Business public speaking that educates and inspires
I've been privileged to speak at a wide variety of events over the years.
Whether it is providing business motivation, delivering a technical presentation, or taking part in a panel and debating issues and answering queries, I walk away each time inspired by the people I have met and the stories that I have heard. I've learnt that public speaking is not all about me - it's about the audience.
Whether I be speaking to Government departments, private corporations, networking groups or Council forums, the one essential element is ensuring that the content is not only relevant and resonates with the audience, but is also realistic and motivating.
Writing for Different Mediums
As businesses and individuals, we are communicating through more mediums than ever before. This session looked at how Councils communicate through different mediums such as letters, emails, newsletters, social media and press releases with a focus on understanding different techniques for the different mediums.
2013 Women With Altitude panel: Marketing and Branding, and How Entering a Business Award Will Help Your Business
Sitting on a panel with some of Sydney's most leading and inspirational business women, we discussed the complexities of marketing and branding for small businesses, with a particular focus on the in's and out's of business awards.
2012 WorkCover NSW SafeWork Awards Ambassador
As part of turning Production Automotive into a profitable business, we also had to ensure it was a sustainable business. After working closely with WorkCover NSW as part of their Small Business Mentor Program, I was able to take our WH&S processes and procedures to a nationally-competitive level, and was awarded
Best Workplace Health & Safety Practices in a Small Business at the
2011 WorkCover NSW SafeWork Awards.
As a direct result of our practices, I was asked to be an Ambassador for the NSW WorkCover SafeWork Awards, which was a role I thoroughly enjoyed!
2011 Sydney Women's Leadership Symposium: The Challenges of working in an environment with low gender diversity
Discussing
the challenges of working in an environment with low gender diversity, Mel was part of a panel that also included Pippa Hallas (CEO of
Ella Bache) and Dianna Ryall (MD of
Explore for Success and former MD of
Apple Australia). We discussed and debated concepts such as:
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How does gender diversity look in your workplace? What is working? What are the challenges?
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Boys Club/Girls Club - what does it look like and how do we manage it?
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Do we have to "learn how to lead like a man"?
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What can we do about promoting diversity generally?
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What are the issues with career breaks, what can we do about it?
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What are your views on targets/quotas?
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What can we do about "unconscious bias" in both men and women?
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How can our workplaces be more inclusive?
2011 Hunter Business Women's Network
As the Keynote speaker for the
Hunter Business Women's Network May 2011 event, I spoke about my experience in changing careers and moving from corporate to small businesses. The focus of my presentation was explaining how the development and introduction of innovative work practices (underpinned by pro-active change management) resulted in significant financial business growth, as well as explaining how efficiencies resulted in the business achieving a national score of 99.68% for customer relations and service.
2010 Penrith City Council Gender Equity Forum
The 2010
Penrith City Council Gender Equity Forum was designed to train and educate staff at all levels within the Council on pro-active solutions for ensuring gender equity within the workplace.
Given my success in implementing such objectives in a male-dominated industry with
Production Automotive, I was a keynote speaker discussing the development and ongoing management of gender equity initiatives from a small business perspective.
