Early Years Speakers

[Guest]

I am looking for an early years speaker for a conference.

I want them to be able to cover the 0-5 age range, be easy to listen to, have lots of practical ideas, be inspirational and have the wow factor!

Any ideas?

[hali]

Sally Thomas

[Steve]

Hi Allyson -

 

What kind of conference (how big, who's invited etc.), and where is it going to be held?

[Guest]

Hi Steve,

It's a countywide conference for all 0-5 practitioners. There would be approximately 230 people. The speaker would be for about an hour and a quarter inthe afternoon.

Really want someone who can motivate and inspire people

[Guest]

At the conference earlier this year that our LA held we had Penny Tassoni, Sue Palmer and Margaret Edginton. It was all based around communication, language and lit and all three ladies were brilliant. However I have to say I found Penny to be outstanding. Really witty and easy to listen to (you def need that in the afternoon slot when everyone has had a bigger dinner than normal and are ready for a quick nap ) and out of the three I think she gave the most practical ideas that you could use back at your setting.

[Guest]

I went on a course recently with Jenny Mosley..... she was fantastic best course i have ever been on she had everyone in the room hooked on what she was saying... fantastic

[Marion]

Ros Bayley is highly entertaining and full of practical ideas.

I'm going to two conferences next month the first with Claire Warden and Sue Pearson the second with Chris Pascal Jan Dubiel and speakers from New Zealand (who's names I can't remember)

Edited May 27, 2008 by Marion

[Steve]

I went to one a couple of weeks ago with Kathryn Solly as the keynote speaker (from Chelsea Open Air nursery). She was very entertaining and motivational.

[Beau]

A couple of years ago I went to a Communicating with Young Children Seminar with Tina Bruce. She was very good, easy to listen to and good at getting everyone thinking and taking part.

[Guest Wolfie]

Helen Bromley - fantastic and very entertaining, she'll have you in stitches whilst at the same time getting very powerful messages across.

[HappyMaz]

Others I would add are Marion Dowling (she's written a training course on children's sustained shared thinking), Chris Pascal (co-originator of the EEL project) and Julian Grenier (head of the Kate Greenaway centre).

 

It depends what direction you want the talk to take, I guess!

 

Maz

[Guest Wolfie]

It'll also depend on your budget!

[Guest]

I ve heard both Penny tassoni and Roz Bailey and both were brilliant

 

For something a bit different both of these workshops were brilliant

 

http://www.puppetsbypost.com/

a brilliant guy called Peter Lockey and his puppets and how to use them within your setting

 

 

http://www.drumpulse.com/

 

A conference hall full of childminders playing percussion with boom -wackers .great fun,

 

Both very inspirational and definitley no snoozing after lunch

[Guest]

I've heard Penny Tassoni speak on 'Mark'Making' and she was very inspirational!

[Tigger]

I have been on several courses featuring Helen Bromley and not only found her inspirational each time but entertaining and full of ideas that are easy to achieve straight away as well as giving long term goals and aspirations.

 

Above all she obviously loves children and enjoys spending time chatting to delagates and sharing good practice.

 

We are very lucky in Suffolk as she now lives here!

 

Sharon

[Posy]

Sue Palmer came to our school to talk about early literacy, she was excellent, very funny and she likes to mingle wih her audience. Also had Neil Griffiths (story sacks), he is amazing, his 'how not to listen to children reading' is hilarious. Posy

[Marion]

I hear Sue Palmer speak at a Literacy conference and agree she was really entertaining and passionate in her subject. Really approachable and supportive.

[Guest]

We had Sue Palmer at our Early Years conference earlier this year and she was very passionate and very easy to listen to you could really relate to what she was saying.

 

Ros Bayley is a good choice, the courses I have been on with her have been very interactive and informative.

 

As mentioned earlier it depends on your budget as some people charge a lot of money for speaking at a conference plus there possibly travel and accomodation costs if you are expecting them to travel far.

 

It also depends if your conference has a 'theme'. Its quite difficult to plan if you dont. Our conferences are for 0-5 practitioners and we have a range of practitioners attending however we always have a theme from which to base the main speakers on, this year it was EYFS as that is what every practitioner was interested in and wanted information and support on.

 

Have you have a conference prior to this one? We get feedback to see what practitioners would like at the next conference and tend to work from that also.

 

 

Good luck im sure it will be a great sucess.

 

Paula

[Guest]

Hi Paula and everyone else who has responded

 

Our conference too is to launch the EYFS and the focus will be'Every Child is an Individual'

 

What exactly was Sue Palmer's focus and how long did she speak for?

 

Have you heard anyone else that's inspirational?

[Marion]

Well Sue Palmer may not be the best person for an EYFS conference as she is leading the OpenEYE campaign.

[Guest]

Steve,

relating to your response, what was th focus for Kathryn Solly's talk and what size was the audience?

[Guest]

Sorry I meant Lesley Staggs, we had Sue Palmer on our list of possible speakers before we decided on what theme our conference would take.

 

Our conference was about learning journeys and lesley spoke about how the EYFS was a learning journey for us as well as the children and how we should embrace EYFS etc. We had another speaker on the afternoon talking about first hand experiences.

 

They spoke for about an hour to an hour and a half and we had workshops on between these.

 

 

Paula