“The Art of Getting What You Want”
ALISON EDGAR, ENTREPRENEUR
Why is it easier to get what you want from some people that others? How do you gain confidence to achieve things you only ever dreamed of? Find out how in Alison Edgar’s Tedx Talk.
Alison’s debut book ‘Secrets of Successful Sales’ has reached the top of the Amazon best-selling chart and she’s been named one of the UK’s Top Ten Business Advisers and the UK’s #1 Sales and Marketing Adviser by Enterprise Nation.
“How the simple act of cutting someone’s hair can change more than how they look”
GED KING, BARBER
Mancunian ex-serviceman Ged King loves his city, but it broke his heart to see so many men and women living rough on the streets and he wanted to do something to help.
Ged’s a firm believer that when you’re going through a bad time it shows on your face, and if you clean yourself up you instantly feel better. Providing 1,000s of free haircuts and personal grooming to homeless people, Ged illustrates the value of giving your time to connect with people and how you can build a tribe by taking action.
“Parenting is not for cowards”
GERRIT BANTJES, FATHER
Gerrit played rugby with some of South Africa’s greats, he became a British paratrooper at the age of forty, is a Christian men’s ministry leader and once dared tell his wife that she did not need another pair of shoes. None of these things come close to the challenge of being a father.
In his work with national charity, Care for the Family, Gerrit has discovered three golden keys that not only make us more effective parents, but also make the whole task a lot less scary – for us and our kids.
“The gifts my grandmother gave me (and all the years it took me to receive them)”
CLARE POTTER, POET
Clare spent decades seeking to be more intellectual and spiritually expansive through various means, ranging from academic research to voodoo ceremonies in New Orleans. She will share how she finally received some unexpected answers in an unlikely place, from an unlikely person.
Wisdom isn’t something we need to go to extremes to find; everyone has a gift to share that can enlighten others.
“So you think slavery isn’t happening here? Think again”
PROFESSOR BELA ARORA
Slavery is alive and, right on our doorstep. Tens of thousands of people are trapped in modern slavery in the UK today, with British nationals making up the highest number of cases.
Slavery is a global phenomenon with a strong local dimension. This form of criminality and exploitation is taking place in plain sight and if we look closely we can spot the signs. We all need to be part of the anti-slavery movement.
“Creating illusions to make a real difference”
LLOYD BARNES, MAGIC CONSULTANT
Lloyd has an unusual job: he creates and develops magic tricks for magicians and performance artists all over the world.
Lloyd will take us ‘behind the curtain’, exposing the secrets to a lateral, holistic approach to working out what you love, what you’re good at and making it happen.
“Understanding societal change through the language of accounting”
DR GEORGE SALIJENI, ASTON UNIVERSITY
Far from being a passive measuring and reporting instrument, accounting is an essential tool in the construction of the world we live in. Its transformative nature is profound in many spheres of our lives.
The language of accounting is used to trigger and rationalise major change in our society, such as Brexit, and through this language we can make sense of where we are heading and why.
“Personality Prostheses”
ALAN DIX, PROFESSOR
Do you ever catch yourself saying “If only I was more organised” or “if only I was better at time management”? We recognise that we all have different physical abilities and intellectual aptitudes, but when it comes to personality or cognitive style we treat our differences as signs of moral turpitude.
Alan is Director of the Computational Foundry in Swansea University. His work and his talk suggest that rather than saying, “if only I were different”, we should try to help each person achieve their goals given who they are.