Er….what was Phase One again?
We got started! In 2013, we held our first awards ceremony at the IATEFL conference in Liverpool, this website was launched, and we had many supportive messages, and people passed on the news that we existed on the various lists and networks that they belong to. People sent in their names and photos to be added to this website. Every month, a new post went up on issues, organisations, books and events related to women and public speaking. So Phase One of this lively venture was, happily, very successfully completed and still continues. And we also gained a fillip from the British Council by being short-listed for one of their 2014 ELTON awards! Yippee!

So what’s Phase Two about then?
If you’re working on a vision of something, a campaign of some kind, you can get so involved with the practical side of short-term aims – the details of emailing, writing articles, contacting people, booking rooms, organising events, setting up a website, blogging, and so on – that you can lose sight of where you want to go next.
So, after a ponder, I began to think about the next generation of women plenary and keynote speakers. For this, a webinar seemed a great way to proceed.

The IATEFL Leadership and Management Special Interest Group kindly agreed to put on a joint webinar with The Fair List on September 13th, 2014. It was called ‘Preparing for your first keynote talk or plenary’ and was aimed especially at women thinking about dipping their toes in these waters for the first time.
It was advertised like this:
Are you a woman who would like to increase your profile in the ELT world? Can you see yourself delivering a keynote speech or plenary, now or at some time in the future? Would you like to get in contact with other women in your position? If so, why not join the webinar?’

Our speakers were Susan Barduhn and Simon Greenall, both very experienced plenary speakers and Past Presidents of IATEFL. The event was sponsored by NILE, hosted by Jenny Johnson of the IATEFL LAMSIG and technical support was given by Mercedes Viola. All those attending the webinar also had the opportunity to put in a proposal for a webinar of their own to Cambridge English Teacher (CET).

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If you would like to watch the webinar yourself, or if you have a friend or colleague who would like to, here is the link: http://iatefl.adobeconnect.com/p6ybav71815/
Happy viewing!

There’s more to Phase Two of course but I’ll write more about that later.

Tessa Woodward
Founder of The Fair List