Day two was a brilliant success!
Day two of my summit like the first was a success and the 20 – 25 people that returned for the second day arrived full of energy.
The day started with me explaining the layout of the day and introducing the two journalists from the previous day and our three experts for the today.
Journalists, Anita Jaynes and Liz Perkins both returned for the second day of the summit.
The first speaker of the day was Julianne Ponan MBE the CEO of free-from snack brand, Creative Nature, who shared her story of living with the danger of suffering anaphylaxis brought on by food allergies and how she copes with this. She also talked about how she started her business in her early twenties and has since built her business into one with a seven figure turnover. Julianne is an ambassador for many charities linked to anaphylaxis and she shared the importance of PR and how she uses it in her business.
Taz Thornton, motivator, author, empowerment and visibility coach, spoke next, talking about the importance of our personal branding; the fact that you are your brand. She also reiterated the importance of not letting things like Mark Zuckerberg get in the way of you using Facebook for business, considering that’s where most people inhabit!
Over lunch as on the previous day, we had a chance to mingle with each other, the journalists and the speakers.
Our third speaker was Stefan Thomas, a professional keynote and conference speaker, who talked about the importance of professional speaking for your business, and how to present yourself from the stage.
All three speakers shared their own success stories, which were fascinating and inspirational to hear. After each of the speakers shared their expertise and information, there was time for questions from the room.
The next event of the afternoon was working towards our own Dragon’s Den-style pitching session.
The Dragon Den’s panel consisted of Anita, Liz and Julianne, who actually appeared on the real Dragon’s Den herself.
All of the attendees were given half an hour to work out what they wanted to pitch to the panel, if they wanted to take part. Over 20 people showed an interest in sharing their pitch, and 17 people had the opportunity.
Each person had 5 minutes to pitch their story to the panel, after which they received immediate, actionable feedback.
The people who pitched their stories were brave, although they knew that what was said during that session would stay in the room. There was a lot of emotional feeling in the room, and tears from several people and not just those telling their stories.
Journalists can turn your stories into headlines, but they need to have them presented to the in a clear way so this session was invaluable to help people understand the importance of refining pitches for maximum impact.
From the feedback I’ve already received, the summit was a great success, and I’m already planning one for 2026. A £100 plus VAT deposit will secure your place for the two days and a VIP dinner in between. There are a maximum of 35 places for each day.
Three attendees to the summit are already in discussions with the national journalists who attended with stories relating to their expertise or their life experience.