A Warm Welcome from ‘Somewhere Near the Middle’

Some confusing geography from East Midlands Regional President, Pam Burrows

“Where actually IS the East Midlands?!” ask people from the north, south and the west!

Well, bearing in mind our East Midlands airport is called ‘Nottingham Airport’ when it’s actually in Derbyshire and on the cusp of Leicestershire, you’re forgiven for being confused!

Then there’s Robin Hood. The one thing people know about this fine area is that Robin Hood came from Nottingham.

Except he didn’t; his arch enemy the Sheriff was the Nottingham resident, while Robin and his merry men were busy frequenting the forests of Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire and South Yorkshire.

So where on earth are we?

That brings me to the Professional Speaking Association’s East Midlands Region. Our members travel from as far south as Northampton and Peterborough and pop down from Sheffield, as well as the standard Derby, Leicester and Nottingham East Midlanders.

Of course, we’re meeting online at time of writing, and that’s meant we also gather interested parties from even further afield. We meet to hear keynote talks, showcase talks and get stuck into fun and valuable discussions too.

At EM PSA we set out to make sure our sessions are mostly interactive and directly relevant to our speaking and our businesses. Our focus is ‘Growth’, so there’s often useful content that we can directly apply.

There’s always cake (yes, even when online!) and always a warm welcome to everyone who comes along. Guest speakers are awarded the Golden EMPSA (which looks uncannily like a cheap Oscar rip-off.)

We’re known for being a friendly region, and the baby of the family, being the latest of 13 UK and Ireland groups. We launched in December 2018. Our founder, PSA Fellow Adam Harris, is so well known for making things happen (but not necessarily in the most conventional way), that when he and his family emigrated to New Zealand, we launched a regional award in his honour. The Adam Harris JFDI Award is for anyone taking a brave foot forward without having all their T’s crossed!

If you’re thinking of making us your regional home, or just popping in for a meeting or two, be assured you’ll be welcomed as one of our mixed, fabulous and slightly bonkers, family!

Making everyone feel a part of things is one of our core values. After all, if people don’t even know where we are, we should at least be nice to them when they turn up!