As the head of the representative body for Irish Nightclubs, Barry has seen first hand the impact of the smoking ban, licensing issues, binge drinking and economic challenges on the on-trade.

During our interview with Barry O'Sullivan, he discussed:

• What promotions his nightclub members have been running around the country that have boosted sales despite the economic downturn
   
• Why nightclubs are less exposed to economic downturns than other businesses
   
• What the most important thing every bar and nightclub owner needs to consider is if they want to keep customers coming back again and again
   
• How nightclubs can diversify to attract additional streams of revenue and not be dependent on current revenue opportunities.

Dale De Groff, World's Leading Cocktail & Bartending Expert

Renowned cocktail expert, bar management specialist and award winning 30 year veteran of the bar trade Dale DeGroff, who graciously gave of his time to share such valuable information as:  

• How he is helping bars and clubs increase quality and profits using fresh fruit and juices.
   
• How he increased the average check in the Rainbow Room, NYC by 250% in 6 months with one simple change.
   
• What ice he prefers to use and why it matters.
   
• How many cocktails every bartender should know. (It's a big number!)
   
• Whether bar owners are keeping track of costs.
   
• The difference between cost control in Europe and the USA.

Lauren is passionate about educating businesses into how they can effectively communicate with their customers through social media and co-founded Ireland's first online social media consultancy firm.

During Lauren's presentation, we learned:

• Where you should be looking online to find mentions of your business.
   
• What free websites you should be listing your business on.
   
• How to respond to negative criticism of your business online.
   
• Why Video is the next big thing for your business and how easy it is to do.
   
• What free application you can download to spy on what's being said about your business. 
   
• How to distribute your videos to 100s of video sharing websites in seconds free of charge.
   
• Why giving things away free of charge is the new way to get more business and press!
   

James made more money as a bartender than any other bartender that we have ever come across. Partly due to his amazing skill as a bartender, but largely due to 28 amazing tips and tricks he used to convince customers (unwittingly!) to part with their cash!

He has since setup a business that teaches other bartenders how to double, triple and quadruple their tips, set up their own bartending business and live the lifestyle of their dreams!

James shared with us his secrets which in turn you can share with your own bar service staff such as:

• How to use touch to increase the average spend of a customer
   
• How to easily build rapport with one sentence when greeting a guest
   
• What questions to ask customers to get them to spend more money
   
• When its okay to give away a free drink
   
• The differences in approach when dealing with women
   
• How to ensure the customer has enough change to tip you appropriately

TAO Nightclub is the largest grossing nightclub in the United States with revenues of $60 Million a year and is the most frequented nightclub by the hottest celebrities and socialites!

With an equally impressive marketing budget, we were amazed to hear about one recent promotion that:

• Generated 30,000+ search results on Google
   
• Got the nightclub on every TV channel in the city
   
• Added 1000s of customers to their fan base and even more amazing is that ANY bar can do it, irrespective of their size or budget.

Mike shared with us exactly how he created this promotion, how much was spent and what amazing results were achieved.
 

Niall is the creative force behind the West of Ireland's first digital media agency. Impact Media create wonderful websites right the way through to tailor-made online marketing strategies.

During Niall's talk, he advised on:

• Best practice for bar and restaurant websites
   
• What every website needs to include
   
• What features you can easily integrate to reduce your workload by streamlining enquiries
   
• The biggest mistakes that bar and restaurant owners make when planning their websites

Finbarr Malone has a lifetime’s experience in marketing and business development, franchising and training.

He is a small business owner with 4 businesses in the hospitality arena and therefore understands the difficulties of business ownership and what it takes to make them work. Based on his own experiences and needs, Finbarr designed his own Loyalty Club software to help his business.

During his presentation, Finbarr explained

• How to setup a loyalty program in your business that will pay for itself instantly
   
• What you should NEVER do when implementing a loyalty system in your business.
   
• How to avoid rewarding lower spending customers at the expense of your best customers
   
• How to easily track your giveaways and measure the success of your programme

Patrick runs Stocktaking.ie, the country's leading independent stocktaking and inventory control company and can count more than 300 bars, restaurants and retail outlets as clients.

Patrick shared stocktaking video tutorials with us for best practice for stocktaking in your premises including:

• How to undertake a Dry Food stocktake
   
• How to undertake a Bottled Beer stocktake
   
• How to weigh kegs and undertake a draught beer stocktake
   
• How to undertake a fruit & vegetable stocktake
   
• How to undertake a spirits stocktake

Brendan has been helping small businesses for many years and during this time has advised on everything from retirement planning, estate planning, business restructuring, investments and more and his excellent presentation focuses on the facts that

• You need to reduce your fixed costs as much as you can so you've got financial control over your business so you can move quickly.
   
• If you need to make a change do so quickly without negatively affecting your business and the viability of your business
   
• Find out where you want to be in the next two to three years or even in the short-term if you're closer to the wall than that.
   
• Establish where you want to be, what you want to get out of your business;
   
• If you don't have the skill set to take your business there, do seek professional assistance and advice on how to get there.
   
• Be prudent about it, don't waste any time, and keep aware of the changing environment that's out there and change your business to suit what your customers are looking for

Roy O'Hanlon is a certified Business Coach with ActionCOACH, the World’s #1 Business Coaching Franchise. Roy O’Hanlon’s career spanned many successful years with IBM Global Services where he gained significant experience in team building, management, systems and technical areas of the business.

In our insightful conversation, Roy discussed and explained in depth:

• The 5 Metrics that are the ONLY way to make money in your business
   
• How Profit is an outcome of these metrics
   
• Why you need to know your conversions percentages
   
• why it matters how many transactions you have in a day
   
• Why gathering leads is so important in a Bar
   
• much much more!

Lewis Howes and Sean Malarkey are two gurus in the world of Social Media and more than 100,000 business and individuals in the US follow their every move on Twitter and LinkedIn. I was so impressed after attending a recent Webinar that they presented to 1000 businesses online, I convinced them to let me share it with you.

Every business, no matter how small or what their turnover is can take advantage of Social Media when the only investment is your time and of course a little knowledge, which these guys have in spades!

On this 90 minute Video, you will be able to

• Watch Sean & Lewis's computer screens as they optimise their profiles on LinkedIn and Twitter.
   
• Learn what terms mean what on these networks.
   
• How any business can use these platforms to advertise events, hire staff, find customers and build a loyal fan base.
   
• Build an unlimited amount of referrals and business opportunities
   
• Drive a constant flow of organic traffic to your website
   
• Become the #1 sought out thought leader in your industry
   

Paul has been working in the hospitality industry for over 20 years and has supplemented his vast practical knowledge with a H.Dip in Hotel and Catering Management as well as qualifying as a Chartered Accountant in 1996.

His experience has included working in the US, London and Ireland, where he spent 9 years running the family hotel in Dundalk. Paul's role here included expanding the business, securing new and more profitable markets and improving service levels while decreasing costs and steering the company from a substantial loss back to profitability, before being sold on for a significant return on investment.

Paul has been through a recession while running a hotel and has great advice and amazing insights into how to deal with the current economic downturn.