Year to View
North West Chapter: News | President | Events | Committee
"I was invited to attend the PSA on May 5th and felt very welcome by all that attended. It was very refreshing to meet a group of people who had a genuine interest in each other and in myself as a guest. They were very open to offering ideas, help and support. I am looking forward to future events!!!"
Andrew Allen - Managing Director Accreditfs
09/05/08
If you didn’t make it to the third NW chapter meeting of the year on 1st April, you really missed a treat. The North West Branch goes from strength to strength, with quality speakers and a lively membership.
Our April meeting began in its usual format of encouraging members and guests alike to share “What I know now that I didn’t know at the last meeting” snippets. Introduced by Martin Flett (and with the help of chocolates, which always add to the enjoyment of any event), everyone had centre stage for a few minutes. Whether it was about winning a new British record (congratulations to Martin for his new British Bench Press record), helpful hints on promoting your business or an exciting business success, the contributions set an enthusiastic tone for the rest of the meeting.
Giving great food for thought, Sue Richardson the ‘Chief Book Wizard’ from Word4ubislWord highlighted the key issues involved in planning to write and publish a book. With so many members now keen to reinforce their reputations by becoming
authors as well as speakers, Sue’s presentation was extremely helpful. She also offered to send everyone her ‘Seven Things You Need to Know Before You Publish Your Book’ guide and to have the opportunity for a free one hour consultation.
Our main speaker was US Memory Champion, international speaker and best selling author, David Thomas. After his keynote speech, David was interviewed by Will Kintish to find out the story behind David’s journey to the celebrity status he has now achieved. In our ‘Open Mike’ session, David invited questions from the audience, which generated a valuable debate. David gave us a sensitive and very personal insight into his world which made a great impact on everyone who was lucky enough to hear him speak.
Our next meeting is on Tuesday 6th May and we are hosting the National PSA Meeting on Saturday 28th June. After a summer break, our meetings resume on the first Tuesday of every month – 2nd September, 7th October, 4th November and 2nd December.
If you’d like more details or to book your place, just or ring President Eilidh Milnes on 07876 786784, or Vice President Debbie Catt on 07702 652976.
Hope to see you at the Radisson Manchester Airport at a North West Branch meeting soon. Debbie Catt Vice-President
Passion and Calamity at the Feb NW PSA meeting review
Well there I was looking at the agenda for the first PSA North West meeting of the new year, and I must admit to scratching my head and going to the place we all sometimes go, and found myself thinking, what’s in it for me? where is the value?
And then I remembered the Kintish catchphrase, ‘if you don’t go you’ll never know’, and simply set myself an outcome to have a good time and to be pleasantly surprised when I got there.
And what a VERY pleasant surprise I got!
The usual pleasantries were performed and celebrations announced.
First highlights: a very helpful rundown of just what really works with the media, from our very own PR expert: Debbie Catt. She exhorted us to STAND OUT and be different, and apparently the old standbys of having a very appropriate and humorous photo still catches the eye of editors everywhere, although I’m not sure I’ll be adventurous enough to dress up as a bug just yet, but who knows what the future may bring!
We also learned that most journos still favour fax over email, and as always, building a strong long term relationship beats the scattergun approach hands down every time, a very appropriate message for Valentine’s month. These are the high level highlights which may already be known to you, but space prevents me passing on the detailed must-have techno website names, and specific down to earth and practical techniques Debbie gave us - well you just had to be there!
And then another BIG surprise, may I present to you Mr Enzo Calamita as our main speaker. I must confess to being unaware of Enzo as a speaker before this evening, but I soon learned better! Polished, powerful and passionate. In fact VERY passionate, Enzo gave us a tour de force presentation that reminded me why I joined our illustrious profession.
And inspiring and uplifting it was too, encouraging us to ensure we allow people at all levels to contribute and build the team vision together, and how to do this in practice. Quotes galore, and facts underpinning his assertions, Enzo rolled us along at a fair clip, my favourite mental picture is that of ‘a leader without followers is merely out for a walk’!
We were reminded that good leadership is all about self-mastery, and then passing on who you are by your every thought, word and deed.
Very worthy of his PSA microphone award, and a great night out was had by all.
So the moral of the story is this, ‘if you don’t go, you’ll never know’ as a famous ex-accountant once said!
Gary Plunkett
National Convention Friday 7th to Sunday 9th November 2008
Chapter meetings: As a general rule these are the "first Tuesday of the month" - although there are some exceptions - see below:
- Tuesday 5th February
- Tuesday 4th March
- Tuesday 1st April
- Tuesday 6th May
- Saturday 28th June see Manchester National below
- (No meeting in July)
- (No meeting in August)
- Tuesday 2nd September
- Tuesday 7th October
- Tuesday 4th November
- Tuesday 2nd December
PSA NATIONAL MEETINGS
- Saturday 19th January 2008 London - The Holiday Inn, Regents Park
- Saturday 19th April 2008 Birmingham - The National Motorcycle Museum
- Saturday 28th June 2008 Manchester - The Radisson Hotel, Manchester Airport
ANNUAL CONVENTION
Friday 7th to Sunday 9th November, Marriott Forest of Arden Country Club
Professional Speakers Association
8 Wyaston Gardens, Willow Meadow Road, Ashbourne, Derbyshire. DE6 1HH
Telephone: +44 (0) 845 3700 504 Fax: +44 (0) 845 3700 503E-mail: