Comment posted on Argyll and the Isles at EXPO: Summary of the last day by Scots Renewables
Are AISTP supporting the new transit marina for Oban? They obviously love Portavadie, but are they supporting the development of Oban’s waterfront?
Recent comments by Scots Renewables
- Russell admits vehicle element of former Dunoon ferry was indeed publicly funded
A threnody is a song, hymn or poem of mourning composed or performed as a memorial to a dead person.Quite appropriate. The promise that was the original ForArgyll is indeed quite dead.
I think I will stick to the Cowal Courier from now on. That’s a proper news site that seems to have your measure.
Toodle pip!
- Russell admits vehicle element of former Dunoon ferry was indeed publicly funded
Oh do cheer up Newsroom! The hybrid ferries are non-military ships being built on the Clyde. Surely something to cheer about?Re. your concerns about staff training – I think you will find that staff require retraining whenever a new vessel is brought into service . . . each boat is different.
And please do stop all this ‘we hear rumours’ rubbish. No-one believes you. Come up with facts and their sources like a real journalist or stop smearing doom and gloom. Less fuel is less fuel. And the new ferries are also designed to have lower maintenance costs.
Now, here’s some more potential good news on the ship technology front for Scotland . . . CMAL has been commissioned to carry out a feasibility study for Scottish Enterprise to evaluate the technical and commercial possibilities of using hydrogen fuel cells to power zero emission ferries. If this goes ahead it could put Scotland at the forefront of another new technology, with the consequent design, development and manufacturing of hybrid engines being located here. Great news – though I expect ForArgyll will want to talk it down.
- New Mobile Theme for ForArgyll.com
The mobile version isn’t triggered by my iPad, which is a good thing – but it does come up in an iPhone emulator I tried.Strangely enough specific mobile versions of websites (as opposed to apps – which are here to stay) may be a relatively short-lived phenomenon. As bandwidth on phones increases dramatically and most displays become HD 1024 pixels wide or more so standard websites become more and more useable. I don’t come across many that don’t display well on the iPad.
A mobile version was far more essential on older 320 pixel devices like Nokias, but these will die out. The non-mobile version of this site (for example) is quite useable on a new smartphone once it is rotated horizontally.
Apps that do specific things on mobile devices are another matter – they are definitly here to stay. And for blog sites like this the mobile version definitley increases useability (but see below).
Some feedback – I couldn’t view the comments on the mobile version, but I was using an emulator rather than an actual smartphone. Can other people view and post comments OK on the new mobile site using an iPhone or Andriod phone?
- Clyde shipyards at risk – news by year end
Just testing the comments function on the mobile version of the site.(Using an online iPhone emulator)
- Scottish Conservatives underline common ownership of Saltire
It is Scottish Labour that really needs to up its game dramatically if it wants to keep a credible presense in Holyrood in the 2016 election. What Ruthie and the Scottish Conservative Party do is of little relevance.According to Newsnet Scotland a recent poll shows Westminster voting intentions in Scotland as:
SNP 39%
Labour 33%
Conservative 16%
LibDem 6%
Others 7%If this doesn’t ring alarm bells for Labour nothing will.
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Big thanks to For Argyll for traveling down to Edinburgh to see us.
To all the marketing associations who helped fund this , their unpaid, but brilliant volunteers who turned up, and all the agencies involved….on behalf of Argyll and the Isles…Thanks heaps..what a show!
The only down side was the clutch on my car blowing up at Lochearnhead on the way home!!
See you in Glasgow next year!
Mike
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Sounds as if everything went even better than you could have hoped for. Pity about the clutch – was this Mad Max having his final comment on proceedings?!!!
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Congratulations on what appears to have been a positive experience, but without further ado straight on to serious business.
How will the performance of the show be measured, how will we know how many of the 200 buyers have actually converted to a sale? (I cant help with wonderful technology like the internet that Expo seems an expensive proposition, particularly for just 200 potential clients) How will this be reported and how will conversion values be ascertained. Where are the buyers from, what markets, and what areas are likely to benefit from the 200 contacts, I estimate it will be Inveraray and Oban AGAIN this year with Kintyre and Knapdale well and truly left out of the visitor agenda, if not avoided altogether. What representation did Kintyre and Knapdale have at Expo please?
Success isn’t measured in feel good factor and smiles, if that’s a measure of success, we have much to be worried about.
It might look good on paper, but when these 200 clients come to Argyll and see half the place up for sale, no jobs, no opportunities, no business support, boarded up buildings, severe states of disrepair such as appalling roads, and activities businesses closed or inaccessible, I can guarantee they wont be back again – i bet you didnt tell your potential clients that (trade descriptions act still applies Mike by the way! I do hope the product you were pitching was accurate.)
Seems to me like its easier for things like that to be ignored as inconsequential, but surely we should be dealing with the problems we face before we start trying to get thousands of people here to look at for sale signs, that to me says we have real problems, people can’t sell up quick enough (not everyone, but a large concerning number).
I’m sure this will probably get ignored or answered selectively, but I wouldn’t be gloating just yet, if Argyll cannot get big businesses to setup in Argyll without huge government incentives, it is unlikely that tourism operators will be any different being bunged all sorts in return for low value business.
Will it be show or no show… time will tell…
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Nick,
How about a good old fashioned dose of positivity and encouragement.
After all, many of the people who are part of this group, I believe, are unpaid and doing this out of their passion and drive for this area. Spending their own time and money to give their support.
There is a lot to promote in Argyll and the Isles. Can you really guarantee visitors who come to the area won’t come back again? They wouldn’t even come if the group were to highlight all the negative points you have mentioned.
Getting stuck into this group with your tirade is not beneficial and highlights the exact problems that can exist within many regions. It is true that in business, everything needs to be measured. I can bet with the level of industry leaders in this group, the ROI will be analysed to the extreme.
Not everyone in Argyll has your negative attitude. Some of us are delighted that a hugely influential group of industry leaders, with boundiful business experience have come together to ‘highlight’ and promote exactly what Argyll and the Isles has to offer.
Thank goodness people with your ‘black cloud’ thinking are not plentiful, otherwise initiatives like this would never have got off the ground.
Has anyone told you, in tourism, a smile goes a long way? Maybe you need to get out more and meet the people with the smiles and the healthy attitudes.
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Thankyou for the character assessment, or should i say assassination.
On the contrary to the above assessment, i have a positive attitude, but i am a realist and to make positive change it is essential to identify the negatives. It just seems to me that Argyll doers have a habit of bathing in positivity regardless of results, this is one occasion where i believe that self praise has not been earnt yet.
Further to the offensive ‘black cloud’ remark, im sure that those who suffer from depression, mental illness, or perhaps people who have taken their own lives in Argyll, and other places would be deeply offended by your remark. Which adequately demonstrates my point, that once again issues that need addressing are overlooked because they do not fit in with the positive attitude of those influential people, i see the ‘black cloud’ way of thinking as a positive not a negative, after all it takes people like us to step in and sort out the mess that other positive thinkers leave behind.
Again in response to ‘tirade’, serious questions are being asked and continue to go unanswered , i would categorise it as being persistent, certainly not abusive, are they important? That is entirely irrelevant, if all of us are being asked to place our faith in people to do a job that i think some of us can do better then of course our queries should be answered, certainly it is a responsibility of the group to deliver information for public scrutiny.
Do you know what, im not even going to bother to continue responding, your words show politeness, but conceal offence, its clear Argyll and the AISTP cant accept criticism, thoughts or opinions that differ to their own…. Capitalist Dictatorship in action again…
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Are AISTP supporting the new transit marina for Oban? They obviously love Portavadie, but are they supporting the development of Oban’s waterfront?
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Is anything being done for the equal opportunities and benefit of all Argyll areas? Perhaps thats why they are letting the roads get so bad, so that everyone has to come by boat!
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You’d better not say that in Kilcreggan, if you value your life.
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Have i missed something? How do you mean? Is that a threat or are people there passionate about getting roads improved? Not sure i understand.
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Have a look at ‘Kilcreggan ferry still off for 3rd May’
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Got it, thanks Robert, that’s definitely not an advert for relying on boat travel! I’ll take care not to offend with foul transport posts in future!
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Hello Scots renewable!
Yes indeed, AISTP is a consultee on the Oban Chord discussions and have encouraged the development of step ashore marinas in Oban. We have also contributed to and encouraged the development of the waterfront and a transport hub, through any TIFF arrangements.
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Hi Mike!
Thanks for being polite and answering my queries too, very much appreciated….
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I think a big ‘well done’ is due to the folks behind Argyll and the Isles for the launch of their smartfone App. I downloaded the Android version earlier this week thanks to a Google Alert popping something into my mailbox.
Finally, a unique and actually useful initiative designed for people visiting. I’m impressed.
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Grant, not sure that this was/is an Argyll & the Isles initiative as per the rest of this thread. It would appear to be a private venture but I may be mistaken (as it needs clarified). Another point would be that I’m not 100% sure its a local app developer, unlike others we have with the skillset in our region. On the positive, it is really encouraging development as publicly funded organisations & projects such as Argyll & Isles Tourism should stimulate investment from private sector, esp in improving the quality of product and the marketing of a product. They should not displace such activity, so lets hope this is an Argyll & Isles development and we don’t end up with another mobile optimised website or app etc. Well done to Catriona and anyone else that has supported this.
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Daniel
A story yesterday in the local Dunoon paper clarified it.
The APP was developed by MarineBlast, a company based in Dunoon. They’re the same folk responsible for the successful Apps for the leisure marine industry in the UK.
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