Speakers' Corner
This is the place to find all the most to update information about the key speakers at our events. This year's events have attracted some highly acclaimed speakers from a range of fields and you can find out more about them below.
Ray Hammond, Futurist is speaking at GIRO40
Ray Hammond is Europe’s most experienced and most widely published Futurist.
For over 30 years he has researched, written and spoken about how future trends will affect society and business. As global warming, globalization and the environmental threat continue to be priorities on the world’s agenda, Ray is one of a few commentators equipped to communicate how these massive challenges will affect our futures, the way we do business and the far reaching implications both socially, economically and politically.
Ray projects an inspirational and breathtaking vision of the future to help audiences navigate the hyper-competitive virtual economy. This vision is interpreted from a business, climate, social, political, and economic perspective providing a rounded view of how best to prepare your organisation for what the future holds.
Dr Steve Peters, Head of Sports Psychology for UK Athletics is speaking at GIRO40
Steve Peters is a consultant psychiatrist, bestselling author and Head of Sports Psychology for UK Athletics. In addition to his extraordinary success with British cycling, he has worked on twelve other Olympic disciplines as well as Premier League football and English rugby.
Steve began as a maths teacher, before switching to medicine and specialising in patients with severe and dangerous personality disorders. His focus is now on how the mind can enable us to reach optimum performance in all walks of life. Working with sports people at the top of their game, he gives them the confidence to come back from defeat and out-perform the opposition. Steve has been described as a “Genius” by Team GB cycling coach Dave Brailsford. Chris Hoy, Victoria Pendleton and Bradley Wiggins have all attributed their success to him.
In speeches as in his book The Chimp Paradox, Steve explains his method to help us understand and control our ‘inner chimp’ - the irrational, impulsive, seemingly impossible part of our mind that often holds us back. Examining motivation, confidence and communication, he shows that competition is as much in the mind as it is in the field or on the track - or in the office.
Alistair Darling is speaking at Life Conference 2013
Alistair Darling served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2007 to 2010, during the most turbulent and far-reaching economic crisis the world had seen for 60 years. He introduced the measures needed to avert a collapse of the banking system, and played a leading part in restoring stability to global financial markets.
Alistair worked as a solicitor in Edinburgh before being called to the Scottish Bar and entering Parliament. He became Chief Secretary to the Treasury in Tony Blair’s first Cabinet, moving to Work & Pensions, then taking joint responsibility for the Scotland Office and the Department of Transport. His final role under Prime Minister Blair was at the helm of Trade & Industry, after which Gordon Brown promoted him to the Treasury.
As Chancellor, Alistair Darling was widely credited with preventing recession from spiralling into a repeat of the Great Depression. By the time he left office, government borrowing was less than forecast, and unemployment and repossessions were both lower than many had anticipated. Looking forward he believes that Labour must stay in the centre ground, and that the country won’t be able to adapt to future needs unless both private and public sectors work together.