A key part of my work has been making speeches – at a wide variety of events from corporate conferences to campaigning events. I’ve spoken at trade association events covering products like chocolate, detergents, nappies, estates management and IT as well as made presentations for particular companies such as Shell, McDonalds, P&G, Orange and Reckitt Benckiser. Perhaps my biggest claim to fame was being the key note speaker at the Green Funeral Exhibition – or speaking alongside David Milliband (when he was Minister for the Environment) and Fiona Reynolds (Head of the National Trust) at a Question Time style debate. My style is light, accessible and often humerous.
For a list of my past speeches, please visit:
Past Speeches
My second speaking engagement in Istanbul. I was invited to speak at Green Business Turkey 2012...
The Ashridge building and grounds were spectacular. I was asked to speak to post-graduates doing an MSc in Sustainability and Responsibility by Ashridge Business School...
Ashridge Business School - www. ashridge...
As part of their ‘Remarkable Men and Women’ series, I was invited to speak to Laurel Springs online school. In the introduction I could see which parts of the world the children came from – mostly America but several in the Far East too...
What a brilliant slogan - Forever For Everyone. I was one of two outside speakers at the National Trust's sustainability workshop, which was looking at how to make this slogan mean something across the whole organisation...
In 2011, I set up E For Good, with Melinda Watson .We’re campaigning to reduce the amount of electrical waste (e-waste) as well as setting up systems to increase repair, reuse and efficient recycling. This is the focus of my work in 2012.
My second speaking engagement in Istanbul. I was invited to speak at Green Business Turkey 2012. The brilliant thing about this is that the event showed that many Turkish businesses are showing a real interest in sustainability issues. With over 500 delegates it was an ambitious event, aiming to help the audience understand what environmental pressures they’d be facing and how to turn potential threats into opportunities. Fellow speakers included Jeremy Leggett from Solar Century and Jo Confino, Editorial Director of Guardian Sustainable Business.
Melinda Watson and I travelled to Corby, not knowing what to expect for the Women in Action event, organised by Planet Aid. We arrived to music and a fashion show – promoting recycled clothes. Melinda was the first to take the platform. She talked about the illegal export of e-waste and its impact on developing countries – and explained how E for Good was campaigning on the issue. I then talked about the work of Haller in land restoration and promoting sustainable communities.
The Ashridge building and grounds were spectacular. I was asked to speak to post-graduates doing an MSc in Sustainability and Responsibility by Ashridge Business School. The programme was aimed at people already working in business and corporations, including consultants, activists, public sector managers and NGO professionals, which means there was a pretty mixed bunch. My talk was about my personal sustainability experience, but it soon opened into a more interactive session with lots of questions from all the other participants.
Ashridge Business School – www.ashridge.co.uk booked me over a year ago to come and talk to their MsC students, who are taking a 2 year masters in ‘sustainability’ and ‘responsibility’. http://www.ashridge.org.uk/website/content.nsf/wDEG/MSc+in+Sustainability+and+Responsibility?opendocument What a stunning place – a magnificent building with beautiful gardens.
I was lucky enough to have time to find out a bit about the students taking the post-graduate course. They came from very diverse backgrounds – some having worked for many years in business and others at an earlier stage. One African student had to participate by Skype because he’d mislaid his passport.
As part of their ‘Remarkable Men and Women’ series, I was invited to speak to Laurel Springs online school. In the introduction I could see which parts of the world the children came from – mostly America but several in the Far East too. I was the only participant from the UK. My brief was to talk about my life (link to About me page)– and in particular what sparked my interest in green issues. I started on a boat in the Caribbean where all the rubbish was thrown into the sea and I concluded by talking about e-waste and my new company E For Good (Link to summary of E For Good).