SPEECH FOR CIO CONNECT (Jun09)

I was invited to make one of two key note speeches at the Royal Society by CIO Connect.  CIO stands for Chief Information Officers and its members expertise is in information technology.   The them of the event was change - Climate for Change - Business in Transformation.  And my brief was to talk about how businesses will be affected by climate change and how they should respond.   I was then invited by CIO Connect to speak to businesses in Hong Kong in December 2009 - click here for link.

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OECD - PARIS (Jun09)

It was one of those conferences where people sit around the table with signs in front of them saying which country they're representing - and there were interpreter's boxes through glass panels above them.  This one in Paris was hosted by OECD and was all about consumer empowerment and responsible business conduct.  I was chairing a session about what consumer's expect.

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PRINCE OF WALES MAY DAY SUMMIT (May09)

The North West Regional event of the Prince of Wales May Day Summit was held in the Concorde Hangar at Manchester Airport.  Periodically the sound of aircraft almost drowned out the speakers.  And I had rather mixed feelings about sharing the room with the world's most polluting aircraft, however magnificent the engineering!   But the event was well attended with over 200 business people signing up to the Network's climate change pledge in Manchester. There was a real buzz about the place as the delegates were genuinely interested in what changes they could make to their business and exchanging information on what they'd already done.  I made a key note presentation encouraging individual and corporate action rather than waiting for either government or indeed technological progress to come up with the solution to climate change.

Click here to view the video

"I thoroughly enjoyed your speech and the real examples of how individuals at all levels can make a difference - very thought provoking and inspiring." 
 Raksha Pattni, Regional Director of Business in the Community

"Julia has an infectious personality which makes her a mesmorising speaker. Her speech at BITC's May day summit was compelling, yet told in a really engaging and humourous way.  Julia's passion and conviction really brought to life why we were all sitting there.  As a communications specialist I know how difficult it can be for speakers to get up in front of a large audience and 'be themselves'. If only we could bottle Julia's charisma!"   
Angela Terry, Triffid (brand and communications consultancy), (May 2009)

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SUSTAINABILITY AND RECESSION - PROCTER & GAMBLE (Apr09)

"Let me thank you for a really great and inspirational presentation at P&G Earthday in Geneva."

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VISIT ENGLAND - SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

VisitEngland with support from the national tourism organisations in Britain and Ireland hosted the first dedicated area on sustainable tourism at the Best of Britain and Ireland Travel Trade Forum (26 and 27 March).  I chaired the day's sessions covering topics including hotels, conservation holidays and green destinations.  The organisers said: "Your panels and moderation went very well - everyone was pleased and enthused."

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GREEN ORANGE (Sep08)

Mobile phones may not be top of your list of environmental concerns.  But the mobile phone operators are being challenged by their customers - particularly businesses - about what they're doing.  Metro Research was asked by Orange to do some research on this issue - and I joined them in giving a presentation at a workshop for Orange executives. 

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GREENGAGED - DESIGN COUNCIL (Sep08)

The Design Council launched their Greengaged week (15th-19th September 2008) with a Big Bang Breakfast.  Alongside me on the panel were Clive Grinyer of Cisco, Ed McCann of Expedition Engineering and Dorothy Mackenzie from Dragon.  We were their to talk about the role of design in sustainability and more specifically about the extent to which designers have a key responsibility in the fight to prevent climate change.  I think that designers are too focused on existing products and solutions but need to be more visionary in their thinking.  However, the challenge is to come up with good ideas for the planet that also make business sense - it's difficult to get companies on board if they can't see any commercial benefit for them.....

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KEY NOTE SPEECH AT THE OLGAS - ONLINE GREEN AWARDS (jul08)

I don't buy very much but what I do buy is mostly online - perhaps as much as 90% of my purchases, including food.   I discovered that the green credentials of home shopping only really stacks up with efficient delivery systems in place.  And that one of the most wasteful systems is timed delivery slots chosen by customers because it means a vehicle can't cover nearly as many households - so more trips and more emissions.  

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KEY NOTE SPEAKER AT RECKITT & BENCKISER EVENT (jul08)

Reckitt Benckiser's Carbon 20 initiative commits to a 20% reduction in carbon emissions by 2020.  The most significant thing about this commitment is that it includes the carbon emissions during consumer use, as well as in producing products.  Given that 90% of the impact of a surface cleaner is in our homes, this means there's a lot to be done in advising all of us on low impact cleaning.  For a start don't use a kitchen towel every time you have a spill!   This was one of many issues I talked about in my presentation to Reckitt Benckiser executives, meeting in Marlow.  I've since started advising Reckitt Benckiser on sustainability issues.

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SPEECH IN CROATIA FOR AISE (Jun08)

AISE - the European Soaps & Detergents Manufacturer's trade association invited me to speak at the annual conference, which this year was held in Croatia, near Dubrovnik.  I was asked to be provocative and the feedback was that my speech was 'well appreciated' and that 'it was good to have some challenging views".   See Blog for more.

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FOOD & DRINK INNOVATION NETWORK (Apr08)

"Julia Hailes is an inspiring speaker who really brought our seminar alive with her pithy personal insights, and funny stories, which she uses to push home important points.  Her talk was well liked by our audience."

Jeffrey Hyman, Chairman, The Food and Drink Innovation Network, Food Ethics Seminar, April 2008

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MERRILL LYNCH SPEECHES (Mar & Apr 08)

The Forward Planning seminar at Merrill Lynch for Global Wealth Management clients focused on entrepreneurship and women.  The panel discussion included Dr Rebecca Harding a founding partner of Delta Economics, Karen Darby the founder of SimplySwitch and Caroline Plumb the CEO of a rather inspiring research company called Fresh Minds.  I gave the key note presentation on my environmental career - but I was also able to talk about my entrepreneurial ventures which included selling daffodils and mushrooms as a child and inventing magnetic L plates! 

The second Merrill Lynch event I spoke at included a key note speech by Marjorie Scardino, in place of Anita Roddick - I've written about it in my blog...

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SHELL INTERNATIONAL (Feb08)

The speaker for a meeting of Shell communications executives cancelled at the last minute because she had lost her voice.  I was contacted by the speaking agency and replaced her.  My brief was to talk about energy issues. This included a 20 minute talk, followed by a Q&A session, further discussions over dinner, where I table hopped for each course and finally a summary to give feedback.  Shell's feedback was that they were surprised and impressed by my knowledge of environmental issues.

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