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There are just two weeks to go before the Early Bird tickets run out for the Offset2010 event for people working in or interested in the creative industry, students and recent graduates.

One of the event directors is Bren Byrne, an illustrator, who says that the event, which takes place on October 1, 2 and 3, is set to become an annual event. “We had such a positive response to it that we moved to the Grand Canal Theatre this year. Last year we sold out eight weeks beforehand.”
The three-day event, which is almost a one of a kind in Europe, is taking place in the Grand Canal Theatre which can accommodate about three to four times the number that last year’s event could - 2,000 in the main room and 300 in a second room.
This year, says Byrne, the range of speakers has widened and includes people in the advertising world, illustrators, photographers, graphic designers, animators. “There’s nothing really like it in Europe with a variety of speakers. Now there are conferences out there for typography or illustration but ours is a celebration of creativity rather than just one aspect of it.”
One of the coups for the organisers is George Lois, who Byrne describes as one of the original “Madmen” in the advertising industry. “He’s a real character and a lot of people are very excited about seeing him.”
The atmosphere of the event is great and Byrne says it’s an ideal opportunity for networking.
“There are 24 main speakers who will give either lectures on a subject or presentations on their own work, background, current projects. Then we have a second room where it’ll be less formal: Q&As, panel discussions, workshops featuring our speakers and also the wider Irish creative community.”
He gives the example of a workshop on advice on how to become an intern in a design agency as well as interactive self-promotion type debates.
Whether people want to attend for a day or all three, tickets are sold as a weekend ticket and people tend to come along for full days and join in the festival-type atmosphere.
See http://www.iloveoffset.com for details of tickets, speakers and schedules.