It was an enormous honour to have received invites to such a prestigious event as the Institute of Directors 15th Annual Convention. The Director General, Simon Walker, an incredible man, very, very kindly invited us as his personal guests - it became a date in the diary that we've been looking forward to since all summer!
At this point we had no idea who was on the line up. As soon as we heard that we'd be hearing from Anya Hindmarch, Sir Charlie Mayfield, Lord Mandelson, Lord Lawson, Sir Ranulph Fiennes OBE, Matt Brittin, Simon Stevens, Richard Scudamore, David Miliband, Josh Lewsey and Ian Ritchie, it's fair to say that our excitement went up a few notches!
The event ran all day, with around 1,000 people attending in the glorious Royal Albert Hall.
The IoD's main mission for the day, was to leave us Directors feeling inspired, revitalised and passionate about our jobs and roles within the business community. IoD - you did just that, in spades!
Following with a different kind of politics was David Miliband, now President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee. His organisation's work was not only eye-opening but also very moving.
As keen rugby fans, we were especially excited to hear what Josh Lewsey, former Rugby World Cup 2003 winner and Ian Ritchie, Chief Executive of the RFU, thought about what rugby and business can learn from each other. The answer - quite a lot!
The final speech before lunch was Matt Brittin from Google. He made us all think when he said: "The 'www.' is what we want, where we want, when we want".
In between the incredible panels and discussions, we got the lunch box of all lunch boxes!
The Albert Memorial in Hyde Park was turned into an IoD lunch box central, so uniformed it could have been a commercial!
Topped up on food and wine, we took full advantage of BMW's showcase! May have climbed into a couple and got carried away...!
Best of all, we got to spend our lunch break with one of our business dad's, the absolute babe and truly amazing Paul!
Food and car time over, we couldn't wait to head back in where our favourite conversation of the day was waiting for us - a conversation with the one and only, incredible, amazing, role model, Anya Hindmarch!
Lady Barbara Judge OBE, IoD Chairman spoke passionately about the role of women in the work place, something that both of us could strongly relate to, being in a very female industry!
Wrapping up, serial world record breaker and one of the world's greatest explorers Sir Ranulph Fiennes OBE, took to the stage. Who knew he was actually a stand up comedian! He had the entire Royal Albert Hall in stitches, recalling his many adventures, with incredible true British dry, sarcastic humour - his talk about 'Business beyond Boundaries' put many things into great perspective - what an honour it was to hear of his many, inspirational and courageous adventures!
All in all, the day left us with a sense of British pride and pride in the people that lead us in terms of business, politics, retail, science and knowledge. We are truly lucky to have such leaders in their industries! Thank you, to Lady Barbara Judge OBE, Simon Walker, Jimmy Mcgloughlin and the whole team at the Institute of Directors and the Royal Albert Hall for such a memorable, and fantastic day.
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