The 2016 AGN World Congress in Dublin

Dafferns partners Martin Gibbs, Brian Jukes, myself and marketing executive Sophie Essex-Masmoudi joined over 150 AGN members and associates from across the world for the 2016 AGN World Congress in Dublin, Ireland.

AGN International today has 177 member firms in 84 countries worldwide, and is amongst the largest of comparable organisations globally.

An impressive 40 countries were represented at the conference and were immediately offered céad míle fáilte ‘a hundred thousand welcomes’ from the conference host Liam McQuaid from Duignan Carthy O’Neill.

The conference at the Intercontinental Hotel in Dublin, ran over 3 days from 18 September and covered the following sessions:

• Updates on AGN’s strategic plans for 2017 and beyond
• International auditing, accounting and taxation technical sessions
• David Sneddon from Google discussed social media within professional services firms
• Barry O’Dowd presented the impact that Foreign Direct Investment has had in Ireland
• Kingsley Aikins gave insights into International Networking & Crowd Funding
• Niall ‘Bressie’ Breslin (Irish musician and former Leinster Rugby player) discussed mental fitness (to a very well populated room!)

The most important part of the conference was however the opportunity to spend time with fellow members from across the world, sharing insights to help our clients thrive internationally.

The social aspect to the conference was also second to none and included visits to Trinity College Dublin and the Book of Kells, a Hooley night at Johnnie Fox’s and a visit to the world famous Guinness factory. It’s true what they say, a pint of Guinness really does taste better in Ireland!

The visit wasn’t quite finished for me though, as I spent time visiting one of Dafferns’ clients based in Dublin, including a tour of some state of the art warehousing facilities. A great end to a very productive business trip.