We had a good turn-out of members and guests for our final session of the year – Christmas Drinks.
Davy’s put on a good selection of food and as the conversation flowed so did the wine (or was it the other way round?)
We’re now finalising the speaker list for next year with an interesting range of speakers with different backgrounds. Our first session in 2019 will be with Richard Hagen, who runs a publishing business that helps first time authors to plan, structure and create their books as well as get them to market. Of interest to many of us who feel we have a book inside us – but need some help to make it real.
In February we have Prof Ruth Bender, a leading expert in finance and governance. She will be talking about what is going wrong with corporate UK and has some interesting ideas on how this could be addressed. In March we stay with business as a theme, but this time with start-ups. Christian Rodwell has a background in the music industry but now runs Escape the Rat Race helping people start their own businesses.
In April we have one of our own. Ges Ray, who many of you will know as an excellent public speaker, will be sharing some of his techniques. He has also just published a book – with Richard Hagen – so can also share some of his experience of this with us.
In May we are trying something different when we run an executive simulation of a Cyber Security attack. Two security experts – Anjola Adeniyi and Kevin Duffy will be facilitating this, which should be a challenging but fascinating evening.
In June we’re back to the business theme with a presentation from Simon Lawson who has built a £100m business from scratch – and has done so using Quaker principles.
The rest of the year includes more speakers and our 20th Birthday Party! Details to follow.
I’d like to thank everyone for their participation this year and look forward to meeting more of you during 2019. XTEND exists for its members – so please let any of the committee know if you have any suggestions for speakers or events.
Have a great Christmas and New Year – and see you on the 9th January !
Calum Byers
Chair, XTEND
If you are a member, look in the Library section of the XTEND members’ website to see speakers’ presentations.