NEWSLETTER Issue Four - July 2011
A service that provides motivational speakers for schools. Helping teachers and inspiring students.
In this issue: Our Inaugural Year GEW Review New Speakers
Enter our monthly competition for your chance to win a free speaker www.schoolspeakers.co.uk
The Story So Far... School Speakers launched officially on 6th September 2010, just in time for the start of the new school year. We didn’t really expect to make much of an impact within the first few months, but we were blown away by the support we received from everyone. Before too long we had speakers all over the country inspiring students to aim higher. A few of the many highlights such as Global Entrepreneur Week in November saw Claire visiting 8 schools in 5 days, reaching over 5000 students and flying the School Speakers flag nationwide. From then on it was as though a switch had been flicked and the enquiries from schools started to flood in. So much so that we launched our very own apprentice search and found the rather fabulous Emily who has turned out to be one of the best investments we have made.
We have taken part in government run initiatives, been invited to sit in round table discussions with the Department of Education, and been the driving force in schemes such as Go Global and Tenner Tycoon.
In summary, our inaugural academic year has been breath taking, inspiring, hard work and we have loved every second! We are passionate about what we do, and we encourage any school, no matter how small their budget to try our service, a service that provides motivational speakers for schools – helping teachers and inspiring students.
Cat Yaffe Director of School Speakers cat@schoolspeakers.co.uk
Do you know about our referral scheme? Here at School Speakers we’re always looking for ways to give back, which is why we’ve created our referral scheme If you pass our details onto another school or college, who in turn book a speaker through us, you’ll receive a discount of up to 10% on the next booking you make. This is redeemable for individual speakers or on any of the Enterprise Days - see www.schoolspeakers.co.uk for more details.
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Bookings & Speakers The past twelve months have been a whirlwind of bookings and registering new speakers. We started off the academic year with little over 15 speakers and now have over 110 speakers registered ranging from ex–Apprentice stars, best-selling authors, and top young entrepreneurs in the UK all with real life stories to share with the young people of today.
This is clear evidence that social media is working well within the 21st Century. Our speakers have visited schools from Newcastle to Yorkshire, Manchester to Ipswich and Dorset to London. We have inspired and motivated young people on a variety of subjects including business and enterprise, careers, science and humanities.
Our speakers are all CRB checked and vetted with testimonials proving track records. We have recommended speakers on the website, who have proven to be popular with the students.
We really do have something for everyone, whatever your need, whatever your budget.
With the growth of speakers we have also had a growth of enquiries and bookings. We have never done any external marketing purely using Twitter, Facebook, monthly newsletters, e-shots and word of mouth.
Bookings are now being taken for the academic year 2011-2012, if you would like to make any enquiries or talk to someone about our speakers please call the office on 01924 277343.
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Tenner Tycoon Student Superstars! The UK’s largest enterprise initiative to date climaxed in a wonderful award ceremony in London. Winning students from all over the country travelled to the capital to meet Dragon’s Den star Peter Jones, entrepreneur Oli Barratt and businesswoman Claire Young – along with a number of MPs including Mark Prisk Business Minister who were there to shake hands & congratulate the young entrepreneurs on their successes.
After receiving their certificates and prizes students were whisked off to the Houses of Parliament for a VIP tour and afternoon tea! Over 28,000 students took part in Tenner Tycoon. They were given £10 each start-up funding to launch an enterprise initiative. The campaign will be back in spring 2012 and will bigger and better!
The New Recruit... My name is Daniel and I have just recently joined School Speakers. I have settled in well, but am still learning. My role within the business is to look after our speakers, old and new. We have a wide range of speakers from different backgrounds including Claire Young, Alex Epstein, David McQueen and many more. All of our speakers can be found on our website where they are categorised in which field that they specialise in. Some of these categories include Business & Enterprise, Gifted & Talented and Careers. All of our speakers tailor their speeches to everybody’s individual specification.
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We are currently sending all of our speakers a Code of Conduct to help ensure that they continue to keep up our high standards. All of the speakers that we work with are very professional, work with honesty and integrity at all times. They recognise all of the cultural and diversity needs needed within the school and represent themselves and School Speakers in a positive light. If you would like any further details about our speakers or about booking a speaker then please do not hesitate to contact the office on 01924 277343.
Global Entrepreneurship Week Global Entrepreneurship Week http://www.gew.org.uk/
A key date for your diary is week commencing 14th November which is GEW. Last year School Speakers spoke to over 1500 students during those 5 days! Claire Young toured the UK visiting a school in every region.
Please support this week with an activity. We have a range of enterprise days available on our website <http://www.schoolspeakers.co.uk/enterprise> ranging from Primary School ‘Pimp Your Pumps’ to ‘The Dragons Challenge’ aimed at secondary school students. You may wish to book a business and enterprise speaker to help kick off your event in style or run a student workshop as part of a day, we have over 115 speakers so plenty to choose from. Visit www.schoolspeakers.co.uk for more information.
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Get in Touch School Speakers Charles Roberts Office Park Charles Street Horbury Wakefield WF4 5FH
Contact telephone: 01924 277 343 email: enquiries@schoolspeakers.co.uk twitter: www.twitter.com/schoolspeakers facebook: www.facebook.com/schoolspeakers youtube: www.youtube.com/schoolspeakers