Increased outside and local interest in Digital Week

TICKET sales for National Digital Week, which takes place in Skibbereen this week, shows that more than 50% of the people attending the three-day event will be coming from outside the South West Region. 

Grainne Dwyer, CEO of Ludgate Skibbereen, confirmed that the percentage of sales to non-locals is up by 20% on last year’s figures.

‘This is the second year of National Digital Week,’ said Grainne, who explained that the inaugural event attracted 1,600 attendees and proved to be a sell-out success across all events, and went on to win the Cork Conference Ambassador Award.

‘This year will be bigger and better,’ she said, with one of this year’s top attractions being the Google Digital Garage at the Lady’s Well Brewery, where the company will be offering a one-to-one clinic for small and medium enterprises, start-ups, and businesspeople, looking to enhance their digital presence.

The admission cost to all of the entertainment will be included in the cost price of the tickets this year – all of which will be on Google Stage in the Daly Building at the West Cork Hotel.

The three-day event – from Thursday, November 10th to Saturday, November 12th – continues to attract big name speakers from Uber, Airbnb and just eat, as well as international Cork start-ups.

Other high profile speakers include Pat Kenny of Newstalk, who will be the MC on Saturday, as well as the RTÉ business editor, David Murphy, and Bobby Kerr, also of Newstalk, who will be broadcasting live from Skibbereen on Saturday.

Anyone who attended last year’s event was utterly impressed by the size, scale and scope of the event and the fact that it covered all aspects from finance to farming. The day dedicated to women in enterprise was also hugely popular, and influential, in terms of promoting diversity in business.

At that event, Anne O’Leary, the CEO of Vodafone Ireland, succinctly summed up National Digital Week when she said: ‘We are witnessing a digital community in the making.’