Over 100 tweeters meet in flesh in Birr

Arranged with nothing but social networking site Twitter and a lot of good will, last Friday week saw over 100 Irish business owners take part in the first SME Community All-Ireland Tweet-Up in Birr. The tweet-up initiative that was entirely self-funded began with a single tweet in June of last year looking for support for small and medium sized businesses in Ireland. An online community (#SMEcommunity) of over 1,100 sprang up immediately and daily conversations took place online amongst the group of self-starters. The recent Birr meet-up in the flesh however was the group's biggest challenge to date. Birr hoteliers donated the County Arms Hotel to the event for the day, and speakers included author of 'Shepherd's Pie' George Mordaunt and Vincent Byrne of Business Should Be Easy. After hearing of the event even Minister of State for Small Business John Perry took the time to make contact and wish the group well on the day as well as inviting them to meet in order to look at the systems and supports that are necessary to ensure this thriving hub can be nurtured in the best way possible. Organiser and Birr native Debi Harper of Tus Nua Designs said she was also delighted with support from local TD Marcella Corcoran Kennedy. "Just to know that Leinster House was aware of our All-Ireland Tweet-Up was a positive boost," she said. "This is all about getting well deserved attention for small businesses in Ireland and we will do all we can to highlight the small businesses that are working so hard, and are not fortunate to have big funding behind them but are helping and supporting each other in a creative way to get to the next level," she added. Next up is Ireland's Highest Tweet-Up, taking place on February 26 atop a Donegal mountain in aid of Breast Cancer Ireland. On March 15 a Dublin Tweet-Up takes place, with a number of guest speakers currently under consideration. For information on forthcoming events and support for small businesses join the conversation on Twitter at #SMEcommunity.