August 2022: AVEA Member Forum at the Irish National Stud and Gardens
AVEA members were blessed with fine weather on a recent visit to the Irish National Stud & Gardens in Co Kildare. Over 70 attended in what was our second in-person Forum of 2022. David from the Irish National Stud gave a warm welcome with an overview of all the work undertaken to complete the Irish Racing Experience, and gave us a sneak peak of their new retail offering.
Aisling Burke and Ronan Mackey from Newbridge Silverware spoke about how their special exhibitions – which have featured Olivia Newton John’s iconic black outfit from ‘Grease’ and Kurt Cobain’s guitar – have won new audiences and driven multiple revenue streams. They also unveiled plans for a significant food and beverage development due to open in 2023. Garrett Byrne from Airfield demonstrated a super dynamic dashboarding tool which draws live data from all departments to produce headline reporting, and shows in quick snapshots how to measure what really matters.
Sarah Dolly and Maeve McKeever from Fáilte Ireland’s tourism careers department presented on the Quality Employers Programme, which seeks to enable tourism employers to use best practices and feedback techniques to achieve excellence. With a tight labour market, it is so important to keep the focus on retention and recruitment.
Ed Coleman, director of The Rediscovery Centre, gave us an overview of Dublin’s hosting of the Circular Economy Hotspot in 2023, and invited members to contact him directly if they wished to learn more and get involved.
We wrapped up with lunch provided by Natalie’s Gourmet Goodies, at picnic tables in the beautiful grounds, blessed as we were with the weather, and a large group stayed on for the full tour experience.
The event showcased what AVEA does best – providing a forum for information sharing, knowledge exchange, and drawing inspiration from the practices of others. Thanks to our superb hosts at the Irish National Stud David Wardell, Ellen Mitchell and Amanda Kelly for their warm hospitality.
