Strivers welcome Christmas

Last night Strive PR hosted a Christmas party for our  Isle of Man clients, associates and the media in our offices on Strand Street.  Thanks to everyone who came out to make our night a great success (and quite a bit of fun!).  And best wishes for the festive season to those of you who [...]

Blackberry pro? Are you sure?

Like many people, I’ve grown pretty dependent on my Blackberry since I first got it last year. I use it as a phone, for email, as a diary, to access Facebook and Twitter.  But also like many people I’m probably using less than ten per cent of it’s capability.
But I intend to change that  this [...]

Reader competition winner

Twice a year we publish a hard copy newsletter, Insight, for our Isle of Man-based clients, associates and friends.  The most recent issue was distributed in September with a reader competition which asked people to identify mobile tag image for what it was.
I was pleased to draw Carrick Financial’s Stephen Burdett’s name out of the [...]

Strive PR’s November e-newsletter

If you’re not using  RSS and newsfeeds, we publish a monthly e-newsletter just for you. So you can still get our news and information about media, marketing and communications, delivered to your in box.
If you are using RSS to get  Strive Notes and don’t wish to receive the newsletter, feel free to send a message [...]

Thirdthursday gains momentum

The Isle of Man Social Media ThirdThursday initative is gaining strength.  Yesterday we had a record turn out with 13 of us meeting at Paparazzi in Douglas to talk about blogging, Facebook, LinkedIn and social media in general.   The whole idea behind ThirdThursday is that in terms of social media and Web 2.0, if you [...]

Isle of Man Junior Chamber NLP seminar

I was lucky enough a few years ago to spend some time investigating Neuro Linguistic Programming and how it can improve personal efficacy and deal with workplace issues.  That’s why I wholeheartedly encourage everyrone to attend tomorrow’s Isle of Man Junior Chamber of Commerce seminar on NLP.
Speaker Justin Tipper, Certified Trainer of NLP has been [...]

Google your way

Every month the folks at the British Computer Society Isle of Man section invites everyone to a seminar where information technology, how people use it and the industry that surrounds it is discussed.
Last month Andy Orton, managing director of Dotperformance, an Isle of Man-based digital agency, spoke about search engine marketing.
Andy’s been in business for [...]

Don’t forget ThirdThursday

Fourteen people have confirmed that they will be attending the Isle of Man Social Media Club ThirdThursday meet up on 20 November.  Nine more have said maybe! It seems that this idea is gaining momentum.
ThirdThursday is an international movement whereby folks who are interested in social media get together to talk about trends, tools, initiatives, [...]

Awards For Excellence in the Isle of Man

I’ve been to dozens of awards dinners over the years and on the whole they are generally either very tedious affairs or very boozy parties, depending on whether you’ve won an award.
Last night I had the opportunity to attend the Awards for Excellence gala in Douglas, Isle of Man.  This was not your run of [...]

Junior Chamber: Mount Everest climber to tell his story

Tonight  in the Garden Room at the Sefton Hotel, Douglas, come meet Phil Drowley, the first Manxman to conquer Mount Everest.
Speaking after his two-and-a-half month climb, he said: ‘The view from the top of the planet was truly awe-inspiring and humbling.  I am immensely proud to be the first person from the Isle of Man [...]

BCS: Introducing ManxWiki

Tonight the the BCS Isle of Man section is hosting an event about the ManxWiki.
A wiki is a page or collection of Web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content, using a simplified markup language. Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites and to power community websites. Our [...]

Junior Achievement Isle of Man

I had the opportunity to meet up with a bunch of students from Ballerkameen High School in the Isle of Man earlier this week.  They are taking part in the Junior Achievement company programme and wanted to learn about how PR could fit into their marketing mix.  I was impressed with the quality of question [...]

Connecting women in business in the Isle of Man

Yesterday I attended a meeting organised by the Isle of Man Business and Innovation Centre. The purpose was to discuss connecting women in business on the Island.  A healthy crowd of female entrepreneurs came out to discuss the possiblity of creating formal network.
Jo Dobson, director of strategic relationships at Coventry University Enterprise was on hand [...]

IoM blogging successes

The Isle of Man blogosphere growing (slowly but surely). And this week has seen two highlights.  First of all, Derek ‘The Bandit’ Richardson’s excellent South African tech podcast, Switched On, featured quite a long discussion about life (and technology) in the  Isle of Man.
Also, my blogging friend from the North, Babooshka of the Ramsey Daily [...]

A quantum of solace for IoM

Ok! Enough of all the optimism. I’ve been trying to keep these columns focused on the positive stories about the technology sector, but it seems silly to continue to ignore the biggest story of year: the economy.
In fact, even Bank of England Governor Mervin King has finally used the dreaded ‘R’ word and the impact [...]

BCS IoM Masterclass: SEO

Venue:   Ballakermeen High School, Douglas
Date:      Wednesday 29th October 2008
Speaker:  Dotperformance
Time:       Doors opened at 18:00 for an 18:30 start.
Web site visibility – the ease with which potential customers or visitors can find a web site among a myriad of competitors – is a crucial factor in a site’s success or failure. Hundreds of new websites are [...]

Ta for ThirdThursday

Thanks to everyone who came out last night to the Isle of Man Social Media Club’s ThirdThursday meet up. I was a bit disorganised in setting it up and so we were a week late, but eight social media enthusiasts showed up, and we had an interesting discussion, nonetheless.  Check out Owen’s blog for pix [...]

Third (Fourth) Thursday October

Just a note to let everyone know there will be a meeting of the Isle of Man Social Media club this Thursday at 18.00 at Paparazzi in Douglas.
The club’s credo is ‘if you get it, share it’. And that’s what these get togethers are all about.  Anyone with an interest in Facebook, blogging, Twitter, LinkedIn [...]

It’s not ThirdThursday!

Well actually it is ThirdThursday and we should be having a meeting of the Isle of Man Social Media Club today. But with all the travelling I’ve been doing lately, it kind of sneaked up on me.  I only just realised a minute ago that today should be the day. So what should we do? [...]

eBusiness in the Isle of Man

I’ve always thought that the Isle of Man is a paradox. The Island prides itself on its Victorian heritage and cleaves to technologies of yesteryear with the electric and steam trains along with horse-drawn trams and the Laxey Wheel.
And at the same time it showcases some of the best telecommunications and IT infrastructures in [...]

BCS expert on world class IT services

The British Computer Society Isle of Man section kicked off this season’s calendar of events with an excellent presentation by author Peter Wheatcroft who discussed world class IT services delivery.
It was quite a coup for the Isle of Man section to get Peter to visit our shores.
He’s a much sought after speaker and consultant and [...]

The Claremont’s new conference facilities

Had a great time at the Claremont Hotel in Douglas tonight.  They are launching their newly refurbished conference facilities and a new state-of-the-art boardroom facility and invited people to come along to take a look and have a taste of the menu on offer.  The facilities are really great…fantastic IT infrastructure and presentation kit. The [...]

Strive PR’s September e-newsletter

We’ve published an e-newsletter for those who may not be using  RSS and newsfeeds, but would still be interested in reading our news and information about media, marketing and communications.
If you’re getting  Strive Notes via RSS and don’t wish to receive the newsletter, just send a message and we’ll remove you from the list. Or, [...]

Isle of Man welcomes social media pro

We’ve recently welcomed a new voice in social media to the Isle of Man. Derek ‘The Bandit’ Richardson has just relocated from South Africa and you’ll soon be hearing him at weekends on 3FM.  But when he’s not entertaining Island residents with his take on dance music, he’s pretty busy online. He’s got two podcasts: [...]

Third Thursday

Thanks to everyone who came out to today’s Isle of Man Social Media Club Third Thursday lunch.  We covered everything from libel to Graffiti to Podcasting to Technorati to the need for a great foodie blog in the Isle of Man.  As always I learned a lot.  I hope you all did too.  See the [...]

Why you should come to Third Thursday

The third Thursday of each month, the Isle of Man Social Media Club meets. This month, Third Thursday is tomorrow, 18 September, 12.30 at Paparazzi, Douglas Promenade.  Everyone is welcome.   But should you come?
Anyone who is interested in journalism, publishing, communication, art, media, teaching, learning, Internet, marketing.  In short, anyone who is curious about how [...]

Isle of Man are you prepared?

Tonight, at the Sefton hotel in Douglas, Martin Blackburn, emergency planning officer will be speaking to the Junior Chamber of Commerce.
It’s a subject that we all worry about and then put to the back of our heads – what would really happen if the Island suffered a major incident?  How would the hospitals cope?  Could [...]

September 13: PR top 5

Image via Wikipedia
Well that was the week that was.  There’s little more to say, except here is my list of some of the blog posts I enjoyed reading the most over the past week.
1. Jeremiah Owyang makes some good points about why some start ups need to hire PR professionals.
2.  Lee Hopkins gives an [...]

Sometimes you just need hard copy

Image by Tasa_M via Flickr
Last evening, after a pretty trying day, I spoiled myself by sitting down in a quiet room and reading the newspaper.  For someone who usually only finds time to scan a website, it was a real treat. The Isle of Man Examiner is still published as a broadsheet, and I [...]

Android ideas get cash from Google

Image via CrunchBase, source unknown
It was last November when I first wrote about Google Android. At that time the company had just announced the launch of an open source mobile phone platform that would put it into direct competition with both Microsoft and Symbian.
But what set them apart was that they issued it under [...]