UCS undergraduates organised women’s day conference

An International Women’s Day conference is taking place in Ipswich on Friday, March 7, and organised by UCS undergraduates.

The UCS event, titled, ‘Inspiring Change: Working Together to Achieve your Full Potential’ is taking place at Trinity Park Conference and Events Centre, Felixstowe Road, Ipswich,.

This is the ninth event in a series of conferences that focus on themes highly relevant to the contemporary business.

The conference has been project-managed by a team of final year undergraduates on the BA (Hons) Event, Hospitality and Tourism Management course at UCS on the Waterfront.

They are Gemma Algar, Amy Coughlan, Tuba Simsek and Madalena Matues.

Gemma Algar said: “We are really looking forward to it. It is open to the public and we would like to see them. Just contact the UCS website to get your tickets.”

The event will encourage aspiring leaders to use partnership opportunities to achieve success in life, study and work. It will also explore how organisations across the region may achieve gender balance.

The proportion of female directors on the boards of FTSE 100 companies has risen, according to latest data from the Professional Boards Forum (PBF). Women made up 20% of FTSE 100 directors in January 2014, up from 19% in October 2013.

The government wants 25% of FTSE 100 directors to be female by 2015.

“There is still work to be done, and this event is an opportunity to share positive stories to encourage, inspire and motivate all potential leaders, men and women, to achieve and succeed” said Amy Coughlan, student member of the project team.

The event is being organised in conjunction with a long established partner, Trinity Park Events, and will take place at the Trinity Park Conference Centre.

The project team has gathered an impressive group of inspirational speakers including: marketing, PR, and branding specialist Yvonne Thompson CBE, Adnams’ operations director Karen Hester, Conservative MP for Suffolk Coastal Therese Coffey, local entrepreneur and network leader of South Suffolk WiRE, Sue Hall, and chief executive of Dance East, Brendan Keaney.

Building on the success of the 2013 International Women’s Day event, tickets are already selling fast with one company booking 20 places.

The conference will once again provide an opportunity to network with other delegates, the speakers, workshop presenters and exhibitors.

Laura Locke, course leader of the BA (Hons) Event Tourism Leisure and Hospitality Programme at UCS said: “Our series of business-to-business conferences has gained in momentum since the first in 2006, and we are extremely grateful to sponsors Trinity Park Events and White Space for their continued support for the student teams in their professional practice.

“I am personally very excited that this year’s invitation to the ‘Inspiring Change’ conference will be extended to 6th form pupils in Suffolk, in support of the Raising the Bar project in raising aspirations for attainment and employment. We are so grateful for the support of Helen Oldfield of Affinity PR and the team from White Space for their continued support in this annual endeavour.”

Tickets are available from: http://onlineshop.ucs.ac.uk/