IBN Event Geneva: Thanks to all who attended!

Angelina Jolie’s virtual guest appearance could have been the highlight of last week’s Swiss Irish Business Network event in Geneva, but presentations by online video interviewing and screening company Sonru and professional English-language training company Nations, were what attracted the 30 strong crowd to the second SIBN event of the Lake Geneva region.

Hosted in the creative offices of marketing communications group Young & Rubicam Group Geneva, CEO Marcus Brown opened the event with some insight into the Group’s nine integrated agencies, ranging from Public Relations and Social Media (global PR agency Cohn & Wolfe) to Brand Consultancy and Advertising (Y&R).The 2012 UNHCR World Refugee Day campaign, fronted by Angelina Jolie was a great example of one of the recent communication campaigns from the agency. More information on the agency here: www.yrbc.com

Manus Rooney from Enterprise Ireland spoke about the work Enterprise Ireland is doing to support Irish companies abroad. He was accompanying three Irish companies to Geneva, for whom he and his team had set up a meeting with 30 buyers from Swiss and international companies, opening the door for them to pitch their offering. He showed the group an inspiring film clip demonstrating the breadth of innovation of Irish companies today.

Sonru (www.sonru.com) CEO Fergal O’Byrne fielded lots of questions related to his online technology, which were continued in the networking session after his presentation. Ivan Kearns, founder of Nations (www.nationstraining.com) explained his company’s focus, as well as discussing trends and challenges in English-language training today.

Finally Irish Ambassador to Switzerland Martin Burke reiterated Ireland’s strong export growth and his support for efforts like the Swiss Irish Business Network, in facilitating knowledge exchange and export opportunities across the Irish business community.

The SIBN would like to thank the speakers, Ambassador and all who attended for their active participation during the evening. Ideas for the next event or offers to host the next session are most welcome!