Speakers share business insights at Superwoman
EVERY October, on the morning after Superwoman has taken place, I think to myself, “How am I ever going to pull together speakers as amazing as that for next year’s event?”
But then, over the course of the following months, the speakers for next year somehow find me.
The late Rhodri Morgan described Wales as a small, clever country back in 2009 when he stood down as First Minister.
We’re not only small and clever. We also love meeting new people and talking, and at most social or business events there is someone with a great story.
It’s not even necessarily me who is attending those social or business events. I regularly get emails telling me about someone who would make a great speaker for Superwoman.
That’s how Rhian Burke came about as a speaker for this year’s Superwoman, which being held at October 19 at Yr Hen Lyfrgell in the centre of Cardiff.
A client of mine who lives in Buckinghamshire was at the JustGiving awards ceremony in November 2016 and met Rhian, who had just won the award for Outstanding Commitment.
He was surprised we didn’t already know each other because he’d been in corporate hospitality at Lords in London earlier that same year and a schoolfriend of mine was on his table, leading him to conclude we are such a small and clever country that we are all on first-name terms.
The charity that Rhian founded, 2 Wish upon a Star, which raises funds to improve bereavement services, is also this year’s chosen charity.
Our other speakers at Superwoman this year are:
Aileen Richards, nonexecutive director of the Welsh Rugby Union. A previous speaker at Cardiff Business Club, Aileen grew up outside Cardiff but her career was in the USA with Mars Incorporated. Now living in London and occupying herself with nonexecutive board work, Aileen is going to share a few leadership reflections on how to get to and stay at the top of a multi-billiondollar global business.
Auriol Miller was appointed director of leading independent thinktank the Institute of Welsh Affairs in autumn 2016. She is drawing on her experience of working for almost 20 years in international development in five different countries, where she met women working in public life who inspired her to talk about resilience. What is this quality and why does it matter?
Catrin Pascoe joined the Western Mail as a senior reporter in 2001.
She became editor of the South Wales Echo in July 2014 and then editor of the Western Mail in March 2016. Catrin is talking about being a newspaper editor in a digital age.
Steve Dimmick is cofounder of doopoll, the engagement platform that won the Sir Michael Moritz Tech-Start up Award at the 2016 ESTnet awards. He runs the city’s most popular book club, CardiffRead, and until stepping down earlier this year was one of the organisers of the extremely popular Ignite Cardiff talks, where he was known for his entertaining and colourful compering.
Steve loves working with people who are using technology for good and who are not scared of doing things differently. He is talking about radio guidance systems, poll tax, Syria and yacht racing.
If you would like to join us, the price is £35 with net proceeds going to 2 Wish Upon a Star. More details at www. superwoman.org.uk