Michael Garland

Experience

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  Business Design Centre, London, England

  Jan 1987 - Jan 1989

  Exhibition Sales Executive & Assistant Building Services Manager

  • Returned to London “with a dream”, having visited as a student, & asked for & secured my first full-time job in the Services Department at the Business Design Centre.

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  Wembley Conference & Exhibition Centre, Wembley, England

  Jan 1989 - Jan 1992

  Account Manager for Exhibitions & Special Events & a Sales Executive

  • Initially, worked within the Sales Department of the concert & arena business, & then moved to form part of a new sales team for the exhibition & conference centre sector of the business, where a number of unique firsts time events were staged at the venue. • Aided in the development of two new exhibition halls & delivered annually a substantial number of high yield projects. (T/O £2-2,500,000+ pa).

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  Turret Group plc, Watford, England

  Jan 1992 - Jan 1995

  Exhibition Sales & Marketing Manager

  • Organising exhibition event concepts, sales, marketing & all operation aspects of some of the UK’s leading trade exhibitions, at some of the UK’s foremost exhibition venues such as the NEC, Earls Court & Wembley Stadium. • Some of these exhibitions have stood the test of time & a few are still running today, in some shape or form. (T/O circa £1-1,500,000+ pa).

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  Royal Highland Agricultural Society of Scotland

  Jun 1995 - Dec 2000

  Sales & Marketing Manager

  • Running the strategic, commercial, sales & marketing activities of the Royal Highland Agricultural Society of Scotland’s premier 320 acre showground. • Responsible for all commercial, sales & marketing activities across the exhibition, conference, special events & corporate event market sectors. • Successful in turning an old tired showground into one of Scotland’s premier events venues. • Also aided in the development of an on-site hotel, future exhibition hall & instrumental in the formation of the former Exhibition Venues Association UK. • Responsible directly to the Board of Directors. (T/O circa £2-3,000,000+ pa). Show less

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  Recent/Current Business Activities

  Jan 2001 - Nov 2020

  Various Committee Positions Held

  Recent/Current Business Activities: Waterford City Centre Business Group - 170 plus members (founded March 2013), 1848 Tricolour Celebration committee member, Director of Elections in the May 2014 Local Elections for Waterford City East, founding member of 3-Club Pass, founding member of The Déise Golf Pass, founding member of Crystal County Golf Circuit, founding member of Club Choice, active in all relevant “Destination Waterford City” Retail & Tourism initiatives, past member of I.A.G.C.S. & M.I.I., Train The Trainer FETAC Level 6 Distinction qualification (2010). Board member of; Waterford Chamber Skillnet, Waterford City Development Board, Tramore Chamber, SE Chambers & Committee Member to many other strategic groups too numerous to list. 2012 Chairperson of South East Chambers. National panel judge on the 2011 Chambers Ireland Excellence in Local Government Awards. Steering Committee Member on the Waterford Healthy City Project & the World Health Organisation designation of Waterford as a Healthy City. FETAC Honours CPD Diploma in Managing Business Networks (2011) through Dublin Institute of Technology. Mentor to numerous groups, businesses & individuals. Tramore Area Development Plan with Waterford County Council, Tramore Tourism & Tramore Tidy Towns. Active speaker to students at Waterford Institute of Technology & other related bodies.Community Activities: Founder of Gael Choláiste Phort Láirge, which opened in August 2007, PTA at the Gael Scoil Ballygunner, past IRFU Associate Referee. Committee Member of the Thomas Francis Meagher Tricolour Celebration est 2011. Show less

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  Waterford Castle Hotel & Golf Club

  Jan 2001 - Apr 2009

  Director of Golf

  • Directly responsible for all the day to day business decisions & strategic development across all business sectors. • Transformed a rudderless, unprofitable business into a profitable, self-financing, stand alone business, employing up to 30 employees, annually returning “high teen” net operating profits. • Instrumental in the foundation, conception & design of the highly successful & now much imitated 3-Club Golf Pass (Faithlegg, Mount Juliet & Waterford Castle), the Carmarthenshire Affinity Pass, 2-Club Golf Pass, Déise Golf Pass & the Déise Golf Winter Opens, the Crystal County Golf Circuit, & the Club Choice Marketing Group. • Founding member of the Failte Ireland Golf Forum E-business working group. • Responsible directly to the Board of Directors. (T/O circa €1-1,500,000+ pa). Show less

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  Waterford Chamber of Commerce

  May 2009 - Feb 2013

  CEO

  • Guided Waterford Chamber safely through four exceptionally difficult years. • Having inherited a debt laden & a loss performing Chamber in 2009, 2010, 2011 & 2012 have seen the Chamber return double digit net profit figures & it is anticipated that the Chamber will be completely debt free by the end of 2013. • Responsible for running, promoting & underwriting Waterford Chamber Skillnet & Enterprise Europe Network, with a combined overall 2012/2013 budget across all business sectors in the region of one million Euros. • Strategic planning, marketing, local & national lobbying, policy making through Chambers Ireland, public relations, event management, budgeting, financial accounting, “bridge building”, working with ALL City, County & Regional stakeholders & much, much more forms part of my highly productive day to day activities.• Responsible directly to the Board of Directors. (T/O across all sectors circa €1,000,000+ pa). Show less

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  BizBoost PR

  Jun 2013 - now

  Founder

  New start up company specialising in working, in confidence, with SME’s to realign Sales, Marketing, Communication & PR strategies to deal with the current economic trading conditions. Bringing a fresh approach to:• Staff mentoring, training & guidance.• Staff empowerment.• Staff work ethic.• PR, Sales & Marketing Strategies, Communication Strategies.• Building confidence for individual staff attainment & goal achievement as well as change management.• And so much more to ensure that client SME’s build a stable business platform for future growth. Show less

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  Waterford Camino Tours Ltd

  Jul 2018 - now

  Life Coach, PR, Event & Social Media adviser

  In-bound tour & events company.• Strategic planning with implementation & delivery of PR, Events, Communication.• Building a brand recognition strategy.• Building a social media presence. • Maintaining website, Facebook, twitter, Eventbrite etc platforms.• Developing online events sales, marketing & PR platforms.• Change Management Strategies.• Developing strategic Sales, PR, Marketing & Communication Strategies.• Working with promoters to build tourism links locally, regionally & nationally. • Building confidence for individual staff attainment & goal achievement.• Developing networking, strategic partnerships, political influence & economic benefits.• Dealing with & working very closely with local & national media contacts. Show less