What a week!

I’m Roseanne Smith, the IIA’s new Membership, Marketing and Communications Manager. I started work with the IIA last Tuesday and it’s been full speed ahead since then.

With the Congress coming up in less than five weeks there has been a lot of interest in membership. It was particularly busy on Friday as our early bird offer closed so there was a desperate scramble to renew membership (Yes it is true: you are not alone although it gets lonelier by the day in the “Oops forgot to renew my membership” camp!) and to avail of the great offers. EUR195.00 for members – a bargain!*

I’ve also been dealing with a number of interesting queries from members and it occurred to me that it might be a good idea to post some of these queries in anonymised form here. I like to think I know a thing or two about this whole Internet business but unfortunately the queries happened to be about the other things about which I couldn’t claim expertise. Let me know what you think: how would you feel about your internet woes being the subject of discussion on this site. Leave a comment to let me know what you think.

And to finish some of you might be scratching your heads wondering where do I know her from so a lá Troy McClure from The Simpsons you might know me from:

• Rathmines in Dublin where I grew up
• Scoil Bhríde, Ranelagh and Muckross Park, Donnybrook where I went to school
• Trinity College Dublin where I got a degree in Drama Studies and Modern Irish and a M.Sc. in Multimedia Systems
• Too many stage productions to list as either cast or crew
• (And now this is really McClure-esque) “Amú san Áis” starring Hector Ó hEochagáin – you may have seen my name in the roller on: I was the researcher
• Gaelport.com: I’m a fluent Irish speaker and I was responsible for developing this community focussed site
• I was a founding representative of The Legacy Group and the Community Sector Employers’ Forum on behalf of Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge
• My personal blog which you may have happened upon
• “Giotaí den saol” daily Irish language trivia snippets on a number of radio stations throughout the country.
• Letters in the Irish Times because I’m always writing in and givin’ out
• And if none of that rings any bells I went to Irish College in Rann na Feirste

I look forward to meeting you at Congress in May. Knock over to me and say hello if only to see if I have managed to master the delivery of my extravagant title!

*A slightly later little bird tells me that the early bird offer is extended for members only until 25th April. So get on the case right now. Email me for details.