WeSpeak Bermuda, the organisation created by local women to coach and build female public-speaking skills and opportunities, is holding its second boot camp next month.

More than 100 women from diverse industries, careers and backgrounds took part in the group’s successful inaugural Speakers Boot Camp in April. Since then, the group’s roster of volunteer coaches has been working on an ad hoc basis offering training tips and skills for women who attended the session. WeSpeak also promotes inclusion of more women on industry panel discussions and as event keynotes.

This month, the group officially incorporated as a local non-profit company, WeSpeak Bermuda Ltd.

“We are so thrilled to see WeSpeak going from strength to strength — growing from the germ of an idea to this incredible reality — and we know its evolution has only just begun,” WeSpeak chairwoman Kathleen Faries said. “We are committed to building a dynamic platform for interaction between our coaches and boot campers, and also look forward to hosting our next big event next month.”

The second daylong WeSpeak Boot Camp will be held November 15 at Hamilton Princess & Beach Club. Target boot campers are professional women in mid to senior-level roles with ten-plus years’ experience in their field who want to advance their careers.

WeSpeak was launched to build skills and promote more public-speaking opportunities for women and held its first event April 17 for a sold-out crowd in Hamilton. Attendees took part in educational sessions as well as breakout presentations throughout the day aimed at building confidence within a supportive network.

The idea for WeSpeak was the joint brainchild of Ms Faries and fellow Bermuda-based insurance executives Kathleen Reardon, chief executive officer of Bermuda-based reinsurer Hamilton Re, and Kirsten Beasley, head of healthcare broking at Willis Towers Watson North America.

Part of the group’s genesis came from a 2018 survey it conducted that identified reasons for female reluctance to speak publicly. These included a lack of formal training, limited opportunities to practise, and little access to coaching and mentoring. Notably, although women polled realised effective speaking skills were integral to their career success, most felt ill-prepared or practised to excel.

Corporate supporters of WeSpeak include EY, as Platinum founding partner, and Estera, KPMG, Marsh, and MUFG Investor Services as bronze event sponsors. The Association of Bermuda International Companies also supports WeSpeak via its diversity and inclusion committee, along with Walkers and The Whitfield Group.

To register go to https://tinyurl.com/y3ukogm2 for the November 15 WeSpeak Boot Camp. To find out more about WeSpeak, e-mail events@wespeak.bm.