From ‘blanding’ to balance, tea leaves to travel – EO Talks 2024 certainly couldn’t be accused of being a sea of sameness! 

The second annual EO Talks event saw six inspiring entrepreneurs take to the stage following coaching from public speaking and presentation coach Miriam Chancellor of Naked Audience. They put their passion and expertise on display for the lucky EO members, sponsors, and guests who were in attendance. 

Let’s get a quick taste of what those incredible presentations covered…

‘Blanding’ – Tina Comrie, The Attention Agency

Have you ever been to a series of open homes and thought to yourself ‘Why are these all the same?’. If so, you’ve experienced the same thing as Tina Comrie, Founder of The Attention Agency, who opened EO Talks with an engaging look at ‘blanding’ – the trend towards a sea of sameness that’s hit everything from home interiors to marketing. 

She showed the appreciative audience how social media and tools like Canva have led us to fall victim to this sameness – making it easy to fit a template, and appealing to put out the same thing as everyone else.

But on a quest to appeal to a wider audience, we risk appealing to no-one. Instead, Tina reminded us that we make a snap judgement on people, content, and brands within less than 50 milliseconds – so you have one shot to be noticed and remembered. Brands that are memorable build loyal fanbases.

Tina’s top tips (now there’s something you won’t forget!) are to:

1. Embrace your imperfections (they make us human);

2. Be bold, but not reckless (everyone notices when you wear red sneakers!); and

3. Be consistent (you can’t stand out on a Monday then blend back in on a Friday).

Blanding is a one-way ticket to obscurity – so how will you stand out?

‘The Balance of Endurance’ – Simon Patterson, Project 360

If you’ve ever done endurance sports, you know just how much resilience and fortitude you need to compete. In his presentation at EO Talks, Simon made all of us (even those who steer well clear of endurance sports!) feel like we were there with him on The Pioneer – a six day mountain biking race through some of the most untouched parts of Aotearoa. 

We felt his pain and exhaustion only a couple of days in, as he took us on a rollercoaster of being ready to quit one moment – only to ride a rush of exhilarating endurance the next.

Beyond the excitement of the race though, Simon highlighted three key areas in which training for endurance sports can support you in your everyday life:

1. Health and fitness – training for even a combined one hour per week is a fantastic place to start to get your body in shape

2. Nutrition – when you’re doing an endurance race, you’re constantly thinking about what your body most needs. Even a small adjustment can make a big difference!

3. Mental resilience – by day five, Simon was facing the ‘dreaded challenge’. But because he’s already proven he could endure and push through, he surprisingly didn’t feel scared – he felt confident, capable, and ready. 

As Simon says, “Doing tough stuff you love really preps you for tough stuff that happens on the daily. Building resilience helps you in sport, in business, and in life.”

‘How embracing full flexibility can deliver the best for your people and turn them in to raving fans’ – Helen Mackay, Juno Legal

Do you miss the ‘good old days’ where everyone needed to be at their desks all day, every day? Wasn’t it easier? Wasn’t everyone happier?

Or were they?

In her talk on how full (and she means full) flexibility can produce the best results for your team and make them raving fans, Helen shared her story of being a trailblazer in the legal field by implementing full flexibility – and shared why you should make a change too.

After being told by an old-school boss (Richard, aka Dick) that he expected to see her back behind her desk full-time after having her second child, Helen left that law firm behind and set out on her own – with a goal to create a more flexible environment for her own team.

Her team now works minimum 20 hours a week for 40 weeks of the year, with some choosing to do more – and that means she gets amazing senior people for 25-30 hours a week who want that flexibility. 

Her tips for making it work include:

1. Having a high trust model

2. Recruiting for a range of needs and shaping the role around the person

3. Asking how many hours they would ideally want to work vs. the income they’d like and understanding their commitments outside the office

4. Remember that sometimes you have to be a hard ass – trade off flexibility, but never compromise on delivery. 

We can all get started on a journey towards full flexibility – so look within at your own biases and beliefs, then ask your people. And most importantly – don’t be a Dick. 

‘Unravelling the Tea Leaves’ – Shelley McGee, Tea Total

Not everyone gets to own a business that allows them to indulge in one of their passions every single day – but Shelley is one of the lucky ones. Since buying Tea Total, she’s spent the last six years living, breathing, and drinking her weight in tea – and at EO Talks, she showed us all why we should find tea just as fascinating as she does.

With a bit of show and tell, she introduced us to the camellia sinensis plant, which tea comes from, and broke down the difference between white tea, black tea, and green tea (hint: they all come from the same plant but are just exposed to different levels of oxygen!)

Plus she explained how tea, much like wine, changes depending on the country, elevation, type of soil and other environmental factors – that’s why teas from Sri Lanka, India, and Japan taste so different!

Some other tidbits from Shelley that made us all fans of tea:

1. The caffeine in tea is different to that of coffee – you get a gradual incline and then it slowly caters off (that’s why we reach for tea in times of stress!)

2. Anything that can be brewed with hot water that isn’t coffee can be called tea – so fruit, herbal, and rooibos don’t actually have caffeine or come from the Camellia sinensis plant

3. Tea bags generally cover up the broken bits or dust from the dried plant – it’s a way for manufacturers to hide some stuff and save some money!

Finally, Shelley taught us that brewing your tea for longer is akin to overcooking your dinner. So if you want it to be stronger, add more tea NOT more time. 

‘The Balance Heist: Entrepreneurship and Family Life’ – Laura Heynike, Pocketspace Interiors

As the author of the book The Pumping Entrepreneur and mum of two boys, Laura knows a thing or two about balancing the tightrope between entrepreneurship and family life – and at EO Talks, she shared how she managed to hand over her work to her team when having her kids, plus how she prioritises herself and creates clear boundaries to better create that balance.

So how did Laura balance family life and business – both when she had her kids and now?

1. She delegated her role across the team, working with them to decide what did and didn’t need to be done while she was on leave;

2. She implemented a no after hours work fatigue policy, to stop everyone burning out;

3. She restructured her role when she came back to work instead of taking everything back on;

4. After realising she hadn’t had a hobby in 11 years, she took up golf – and the team kick her out every Wednesday at 2pm to go play;

5. She booked out every single lunchtime to have no meetings (and instead be able to catch up with the team, herself, or other EOers!); and

6. She made a rule that her family would never have to fight for her attention with a phone.

As Laura says, the more people on your tightrope, the wobblier it gets – but those people are what make the tightrope worth it. So how are you balancing family life with your business?

‘How Travel Can Make You a Better Human’ – Rachel Williams, Viva Expeditions

Imagine going from having AK47s pointed in your face by Moroccan border guards to sitting down with those same guards for coffee. It sounds crazy – but that’s exactly what happened to Rachel as she traversed the Sahara many years back. What she thought was a dangerous situation actually became an opportunity for connection – and as she shared in her EO Talk, that’s what makes off-the-beaten-track travel so important.

Rachel shared how heading off on her OE was like being reborn – going from being Pauline’s daughter from the Hibiscus Coast to truly discovering who she was. It gave her perspective, confidence, self-esteem, and self-worth. Her love of travel was born.

Over the years, Rachel’s travelled to some incredible places that you wouldn’t normally think to travel to, from the Middle East to Africa to South America to Antarctica, and has since built a business helping other people do the same.

She highlighted so many ways in which travel has made her, and so many others, better humans, including:

1. Learning what it really means to give when a woman in South America offered Rachel the shoes off her own feet to keep her warm;

2. Realising that the media picture of the Middle East wasn’t a true reflection of the kindness of the people, the beauty of the countries, and the richness of the cultural heritage;

3. Getting her mum to agree that they really were wealthy while seeing children singing for money on a street corner; and

4. Being completely in awe of Antarctica, and becoming so aware of her own mortality and insignificance that she was completely at one with the world.

“At these moments, I’m my most me. The most grateful, most creative, and most alive.”

Rachel inspired us all to open our hearts and broaden our minds – reminding us that the more a destination pushes us outside of our comfort zone, the more we will learn and the more we will grow. 

EO Talks

Every year, six EO members get the opportunity to learn from presentation and speaking coach Miriam Chancellor and put on their own TED Talk style presentation about something they’re passionate about or expert in. It’s just one example of how EO drives business and personal growth – helping members think big and be bold, and grow together. 

Interested in finding out more about becoming an EO member? Contact us at admin@eonewzealand.org