Ellee Seymour

I watched David Dimbleby on Question Time particularly closely last night because I am in the hot seat today chairing a discussion with the Archbishop of York and Cambridge entrepreneurs.

I really enjoy meeting inspirational people, and I know they will not be in short supply today.

It is the first time I have ever done anything like this, I am well out of my comfort zone, but I accepted it as a personal challenge to develop new public speaking skills.

I wrote about it here, please wish me luck ….

Update 7pm: I can tell you now that I really enjoyed it and felt more than a bit of a fraud sharing the top table with two very talented and inspirational speakers and entrepreneurs, Alan Barrell and Mark Treherne, as well as the distinguished Archbishop, who had a croaky throat and felt under the weather, I really feared he would be unable to deliver his speech. I didn’t have a contingency plan lined up, but the power of his voice thankfully returned. 

He spoke about the importance of wisdom - and praised his mother for being one of the wisest people he had ever met (aren’t they always?). He believes business can make a huge and positive difference to our lives. But if you believe business and politics is dirty, then you end up with bad business and politics.

And he talked about how he ruffled feathers last year when he urged people to think about the chocolate they bought which was not Fair Trade. I like anyone who speaks truthfully about their beliefs, which is why I so admire Archbishop John, he knows people will listen and take note of his concerns, that they touch a raw nerve and could make a difference.

The only hiccup was when I accidentally introduced the Bishop of Ely to give the vote of thanks as the Archbishop of Ely because I was so used to saying the word Archbishop. Everyone laughed, they seemed to find it amusing, especially the Bishop of Ely who said he felt wonderfully elevated ….

I gasped and grabbed the Archbishop’s arm - the real one. Then we both laughed too about my faux pas.

I’ve added a pic from the event. I’m so pleased I did it.

I had a call from CNN yesterday about the American elections. After an internet search on this subject , they were alerted to my blog, perhaps the recent post I wrote asking my fellow Toatmasters to imagine they were a presidential candidate.

A reporter called Summer wanted to know my views about wives who walked behind their presidential candidate husbands. I had no idea this was a big issue over there. You often see the candidates walking hand in hand with their spouses, but the politician obviously can’t look too soppy and do this all the time. I don’t see why it is a problem if he walks ahead sometime with other political figures and she is behind him.

Are the wives - and women of the United States - upset about this? Where do you think their rightful position - up at the front, or two steps behind?