Hi Everyone,
As the months begin to rush away from us (or is that just me?) we are also racing towards our first Conference of the year – the IMPACT! Conference on Saturday 18th April and I’m looking forward to seeing so many of you there in Leeds – just 8 weeks away! If you haven’t already, you can book your ticket here.
We have a fantastic line up for you on the day, but that’s not all – there are also several peripheral events for you to enjoy on the Friday too:
The Fellows Day – 11.00am to 4.00pm all the Fellows are gathering for their masterminding day. BOOK ONLINE
The Professionals Afternoon – 1.00pm to 4.00pm the Professionals are all invited to meet together and learn from their peers as well as hear a wonderful speaker. BOOK ONLINE
The First Timers Event – 4.30pm to 5.30pm anyone who is attending IMPACT! for the very first time can meet to find out how to navigate the day, the networking and all the other events we are offering. This event is FREE – BOOK ONLINE
Emerging Speaker of the Year – 5.30pm to 7.30pm when the Regions will put forward the winner of the heat in their Region. Battling it out to be one of the final 3 who will compete in the Final on Saturday afternoon. This event is FREE – BOOK ONLINE
Afterglow – Because there will be such a buzz in the room following our amazing conference, you can stay on and continue the connection with your fellow members and guests. This event includes a buffet meal and lots of opportunities to chat and chill. BOOK ONLINE
Tickets are going fast, so make sure you’re booked in for this amazing event.
It’s time to say some huge THANK YOUs again. Firstly, I’d like to give a huge shout out to Mike Pagan who has completed his second term on the Board – this time as Foundation Director, during which he has raised tens of thousands of pounds for the Foundation. Mike is also currently the Global Speakers Federation Representative for the PSA and he will continue this role until the end of June 2026. During this time Mike has been passionate about separating the Foundation from the main Professional Speaking Association to ensure that fundraising for our members is secured and gives them better governance over funds that have been donated. The two associations are inextricably linked despite their separate identities as the Foundation is only there to support members of the PSA who need help in difficult times.
With the creation of the separate Foundation comes the creation of the new Board, comprised of Mike Pagan, Susan Heaton-Wright, Lee Jackson, and Peter Roper.
New roles within the Foundation are the new Pastoral Lead – Aoife Gaffney and a new Fundraising Lead – Cat Williams. Thank you so much to the two of you for stepping up into these really important and challenging roles. Welcome on board!
Even more changes are afoot and most of you will by now have been welcomed to your Regional Meeting by your new Regional Presidents.
I’d like to take a moment to thank all of the outgoing Regional Presidents who have done a fantastic job for us over the last year. It’s very easy to underestimate the amount of work that goes into an RP role, and so I want to say how grateful we are for you taking on these roles and giving it your all. Enjoy the time you can take now to attend the events without having to be the main organiser.
To all our incoming Regional Presidents and those who are continuing for another year, we welcome you with open arms and look forward to having you at the helm of the Regions this year. You are all our heroes.
There are several challenges coming up for the incoming Regional Presidents as well as for all of you, our amazing members, this year, one of which is the switch over to Sport80, our new management system. By the time the March events are being advertised they will all be powered by Sport 80. If you run into any difficulties at all in booking your events, then please try resetting your password and that should take you through to the right place. Of course, if that doesn’t work or you would like some help, please call into the office and we will do all we can to assist you. Call 0333 444 8910 or e-mail [email protected]
The language on the Sport 80 site tends to be a bit sports based and we are working on changing some of this over time. Please don’t be put off booking events just because it says you need to ‘enter’ the event. Trust me, we won’t make you compete in a competition if you hadn’t intended to enter!
The most exciting thing this year is that having been through a period of consolidation over the last 18 months, we are now ready to put our foot on the GAS. What does that mean for you?
G – We want to inspire you to GROW your speaking businesses and to GROW in confidence in your speaking so that you can really ramp up those speaking gigs. Encourage others to join you at your regional meetings and help us to GROW this wonderful tribe that we belong to in the PSA.
A – We want to ADD VALUE for you all in your memberships and at Regional Meetings and Conferences. The member benefits are being promoted in the weekly Podium newsletter, and we are looking at adding more benefits that enhance your speaking businesses.
S – Is for SIMPLIFY. Complication leads to problems and to overspending. We are great at creating wonderful ideas and opportunities, and sometimes they cause our cost of doing business to increase past its usefulness. This year we will be reviewing our processes and website interactions to make things simpler for you to gain the best value from your membership and the fabulous events that we put on around the UK and Ireland.
In order to spread the load of the work that takes place behind the scenes, we will be launching a recruitment drive for all sorts of great roles that you might be interested in. Please watch out for further information – all roles will be announced at the same time so that you can properly assess which one is for you. It is going to be very exciting to grow our team.
So, lastly, please help me and the rest of the Board and our volunteers to put our foot on the GAS and make the PSA an even better place to be.
I look forward to seeing many of you at IMPACT! and if you want to reach out then I’m always here for you. Send me a message at [email protected].
With Best Wishes,
Yvonne Emery
Chair
The Professional Speaking Association UK & Ireland.
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