SERVICES
REAL EVENTS, Cathedral Court, Fumbally Lane, Dublin 8.
Tel: 01 5224800. www.realevents.ie
Connecting
people and
minds
Afternineyearsofexperience
runningschool-focusedprojects,
RealEventsisbranchingoutinto
othereventtypes
‘What marks us out
completely from other
agencies is that we know
the protocol involved in
dealing with schools’
Aidine O’Reilly
A
IDINE O’ Reilly has come a long way since phone calls from organisations and PR companies on plateau of 10 employees in recent years. However, the vol-
she was in an indie band called The Would behalf of clients wanting to know how to run similar ume of business pushed me out of the house into a rented
Be’s, which can count supporting Morrissey eventsandIthoughttomyself:‘whyamItellingthemhow premisesandthisyearwehaveboughttheofficeinFum-
among its achievements. That early experi- todoitwhenweshouldberunningtheeventsourselves?’ bally Lane,” says O’Reilly.
ence as a teenager was the first step on a creative path, We grew fairly quickly after that, adding the likes of Real Events employs a mixture of people — some with
which has successfully combined education, sponsor- Hewlett-Packard, AIB and the Department of Foreign amarketingbackground,otherswhohaveworkedinpro-
ship and events. Affairstoourclientbaseuntilwehadbuiltupalargeport- duction and events and former teachers — and the
Whileworkingasanartteacher,O’Reillydidamaster’s folio of projects and clients,” explains O’Reilly. company brings in consultants when projects are highly
degreeineducation,wherepartofherprojectwastolook Since the company started up in 2000, Real Events has specific.
at ways to engage young people so they didn’t know they managed events for over 700,000 teachers and students, “We’veputalotofeffortintobuildingrelationships.The
were being taught. rangingfromstudent-bandcompetitionstoglobalaware- thingaboutworkingwithschoolsisaprojectreallyneeds
ThewatershedhappenedduringhertimeatBallincollig ness schemes and business and enterprise awards. tohavemeritandbeethical.Schoolsarebusyenvironments
CommunitySchool,CoCork.O’Reillystartedacompetition Nowadays, Real Events runs Ireland’s biggest schools’ andteachersaren’tinterestedincommercialisationofedu-
in 1998 with a transition-year class, which ultimately programme, which she describes as a ‘massive coup’. cation.Whatmarksusoutcompletelyfromotheragencies
becametheCoca-ColaFormandFusionAwards,attracting Called‘FoodDudes’,it’sanaward-winning,healthy-eating is that we know the protocol involved in dealing with
entrants from 13,000 students around the country. programme.BordBiaandtheDepartmentofAgriculture, schools,” says O’Reilly.
Thebriefforstudentswastocreateoutlandishcostumes Fisheries and Food are the clients. Real Events doesn’t only target youth audiences, how-
fromrecycledmaterials.TheLateLateShow,Kelly,RTÉand “Weranthepilotin2005andwonthetendertorollout ever. “We have branched out over the years from schools
BBCNewscoveredtheeventeachyearandthousandscame this award-winning programme last year. This means we tocollegestuffandthenoutsidetheeducationsystem.Since
to watch it. Coca-Cola sponsored the competition for willbeintroducingittoeveryschoolinthecountryforthe then, we’ve grown into the adult spectrum, for example,
seven years, after originally agreeing a three-year deal. nextsevento10years,”saysO’Reilly.“OnceyougetoneGov- runningawarenesscampaignswithincompanies.Weaim
“We showed Coca-Cola the costumes the kids had cre- ernment contract, doors start opening.” to make boring stuff fun.”
atedandtheysawthiscouldbesomethingfantastic.They Since2000,turnoverhasincreasedbyanaverageof50pc O’Reilly’stimeinabandhascomefull-circle,ashercom-
becameourfirstsponsorandthecompetitionwentnation- yearonyear.Indicatinghoweveryprojectislabour-inten- panynowrunstheMurphy’sLivecompetitionforHeineken
wide,blowingpeopleaway.Ihadtodecidewhethertocon- sive, she says her workforce has grown from herself and Ireland.It’sIreland’sbiggestbandcompetitionwithover450
tinueteachingbecauserunningFormandFusionbecame anassistantto27people,withaspaciousnewpremisesin entries in 2008. The competition is all about giving new
more like a full-time job. Dublin 8. bandstheopportunitytoperformwithsomeofIreland’smost
“After the third year of doing the awards, I was getting “I started from my dining room, and we reached a successful live acts in great venues across the country.
18 SFA NATIONAL SMALL BUSINESS AWARDS WWW.SFA.IE/AWARDS
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