Broadband, Tourism and Priorities in Ireland

When I studied Business Information Systems in UCC one of the rights of passage as a first year student was that you had to watch Guy Kawasaki’s Standford presentation of “Rules for Revolutionaries”. Kawasaki is a fantastic speaker and it’s certainly recommended viewing for any would be software entrepreneurs.

Priorities

Of my favourite parts of the presentation is when Guy tells the story of a professor teaching his students about priorities. The professor takes an empty mayonaisse jar and fills it to the brim with big stones and asks the class “is the jar full?” To which they respond “Yes”. The professor proceeds to fill the spaces between the stones with gravel and asks the class again “is the jar full now?” The class once again say “Yes” and the professor then adds sand into the jar. He asks the class is it full for a third time and they realise where it’s going and say “No”. The professor then fills the jar with water and turns to the class and asks “What is the message I’m trying to communicate?”. A student naively answers “no matter how much you have on your plate you can always add a little more” .

The professor sagely turns to the class and says “No it’s not, if you want to put the big stones in then you have to put them in first!”.

Tourism Ireland

This story came to mind for a few reasons, firstly Damien was continuing the much need debate on Broadband in Ireland and secondly that I saw that Tourism Ireland were having a St. Patricks Day Parade in Second Life.

The logic for the St. Patricks Day Parade in Second Life appears to be more about column inches rather than business logic. For a semi-state agency to pursue such a strategy is reprehensible. The media coverage seems to be as concerned with Tourism Ireland’s Central Marketing Director Mark Henry as it they are about the event. “Mark Henry…will be represented at the Second Life Dublin parade by his online avatar. Meanwhile the real Mr Henry will be present at events in New York.”

We are very excited about the world’s first virtual St Patrick’s Day parade — it’s an innovative and interesting way to present the island of Ireland as an attractive holiday destination to a new audience,” “Once they have experienced the simulated Ireland, we hope these potential visitors will come and see the real thing”.

Mr. Henry’s strategy does not appear completely foolish at first glance. Get the people from the online version to the real version. We know they are on Second Life so they must have some spare time and some money. If we show them online Ireland maybe they’ll want to spend time and money here.

My gut instinct is that people who spend hours in a virtual world are not the biggest spenders in real world vacations. We know that this audience are very tech savvy people and they will be taking their laptops with them on holiday. My question is has Mr. Henry ever tried to get on the internet in an Irish hotel/guesthouse?

Broadband

I have tried to do so on several occasions and have been either unable to do so or charged through the nose for the privilege (Up to €20/day for Wifi!). I would love to know how much the spend on Second Life has been for Tourism Ireland and how many Wi-Fi hotspots that could have paid for in Irish Hotels/Guesthouses. If anyone actually visits Ireland as a result of this promotion surely we are just setting them up for disappointment.

One tech savvy person to be disappointed was none other than Mr. Kawasaki himself. Guy Kawasaki was in Dublin at end of last month for the Irish Software Association conference. “Been without Internet access in Dublin for the last 14 hours. It’s killing me.” - Guy Kawasaki, Dublin (February 26, 2008). For one of the top 50 bloggers to say that certainly doesn’t do Ireland’s reputation any favours and highlights the problems we have. If a technology evangelist can’t get Internet access when he is over for a Software Conference then surely our priorities are skewed.

Before Tourism Ireland are allowed to spend another penny on Second Life I would urge whoever is in charge to try and put the big stones in place. It may be outside the traditional role of marketing but free wi-fi in Irish hotels and hostels is an amenity that is becoming of a country that prides itself on it’s IT capability. A St. Patricks Day parade in Second Life looks like one man trying to make a name for himself.

{My problems with Tourism Ireland spending money in Second Life are admittedly based on opinion and I welcome any one with hard facts that agree or differ with my position. }

Posted 14.03.08

Copyright ©2007 Atrier   Powered by Wordpress