“It’s the way we tell ‘em!”

In business it is how you tell your business' story that makes the most impact and the honesty to which you are prepared to open up to your client or potential client that will make all the difference in securing new business.

“I wanna tell you a story” was a phrase used by Max Bygraves, an English comedian, singer, stage performer and sometimes actor. Max had his own TV shows when I was growing up as a wee boy in Glenrothes, Scotland and I also remember him on a very successful TV programme called Family Fortunes as well. He would always start a comedic section of any TV show with his well know catchphrase. It was almost like he was inviting you to sit down with him in a familiar place to listen to a bedtime story, it really was that familiar. As a result he tended to get his audience's attention and thus people became accustomed to knowing exactly when to listen.

“It’s the way I tell ‘em!” was another catchphrase I remember from my dim distant youth that was used by the larger than life Northern Irish comedian Frank Carson. He would tell very short punchy jokes and add his catchphrase to the end of the punch line to reinforce that fact that he had finished telling his story and it was now time to laugh and appreciate his joke or series of jokes. Frank would use his catchphrase as, I suppose, a call to action in that the audience had become so accustomed to him rolling out this phrase that they were almost conditioned to laugh at the catchphrase rather than the punch line of his jokes.

There was something about the need for comedians to attach themselves to a catchphrase during the heady days of variety TV that blanketed our screens during the 1970’s and 1980’s. Perhaps it was a way for the many comedians to distinguish themselves from other comedians or was it just another way of them selling you their own USP (unique selling point or ultimate selling proposition).

This tradition continued throughout the early nineties. But as programmes and audiences matured and changed we have seen a move away from catchphrases altogether and we now have comedians who are simply brilliant at telling funny stories. And it is the way that they can tell these funny stories that allow our modern day comedians to fill venues that accommodate 10,000 to 15,000 seat arenas around the world.

To play to such large audiences and yet make each and every audience member feel that the comedian is literally in their living room, speaking to them in an extremely intimate way, is testament to the skill of the individual and their storytelling prowess of our most successful comedians that tour Ireland and the UK.

People like Billy Connolly, Lee Evans, Michael McIntyre, Brendan O’Carroll, Brendan Grace, Bill Murray and his Pub Landlord, to name but a few, are some of the very best storytellers around – fact.

But can our businesses learn from these comedic storytellers? Yes of course businesses can. In fact I would go much further and say that if a business is not telling its own story, through its staff members, then a business is not operating correctly and that business will find it very hard to survive and prosper.

Like a modern day storyteller your businesses' promoters must be delivering every single message with honesty, integrity, passion, openness, enthusiasm and most important of all a SMILE.

This mantra can also be replicated by villages, towns, cities and regions and over the last two or three weeks it would appear that Waterford has a better story to tell than most. What with TF Meagher the creator of the Irish Tricolour, the first Tricolour being raised at 33 The Mall and with Luke Wadding “inventing” St. Patrick’s Day.

To make Waterford appeal to a much wider audience maybe we just need a better catchphrase!

St. Patrick’s Day – Made of Waterford!

Spraoi, Waterford City, St.Patrick's Day

St. Patrick’s Day is often seen, in many circles, as the start of the tourism season. After all this is the first big event after the traditional celebrations of Christmas and New Year.

Certainly in my past life, at Waterford Castle, this day would be seen by champions of the mashie niblick as a date when you could look forward to better golfing weather and the promise of lots of course work, with much hollow tining, to make the greens as smooth and velvety as the proverbial baize on a billiard table. This by all accounts is the Holy Grail for many a good and bad golfer, as you “drive for show and putt for dough”, when chasing that infuriating wee white ball around the 18-holes of a golf course. It is the greens that spoil a scorecard and never the actual golfer. Like the modern day formula one driver, all golfers have a myriad of readymade excuses that tell the story of a bad round of golf.

Luke Wadding

When I first arrived in Waterford City I was not sure what to expect from my first parade in March 2001. But I was pleasantly surprised and I believe that I have attended nearly every parade since that date, missing 2014 to march in New York with the 69^th Infantry Division. I even used to get invited to sit in the posh seats, but hey-ho times have changed and I now happily stand with the madding crowds waving my tricolour and rather proudly wearing a sprig of Shamrock.

Surprise, Surprise, no not a reference to that hideous programme, I did plant last year’s Shamrock in a pot and despite having not a scintilla of green in my fingers the sprig has miraculously survived for twelve months and we will be wearing our own home-grown Shamrock this year at the parade.

My interest in all things relating to St. Patrick’s Day grew when I would later discover, probably around 2002 or 2003, a small statue of a certain Mr Luke Wadding, an Irish Franciscan Friar, outside a rather derelict old religious building in Greyfriars. On closer inspection of the statue we can read that Luke was quite literally responsible for putting St. Patrick’s Day on the religious calendar, after apparently lobbying Pope Charles I, and therefore it is he who is responsible for the celebrations we see around the world on 17^th March.

A green Sphinx!

Such is the global phenomenon that is St. Patrick’s Day all manner of “wonders of the world” are now turning green every 17^th March – Edinburgh Castle, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, One World Trade Centre, Christ the Redeemer, the Colosseum, the Sphinx and even Nelson’s Column have all succumbed to the charm of the Irish and been bathed in a green hue to honour St. Patrick’s Day.

I do however wonder if yet again Waterford is missing a trick and an opportunity here!

As we all should know the Irish Tricolour was flown for the first time on 33 The Mall by Thomas Francis Meagher, a Waterford born native, and we can also lay claim to “inventing” St. Patrick’s Day, albeit as a religious day and not the parade day we celebrate now, but invent this day a Waterford born native did.

So, two “things” that speak of the essence of Irishness, recognised and identified around the world as being integral to one’s Irish roots have a direct connection to Waterford City. Yet we are still better known for glass and crystal and not these two iconic images that tens of millions of people hold dear to their hearts on 17^th March every year.

Edinburgh's magnificent Castle

Surely, we have an unbelievable opportunity to put Waterford at the very heart of all these celebrations of Irishness and it is a prospect not to be missed.

As I have said many times before we just need to be a wee bit more imaginative and creative in how we promote this ancient City that has shaped modern day Ireland.

Nobody does it better!

Richard Kiel from The Spy Who Loved Me.

Last weekend Waterford City hosted the sixth annual 1848 Tricolour Celebration event and I am very proud that as one of the hard working voluntary Committee members I have taken the opportunity to write, this week, about the huge effort, commitment and sacrifice given to this event by a relatively small Committee of nine and a half good men and women of Waterford (well Scotland for me if the truth be told!).

Over the last twelve months this group have been working tirelessly away in the meeting rooms of The Granville Hotel, to deliver not only the annual gala dinner, historic talks, schools programme and Flag Raising ceremony but the programme was expanded this year to acknowledge the very important 1916 Commemoration in a way that will NOT be replicated anywhere else in Ireland during this year.

This committed band of brothers and sisters produced a weekend's worth of events that could have graced any national event calendar and in recognition of the magnitude of the professionalism of the events delivered our Waterford City held centre stage with our national broadcaster on Saturday evening on both of the main news bulletins. It is these small wins and PR opportunities that are firing a warning shot across the bows of others cities that Waterford is not prepared to lie down and accept the occasional crumbs from the top table that are so often fed to us every now and again.

Great picture from Noel Browne.

Quite simply we want a bigger slice of the cake!

A summary of last weekend shows just what a significant programme this committee delivered. On Friday 4^th March 100 people, from 50 different nationalities, were naturalised as Irish Citizens, in City Hall, opposite the very spot where TF Meagher raised the first ever Irish Tricolour flag on 7^th March 1848.

On an unusually sunny afternoon, on Saturday 5^th March, 2,500 people watched as over 90 re-enactors staged the Easter Rising battle for the GPO, on The Mall, outside the Bishop’s Palace. This 40 minute historic re-enactment included forces from both side of the conflict and a period British armoured car with a Vickers and a Lewis machine gun. Whilst this event captured the public’s imagination the ticketed gala dinner that followed was really the corporate flag waving event that delivered the goods for Waterford City.

Over one hundred and fifty people attended the sell out gala dinner in The Granville Hotel. This event was attended by Mayor John Cummins, Ambassadors from the United States and Canadian Embassies, representatives from Government, members of the 69^th Infantry Division in New York, American film production companies, and 45 guests from the Twin Cities of Minnesota to name but a few. Keynote speakers were Vice Admiral Mark Mellett and Lt Col Sean M Flynn Commander of the 69^th Infantry Division New York, with musical accompaniment by the Island of Ireland Peace Choir and the Hounds of Fin.

The gala dinner was one of the best attended and certainly one of, if not the most positive, corporate events I have experienced in my time here in Waterford City. The City was sold to our guests in a glowing light and I am sure that no other City or committee could have put on such a noteworthy event.

Another action shot from Noel Browne.

On Sunday 6^th March the weekend’s events were wrapped up with the Flag Raising Ceremony on The Mall. Again this event was attended by a significant number of dignitaries and representative counties and despite some cold and damp weather, around 1200 people watched the proceedings and listened intently to the speeches. This event was supported in great numbers by local bands, the Civil Defence and of course the Waterford Naval Reserve providing all the pomp and ceremony which befitted such a symbolic event.

So Waterford City take a bow.

To the voluntary committee of Ann, Eddie, Paul, Janet, Mags, Jonathan, James, Cian and John you ALL played a blinder – roll on 2017!

Lost In Kilkenny!

With the papers, quite rightly, giving blanket coverage to #GE16, and journalists and their editors writing many column inches debating the rights and wrongs of the possible makeup of the next Government. I thought that it would be appropriate to stay away from such political commentary this week and besides it has become very clear that I not great at making predications. I had tipped Scotland to win the Six Nations!

I did get three out of the four candidate selections right, but admittedly in the wrong order, and I did suggest that a large cohort of the population were not engaged with politics and therefore they would not be voting. The 36.3% of the electorate or 30,000 people in the Waterford constituency who did not vote could have made a substantial difference to the final results, but as they did not engage or were not engaged, through what was after all a very sterile campaign, we returned two new candidates and two existing candidates. Clearly there was something for everyone from #GE16.

Having decided to stay away from the politics over the weekend, though still receiving regular updates directly from the count centre on the auld smart phone, I squeezed into the Lycra, packed the unicycle into the Mini and headed to Clonmel to take part in a charity cycle for Down Syndrome Ireland and specifically the Cycle for Sarah.

Around 100 Lycra clad people took part in the 130km Cycle for Sarah and there were six plucky members of the Waterford Biscuit Club who made the trip on a very, very cold and wintery Saturday morning. Suitably dressed in our unique Cookie Monster cycling tops we headed out of Clonmel shortly after 10:00 and cycled straight into a freezing cold Arctic wind as we set our sights on getting to the pit stop in Kilkenny as fast as possible.

Once out of Clonmel the large group naturally began to fracture into smaller packets of biscuits and being the competitive Scotsman that I am I chased down the guys at the front and soon we were a small selection of six, six men that really had no idea what so ever where we were actually going.

Spotted hiding in Kilkenny. 

As we ploughed on, counting down the kilometres, one of the marshals directed us right, off the main road, and straight up a rather steep hill and onto some very quiet back roads that seemed to be taking us in an easterly direction. We eventually decided to turn left cycling a few more kilometres, up some more steep hills, through some very small hamlets and onto the ubiquitous single track roads you inevitably come across in Ireland when you take a wrong turn.

Clearly we were lost in Kilkenny.

But no man worth his salt would ever admit to being lost, so we continued battling the wind and cold and then “BANG”! No were not shot by some Deliverance cast member we had a puncture that took an eternity to fix due to a very finicky valve that would not play ball. We had stopped in the middle of nowhere and the silence was only broken by the sound of the odd gunshot, crows calling and the cackle of male pheasant who was no doubt laughing at us. Eventually, we got moving once again and steered roughly in the direction of Kilkenny.

SPEEEEEEED!

Arriving with hypothermia in Kilkenny we stopped for a warm cup of coffee and some soup, where I checked the election update and knew that there was every possibility of some shock results on the way. I jumped back onto the bike for a quick flat-out blast back to Clonmel to get home to see if I needed to buy yet another wooden spoon!

It was a great way to spend a Saturday morning and to stay somewhat remote from all the #GE16 results. The company was great and the scenery was not too bad either.