2011 Conference Topics & Speakers

The following speakers are expected to be appearing at the 2011 conference.

For speakers biographies, click here 

For Programme of Events, click here

For Speakers Presentations, click here

Exhibitors:

There are several exhibitor spaces remaining

Speakers Biographies:

ANN McCRACKEN

Ann McCracken is a Director of AMC2 and the current Chair of The International Stress Management AssociationUK (ISMA).  She specialises in developing a positive and resilient working culture in organisations by introducing effective strategies in performance and wellbeing at all levels.  The effectiveness of such a positive working culture is measured and assessed using the Corporate Diagnostic innovative surveys which include measurement of psychosocial factors, stress, wellbeing and resilience to stress.

Ann and her team provide training at Senior Management level to develop an understanding of the advantages of an assured and positively resilient working culture, taking this through the organisation to enhance managers’ competencies particularly in coaching skills and developing Wellbeing and Performance Champions within the staff.

She is also a Key Note/Motivational speaker and is in demand as a conference chair.

Having initially trained as a scientist, she carried out research and consultancy in Microbiology/Immunology in research establishments and hospitals.  She spent 10 years in Education before retraining as a Stress Management practitioner in 1996.  She is the author of Stress Gremlins©, regularly writes/broadcasts and is a lecturer at Westminster University in Stress Management Practice.  As a personal coach and therapist Ann has successfully supported over 2,000 people to regain a balanced life.

DEREK HATTON

Derek Hatton is best known as the flamboyant ex Liverpool Council Leader of the 80s.  Many will remember the Labour Party conference scenes with Neil Kinnock, the endless battles with Margaret Thatcher and the massive demonstrations he led against the Tory Government cuts in jobs and local services.  Today, Derek is passionate about health and wellbeing, is a keep fit fanatic, eats organic food wherever possible and takes 27 vitamins a day. He will be advocating that we exert personal leadership and take responsibility for our own physical, mental and financial health.

PAUL FARMER  CEO MIND

Paul Farmer has been Chief Executive of Mind, the leading mental health charity working in England and Wales since May 2006.
Mind is the best known mental health charity in England and Wales and is an influential voice on mental health issues. It was established in 1946 and has since grown into a major network with a turnover of over £30 million centrally. There are over 160 independent and locally managed Mind associations providing over 1300 local services in England and Wales, helping around 220,000 people every year with an additional turnover of around £99 million.
Mind is a partner in the Time to Change campaign, the biggest ever campaign in England to tackle stigma and discrimination around mental health. Mind provides high quality information, campaigns for equality for people with experience of mental distress and supports people to pursue their own goals and have a voice. User involvement is at the heart of its activities-over half of Mind’s staff and two thirds of its Trustees have personal experience of mental distress. Current campaigns in 2011 include Taking Care of Business, Care in Crisis and Access to Justice.
Paul is a member of the NHS Futures Forum, and the Harrington Review of the Work Capability Assessment.  He is Chair of the DCC, and Vice-Chair of the Talking Therapies Programme Board.  He is also a member of the CSJ MH Inquiry.
Before becoming Chief Executive of Mind, Paul was Director of Public Affairs for Rethink and was Chair of the Mental Health Alliance from 2001-2006.
Paul was a trustee for the Directory of Social Change, a campaigning voluntary organisation that provides the sector with training and publications and the Mental Health Providers Forum, an umbrella body for voluntary organisations supporting people with mental distress. He is also a member of the BBC’s Appeals Advisory Committee.

Rt Hon DAVID AMESS MP

David Amess has been at the forefront of the political landscape for many years and is currently part of the government’s working party on Health. He is the Conservative Member of Parliament for the constituency of Southend West and lives in Southend with his wife Julia and their five children.  He has been a member of parliament since 1983 and has represented the constituency of Southend West since 1997. He has been extremely active as an MP, sponsoring bills such as the Pet Animals Bill in 1990, the Abortion (Amendment) Bill in 1996-7 and the Warm Homes Bill which passed into law in December of 2000. 

PROFESSOR DAVID CLEMENTS of MEMON DEVICES

My education began in Mathematical Physics at Sussex University, from where I moved to Cambridge for a course in advanced study in mathematics and physics.  Following this I then completed a PhD in theoretical physics at Oxford, specializing in super string theory.  The next two years would be spent in Edinburgh for a two year post as a researcher in electromagnetic theory and phenomenology.  This period was an investigation of what the building blocks of electromagnetism and related phenomenology are all about, going above and beyond the current understanding of electricity and magnetism.  This would wonderfully coincide with a meeting with a colleague who put me in touch with memon.  In essence, my research and the memon approach put me in a position to see the nature and problem of electromagnetic interference from a radically new perspective.  Such a perspective, I believe, is a very important and ground breaking card to bring to the table for the issue of environmental electronic smog in a modern world of mobile phones, Wi-Fi and the plethora of technical radiations we’re exposed to.   Providing memon transformers and giving technical and support for them is now my occupation.

ALAN WHITFORD

Alan Whitford has over 20 years experience in the start-up and expansion of high technology businesses in Europe and is a frequent chairman and participant in European conference programmes. He has been published in a number of on-line and off-line media covering technical and strategic HR and Recruitment issues about how HR need to bring practices into their recruitment processes to get the right people in the right roles.  Alan served a 2 year term as an Advisory Board member of Hire.com, was a founding board member of the European Chapter of the HR-XML Consortium and is a founding member of the UK ORMC (On-line Recruitment Marketing Council).

ABBOT PAUL KING

Paul King is Abbott of the Dari Rulai Fa Yin Temple based in Chelmsford, Essex.  Paul was responsible for bringing World recognized Buddhist Master Dechan Jueren to England for the first time in 2007. Paul organized Dechan Jueren’s subsequent visits in 2008 including a series of 6 talks for Essex County Council’s Jiangsu Festival.
Over the past 3 years Paul has been taught directly by Dechan Jueren, in England, Ireland, America and most recently in China, where he spent  100 days in intensive study, including time at the World renowned Shaolin temple.  Paul’s aim is to help  bridge the gap between  the Ancient Wisdom of the East and the Modern World.
As Paul states ‘Stress has always been a fact of life, but the use of meditation to help with this has only been studied for the last 50 years in the West. Buddhist Masters have been researching and perfecting meditation techniques to help people for over 2000 years. It therefore makes good sense to utilize this knowledge.’
Paul has taught these techniques to hundreds of people, showing them how to incorporate the practice into everyday life. As Paul states ‘ you do not need to be Buddhist to benefit from these techniques. Just by practicing simple but proven steps, you can quickly and profoundly influence your health and daily life in a positive way’.