November Speaker Updates

This is our November 2025 speaker news round up this month featuring new showreels from Ian Hawkins and Stephen Whitton, new books by Alex Atherton and Erica Farmer, speaker updates from Maria Conceicao, Andy Lopata, Paul Johnson, Alex Staniforth and Shola Kaye and we are delighted to welcome Ollie Cook to our website too.

NEW SHOWREELS

Ian Hawkins is a writer, speaker and presenter who tackles the big questions about how people and businesses can adapt in a world that is changing faster than ever before.

Describing himself as a ‘storyteller’, Ian’s career has seen him working for some of the UK’s best-known entertainers and comedy shows including The News Quiz and The Now Show, as well as making documentaries on locations such as Nicaragua, Chicago and Morocco. He has created heavyweight B2B content in print, film and audio, headed thought leadership projects for global consultancies and coached high profile speakers, including cabinet ministers and CEOs. Ian has sent us his recent new showreel. 

Stephen Whitton is a Speaker, Social Entrepreneur, Influencer, Mental Health Warrior, and survivor who has been speaking up for mental health in masculine environments.

Stephen Whitton is the Founder of [M]enable – the global movement for mental health support in the Automotive Sector. After a successful career spanning 35 years in the industry, with numerous roles from Salesman to Executive Director, he is a renowned authority on employee well-being to achieve results. Stephen has recently sent us his new showreel.

NEW BOOKS

 Alex Atherton is an authority on Gen Z. He is the former secondary school headteacher who heard the word ‘snowflake’ once too often to describe his former students and decided his own generation needed to hear a different message. He spent over a decade immersed in the mindset of this misunderstood generation, getting to the core of what makes them tick. His book “The Snow Flake Myth” was published in September 2025 and challenges the negative stereotypes surrounding Generation Z and offers practical strategies for recruiting and retaining Gen Z talent.

Erica Farmer is the founder of the Quantum Rise Talent Group and keynote speaker on digital learning, future of work and mental toughness. A successful female founder, speaker and consultant, with over 20 years’ experience delivering high impact learning and development solutions and Erica has worked with some of the UKs largest brands, such as LV=, British Gas, Specsavers and Virgin. Her book “AI for People Professionals: Understand How to Use Artificial Intelligence in Your HR Role” is now available for pre-order

SPEAKER UPDATES

Huge congratulations to Maria Conceicao, from a small village in Portugal to the Global Stage, Maria was recently honoured with the GWIIN Global Award for Innovative Education and Capacity Building.

Andy Lopata is a specialist speaker on professional relationships, mentoring, networking and social media strategy. In an recent update from Andy, he was invited to contribute a chapter to the new Harvard Business Review Guide to Retaining Your Best People, alongside Ben Afia and Dr Ruth Gotian. Their chapter, Why Your Mentoring Program Isn’t Retaining Talent, explores how organisations can unlock the full value of mentoring. Andy and Ruth and have also been shortlisted for the Thinkers50 Coaching and Mentoring Award, which will be announced later in 2025.

Alex Staniforth is a record-breaking adventurer, ICF-trained coach, author, and charity founder from Chester. No stranger to adversity, Alex has overcome more than most will in a lifetime—including surviving the two biggest disasters in Mount Everest history as a teenager. His greatest challenges have been even closer to home: living with epilepsy, stammering, bullying, and mental ill health since childhood.

Alex completed his 446 Challenge in June – running all 446 mountains in England and Wales, beating the previous record by 4.5 months and raising over £38,000 for Mind Over Mountains. He has recently sent us over an update biog on his talks

Shola Kaye helps global organisations prepare for the future of work using the power of empathy, effective communication and inclusion nudges. Shola’s work is frequently described as practical, easily implementable and inspiring. In this tech-heavy world, Shola’s work helps humans deepen their levels of humanity and connection.
She works with global organisations using the power of empathy, effective communication and bold action. She calls this combination EMOTIONAL AUDACITY™ and the tools she shares facilitate the deepening of resilience, emotional intelligence and readiness for change. She has kindly updated us with some new speaking topics and can be found on her webpage.

Paul Johnson CBE is one of the UK’s leading economists and economics commentators. He has recently updated us on his new role as the Provost of The Queen’s College Oxford. Paul was the director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies in 2011, serving for nearly 15 years. Paul continues to work, write and speak on economics and public policy. He is a columnist for The Times, a regular contributor to other broadcast and print media and author of the bestselling book Follow the Money: How Much Does Britain Cost?

NEW SPEAKER

And lastly we are delighted to welcome Ollie Cook to the website

Oliver Cook is a British Olympian and World & European Rowing Champion and inspirational speaker on the meaning of success and performance.

In 2012 Ollie was selected as one of the youngest to join the GB Olympic Squad which began a nine year career in the team. During this time Ollie was the team “spare” for three seasons (which is possibly a record for the team!) before winning the World Championships in the Coxed Pair in 2016.

Ollie would then go on to be selected for the Tokyo Olympic Games in the coxless four before they were postponed during the Covid pandemic. Racing at the postponed Olympic Games in 2021 Ollie’s boat veered off the course in the final stages of the race, losing a medal and the first time GB hadn’t won this event for 20 years. Ollie talks about this experience and some of the lessons he learned and is still learning from what happened.

One of of his keynotes is –

The Meaning of Success: In the closing stages of Ollie’s Olympic Final his crew veered across their lane almost hitting the chasing Italians. They came fourth, losing a medal and becoming the first time in 20 years GB hadn’t won this event at the Olympic Games. A complete disaster? Or was it? Ollie offers a fascinating insight into the meaning of success, from the highs of performing at an Olympic level to the lows of missing out. Ollie shares his learnings and how you can define success, bounce back from setbacks and realise that perhaps winning is not everything.

That is it for November. if we can help with speaking enquiries please contact us on enquiries@scampspeakers.co.uk