Speakers

We always like to welcome interesting and challenging speakers to the Lunch.
The speakers for the 2010 event are:

Emma Bridgewater

Emma Bridgewater Ltd is a proud British company owned and run by Emma (née Bridgewater) and her husband Matthew Rice.

This internationally acclaimed pottery brand boasts a multi-million pound turnover and creates more than a million pieces of ware every year.

Emma is the oldest daughter in a large family. Her mother provided the first inspiration for her as a designer, and her father who owned a publishing business, gave Emma an insight into entrepreneurial life.

The company was founded in 1985, when Emma was looking for a gift for her mother. She wanted to buy a cup and saucer, but could find nothing she liked; and so was born the glimmer of a business idea.

Armed with a few drawings she came to Stoke to find a model-maker – the rest, as they say, is history. At first she had her designs made under contract, but within a few years began manufacturing, latterly from an atmospheric nineteenth century canalside factory in the heart of the Potteries.

The Eastwood Works is still the focal point for all of their ceramic manufacture. It is the area’s sixth biggest pottery employer and many of her classic designs, including Polka Dot and Black Toast, have been adapted for application onto textiles, glass, tin, stationery and melamine along with the recent Aga and Fired Earth ceramic tiles.

Emma has proudly built the business from a one-woman band into a beacon for UK manufacture. Now the company is embarking on its next phase of growth. It celebrates its 25th birthday in 2010 and has grand plans to double its turnover to £20m by 2012 and continue to expand its range of designs.

It also plans to reinvigorate the site where the pottery is made – increasing visitor numbers from 20,000 to 50,000 people a year, making the factory Stoke’s best tourist attraction.

Ruby Wax

After three decades working on stage, television and radio, Ruby Wax has recently changed direction.

She qualified in Psychotherapy and studied in Neuroscience and now runs management workshops for business leaders enabling them to find a deeper and more direct level of communication with their clients and colleagues. Her workshops combine humour with scientific and theoretical learning and normally involve practical exercises. Ruby’s participants leave with a set of tools helping them create a climate of positivity, resulting in more effective teams, so directly impacting their organisation.

As Ruby says, “to engage with colleagues in stressful circumstances and positively motivate their actions through your own presence requires a deep understanding of yourself, your own potential and your ability to influence others. But where does this presence come from and how can it be harnessed to positively lead others? Credibility, authenticity and genuineness are characteristics that followers want from their leaders. But authenticity requires a willingness to take risks, stay open to fresh ideas and be completely present in a situation. To be successful you need to become aware of yourself, your people and the world around you. We can all talk at each other but rapport means reading under the radar below the words to understand what people really mean and being transparent enough for them to understand you. When you begin to relate as one human to another it helps build better teamwork, better connections with the public, your clients, your shareholders and your employees. It’s your humanness that works as a glue to hold relationships together, not your intellect.”

After arriving in Britain from America in 1977 and training as an actress, Ruby began her acting career with the Royal Shakespeare Company before developing her own brand. In addition to performing and presenting Ruby has written and edited numerous scripts for TV shows including Absolutely Fabulous.

She became one of the best known and popular faces on television. In her own unique and inimitable style Ruby has confronted Madonna, irritated Donald Trump and been intimate with Pamela Anderson, she is one of the few television personalities who has cracked Cannes and Hollywood. Her TV shows got under the skin of celebrity.

Ruby now speaks regularly at corporate conferences on leadership facilitation, where her sharp brain, wit and humour helps her get important messages across.

Clients have included:

BAe, Orange, The Welsh Assembly, KPMG, Skype, eBay, London Business School, Women in Retail, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Microsoft, Roffey Park, The Home Office, Johnson and Johnson Pharmaceuticals, Bayer Pharmaceuticals, GMT Communication Partners