfallen in recognition of their efforts to promote the region of Kerry (we originally wrote to promote Kerry and then thought better of it in case you might be confused with the presidential type) and Irish Tourism. And much deserved, in our opinion - as for the fourth consecutive year, Ovation has been listed amongst the top 25 DMCs in the world. The prestigious “Special Events Magazine” (December 2007) recognises Ovation as holder of the ‘dominant position’ in the DMC marketplace in Europe, one of only two non US companies to be mentioned.

Many of you hoped to come along to the introductory session for the brand spanking new Events Industry Skillnet on January 15th - for those of you who didn't make it, we asked Grainne O'Reilly, the new Events Industry Skillnet network manager for a download...

Some great ideas emerged from this, such as “I’m a Celebrity, Get me Into There” focusing on celebrities learning new skills - Ronan O’Gara learning ballet for example, and “Learn your Skills in a Flash”. Some other suggestions included hot air balloon rides, Cirque du Soleil performances and other fantastic visual themes.

Congratulations to the joint-winning teams for the media launch task: the TransEuropean All-Stars and Tickled Pink. An additional well done to Juddy Sheema of Signature Speednetworking on her spot-prize win.

A big thanks goes to our sponsors Eventznet and Sumo Multimedia for their support and impressive Audio Visual for the evening. I would also like to thank the lovely Clarion, IFSC and their staff for all their help with the event. A special mention goes to Clare Brady and Julie Mullane, DIT students, who lent us a hand on the night.