WHEN & WHERE

TUESDAY 6 OCTOBER 2009 8.30am – 3.30pm

EUROPA HOTEL, BELFAST

Maria Moynihan Lee
Volvo Ocean Race Galway Stopover Festival Director

Maria Moynihan Lee has been centrally involved in the festivals and events sector since 2000, most notably as CEO of Dublin's St Patrick's Festival and as Chairman of AOIFE (Association of Irish Festival Events). Her main area of expertise is as a producer of large-scale, public, spectacle events and her other credits include ‘the Day of Welcomes' to celebrate Ireland's presidency of the EU in 2004 and the 2004 Bloomsday Centenary.

She is currently a director of Spraoi the annual Waterford based professional arts organisation. In addition to her involvement in festivals and events she has also worked in such diverse fields as rural and community development, the European Parliament and is a director of Sigma-X which produces software for structural engineers.

The targets for the Galway Volvo Ocean Race stopover are that it will generate €43m for the local economy and will deliver over 140,000 visitors to Galway from 23 May to 06 June 2009.

Let's Do It Global is a not for profit organization, with senior members contributing on a voluntary basis. It is run in a professional, business-like way using a team of dedicated professionals with responsibility for key specific areas.

Alistair McGowan
World Police & Fire Games

The 2013 World Police and Fire Games are coming to Northern Ireland. The Police Service of Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service and Northern Ireland Prison Service will host approximately 10 000 Law Enforcement Officers and Fire-fighters from around the world who will compete in a wide variety of sporting events.

About The Games In 1985, the World Police & Fire Games Federation, a non-profit organisation, run by the Californian Police Athletics Federation, established the World Police & Fire Games. Today, the World Police & Fire Games are a spectacular international sporting event, offering police officers, firefighters, customs and prison officers from around the world an opportunity to showcase their athletic excellence in over 65 sporting events. In recent years the Games have attracted 10,000 – 14,000 competitors from over 71 countries, competing in 65 sports over a ten day period.

Held biennially, the World Police & Fire Games will be held in British Columbia in 2009; New York City in 2011 and Northern Ireland 2013.The size and scope of the games continues to grow, with both the attendance and number of participating countries steadily increasing. The application process to hold the Games is keenly contested and attracts many bids to host what is a world renowned and prestigious event

Previous World Police & Fire Games Host Cities: 1985 - San Jose, USA 1987 - San Diego, USA 1989 - Vancouver, Canada 1991 - Memphis, USA 1993 - Colorado, USA 1995 - Melbourne, Australia 1997 - Calgary, Canada 1999 - Stockholm, Sweden 2001 - Indianapolis, USA 2003 - Barcelona, Spain 2005 - Quebec City, Canada 2007 - Adelaide, Australia 2009 - British Columbia, Canada 2011 - New York City, USA 2013 - Belfast, Northern Ireland

Mark Duckenfield & Conor McCarthy
Street Performance World Championships

Mark Duckenfield and Conor McCarthy of the Street Performance World Championships stated "In any Event ~ The Event for the Events Industry in Northern Ireland was a major success and we were delighted to have attended and spoken. Events like these are making it easier for companies in the events industry to network more efficiently and to help form a more cohesive events industry for the North. We look forward to it in 2009."

Alan Clarke
Chief Executive, NITB

Alan Clarke was appointed Chief Executive of the Northern Ireland Tourist Board in September 2001 and has over twenty years experience in tourism. He started his career in Northern Ireland followed by appointments in Wales and Devon.

Prior to coming back to Northern Ireland he worked for eleven years in Scotland as Director of Marketing for Edinburgh and Lothians Tourist Board and latterly as Chief executive of Aberdeen and Grampian Tourist Board.

A graduate of the University of Ulster, he is a Chartered Member of the Institute of Marketing and a Fellow of the Institute of Direct Marketing.

Gerry Copeland
Belfast City Council City Events Manager

Gerry Copeland has been the City Events Manager for Belfast City Council (BCC) for over ten years. In that time he has lead the unit in the delivery of its annual events programme, which yearly attracts in excess of 100,000 people and generates more than £1m for Belfast. He has also been involved in Belfast’s Millennium Celebrations; managed the £3.5m year long programme to mark the City Hall’s centenary in 2006 and more recently lead the BCC’s team in the 2009 Belfast Maritime Festival which welcomed the Tall Ships back to the city – an event that is estimated to have attracted nearly 800,000 people and generated an estimated £15m for the Belfast economy. Gerry and his colleagues are currently planning events, on behalf of BCC, as far ahead of 2015. This will also involve the development of an integral events strategy that will see the city’s annual and one-off events play an even larger role in the economic and social structure of Northern Ireland’s capital.

Click here to Watch the last event