I’m an experienced public speaker, trainer and facilitator and can offer a number of different talks and presentations for schools, universities and companies. I bring a mix of personal stories and professional expertise, solemnity and humour, big dreams and down-to-earth pragmatism.
A selection of past and future events:
- Digital Nomad Conference – 7in7, Barcelona
- Career Taster Session Day (Years 10-11) – ACS International School, Cobham
- Proactive, Empowered and Confident Freelancing – a Museum Freelance event, London
- Career Talk (Sixth Form) – Sir William Perkins’s School, Chertsey
- Career Fair (Years 9-11) – ACS International School, Egham
- Managing Your Career – Police Now, London
- Building Business Culture – Inneco, Thessaloniki
- Women’s Empowerment Summit – Heather DeVore, virtual
- 3-day discovery – Startup Academy, virtual
- Travel Storytelling Festival – Percity, Brussels
“Anna was our opening speaker and we couldn’t have chosen a better speaker to kick off our conference! She was engaging, approachable, fun, and managed to synthesize a lot of ideas into 30 minutes that really helped open our attendees up and help them prepare for the rest of the event. I would absolutely recommend her!”
– Kit Whelan, Co-founder of 7in7 Digital Nomad Conference“Anna’s keynote speech and workshops combined inspiration and actionable advice at our careers event. Our officers were equipped with a set of tools to help them manage their career proactively. Anna was great to work with, flexible to our needs and I would definitely recommend her as a speaker.”
– Alex Bingley, Leadership Delivery Manager at Police Now“Anna came in to talk to our students about making the right career choices. She instantly connected with the students and tailored her talk to suit their current circumstances. The feedback from students following her talk was overwhelmingly positive. She had brought up aspects within their choices that they wouldn’t have considered.”
– Lucy Haley, Head of Careers, Sir William Perkins’s School“Anna presented enthusiastically to students (ages 15-18) … She engaged well with the students and received some great feedback:
‘The way she explained was very powerful and made me think hard about how I am going to deal with my career in the future.’
‘I enjoyed this session as it both talked about a specific career and also focused on more technical aspects and tips on how to approach work.’
We look forward to welcoming Anna back again soon!”
– Alex Bailey, Alumni Relations Manager at ACS International Schools“Anna was a key participant in our panel, attended by students interested in a future career in Management and Consultancy. She drew on her firsthand experience to provide invaluable advice, giving insight into an alternative career path in the industry. Her answers to the questions that were posed during the panel were engaging and inspiring and a number of students have since approached me to tell me how worthwhile and rewarding they found the event. Throughout the day she also helped a number of students with constructing their CVs, advising them on how to present themselves to prospective employers. The students who participated in these sessions benefited hugely from their discussions with Anna and are hugely grateful for her priceless assistance and expertise.”
– Connor Beattie, Careers & Academic Affairs Officer, Magdalen College“Anna delivered a workshop on “How to get what you want from your freelancing business” at a recent event I organised for the Museum Freelance network I co-founded. There were 50 people attending, ranging from people thinking about freelancing and at the early stages in their careers, to very experienced consultants. Anna’s presentation had something for everyone and was motivating and thought-provoking. She is a confident, warm and approachable speaker.
A couple of typical comments in a delegate survey were: “Great speaker, extremely inspirational, struck lots of chords with me, exercises were very useful.” and “Really inspirational and loved the simple planning / reflective tools Anna introduced.” I have already recommended Anna to some other networks and would love to book her again for future events.”
– Christina Lister, Co-founder of the Museum Freelance Network
Below is a selection of the topics that I can cover in a conference keynote, a corporate offsite event or a seminar, and I can also provide a tailor-made presentation or workshop to meet your specific needs.
Keynote: Redefining Success
The uncertain economic situation along with a changing work landscape has transformed the conditions for success in our personal and professional lives. It’s no longer a question of staying comfortably in the same job until we retire, while the boundaries between work and home have also blurred. In this talk, I argue that we must become proactive and take ownership of our own careers. We must open our minds to different options, challenging our assumptions and taking calculated risks; we must make sure that we’re constantly developing our skills via lifelong learning that will ensure that we’re competitive against our peers, not just locally but globally; we must take responsibility for the direction of our own careers, making meaningful connections and building our personal brands; and we must do all this with passion and conviction, as we craft our own versions of our most fulfilled lives.
Keynote: One Step Outside Your Comfort Zone
As we grow older and supposedly wiser, our comfort zone – an imagined area outside of which we’re afraid to operate – inevitably shrinks around us. In this talk, I challenge the audience to take just one step, and then another, and then another, to ensure that they continue to grow and develop. With each step, each action we take, we will move towards our goals, our authentic selves, and, ultimately, towards our most fulfilled lives – whatever that means for us. Just one step outside…
How to Choose the Right Career (for schools and universities)
Also available as a workshop
From a very early age we’re painfully aware of the importance of choosing the “right” path, the Career with a capital “C”. Unfortunately we often make the “wrong” choice, based on other people’s expectations and a misguided sense of what we “should” do. In this talk, which can be tailored to pupils at secondary school right up to students in their final year at university, I highlight the factors we need to consider when making these decisions and how to avoid making choices that we’ll regret further down the line.
WORKSHOP: How to Achieve that Elusive “Work-life Balance” (for companies and their employees)
I’m a big fan of work-life integration, where we enjoy our professional endeavours and spending time with our colleagues just as we have fun while working hard on our personal interests in our time “off”; a sense of balance across different areas of our lives, and our different priorities. The first step towards achieving this kind of balance is to define what is important for you, that is, your own definition of what you need to balance in order to feel happy, healthy and fulfilled in your life. In this workshop, I’ll help your employees get clear on what those different areas and priorities are, and find pragmatic ways to achieve this balance in their day-to-day lives so they get better results at work and at home.
WORKSHOP: How to Get What You Want from Your Business (for freelancers and entrepreneurs)
Many of us choose to work as freelancers or entrepreneurs so that we can have more freedom and flexibility, or so that we can work towards some greater purpose or mission; and yet we soon get caught up in the day-to-day operations of the business and lose sight of those objectives. Others have never even asked the question as to what it is that they want. In this workshop, I’ll help you to visualise what it is that you’re trying to achieve, set specific goals from the long-term down to the immediate future, and put in place an action plan to help you to get there.
WEBINAR / WORKSHOP: Establishing Your Personal Brand Online (for freelancers and entrepreneurs)
I’ve written articles that have had half a million views, I’ve been interviewed internationally on various podcasts and blogs, and I’m consistently in the top 10% of most viewed profiles on LinkedIn. Establishing your personal brand is absolutely critical in today’s world of work, whether you’re a corporate employee or an entrepreneur. In this talk, I’ll guide you through why it’s so important to build your own platform, and how you can make sure that you stand out – for the right reasons.
Get in touch to book one of these topics or to request a bespoke talk that meets the specific needs of your theme or audience.