As the BAFTA-nominated interviews producer on BBC Newsnight, Sam McAlister has successfully negotiated with everyone from Buckingham Palace and The White House to Facebook and Tesla. With skills honed through more than a decade in the BBC's elite news programmes, she has mastered the art and science of persuasion, as evidenced by her ability to build rapport with people and positively influence them to participate in a news programme that is renowned for its rigour and bite. Exclusives include, most famously, that interview with HRH Prince Andrew — but also interviews with Sheryl Sandberg, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, President Bill Clinton, Elon Musk, Prime Minister Netanyahu, James Comey, Stormy Daniels, Julian Assange, Trevor Noah, Amy Schumer, and Eric Schmidt — to name a few. She has the inside scoop on what interviews like this say about leadership, reputation, and communication in the modern age and knows how to avoid making terrible mistakes and deal with the media. She also speaks about the art of negotiation — honed over years and years — and “how to convince a Prince.” Described as “indefatigable” and having “silky smooth persuasive skills,” when speaking to groups, McAlister outlines best practices for developing trust and understanding, as well as mistakes to avoid for more effective communication and negotiation in the modern age.

Samantha is an accomplished presenter for Sky News where she has been presenting all the main programmes for nearly 10 years. She has broken some of the biggest national and international stories of recent years, including anchoring rolling coverage as the Sydney coffee shop siege came to its dramatic end, and the shooting dead of a soldier in the Canadian capital as a terrorist stormed the parliament. Samantha Simmonds has a reputation for bringing personality, warmth and humour to corporate events she hosts or speaks at. Her corporate work to date includes hosting conferences and debates with leading experts in their field, as well as speaking on a panels and interviewing senior figures.

June Sarpong has enjoyed a 20-year career which has already seen her become one of the most recognizable faces of British television, as well as being one of the UK’s most intelligent and dynamic young hosts. June is a media phenomenon and is the only host of her generation that is equally comfortable interviewing politicians, celebrities and members of the public. June was awarded an MBE (Member of the British Empire) on the Queens 2007 new year’s honours list for her services to broadcasting and charity, making her along with Princess Anne’s daughter Zara Phillips one of the youngest people to receive an MBE.

Initially known by the public for her commentary on the television phenomenon Big Brother, Dr. Linda has also provided professional psychological commentary for numerous British television and radio programs. Dr. Linda is Cosmopolitan magazine’s resident psychologist and she is the author of several books and texts on body image, gender relationships and social media. Dr Linda is a hugely impactful speaking on a wide range of topics including Leadership and Success, Empowerment of Women and all things relating to Psychology.

Rachel Botsman is an author and a visiting academic at the University of Oxford, Saïd Business School. She studies and teaches how technology is transforming trust between people and what that means for business and society. She defined the theory of “collaborative consumption” with her acclaimed book, What’s Mine is Yours (HarperCollins, 2010). The concept was subsequently named by TIME as one of the “Ten Ideas That Will Change the World” and by Thinkers50 as the 2015 Breakthrough Idea. Her TED talks on the subject have been viewed almost three million times. Rachel is a regular writer and commentator in leading international publications including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Economist, Wired and more. She is recognized as one of the world’s top 20 speakers to keynote your conference by Monocle, one of the Most Creative People in Business by Fast Company and a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. Recently, she joined the NRMA board as a specialist non-executive Director. She is currently writing a new book on a new era of trust to be published by Portfolio Penguin, October 2017.

Susie has crafted an entire career from her unswerving passion for words and her belief in the power, influence and effectiveness that rich and precise communication can bring. Best known for her long-standing role on Britain’s word gameshow ‘Countdown’, her fascinating yet educational stories have entertained millions of households with her warm charm and stunning knowledge base around the power of language. Susie gives audiences a new appreciation of the value of using words that work, suggesting ways in which they can integrate her approaches into their own communication. With businesses struggling to sustain meaningful communication with customers and employees alike, her keynotes deliver powerful solutions. Susie’s mission is to help people and companies understand that words matter for meaningful collaboration that drives lasting results. Her entertaining yet educational stories are drawn from a lifetime of observation and surprisingly enough, include ways that even jargon can be a tool for personal and professional influence.

Gabrielle Hase is a London-based digital commerce strategy consultant. An experienced and innovative entrepreneur, Gabrielle has broad experience in all aspects of eCommerce, direct marketing and strategic brand management. Since moving from the US ten years ago, Gabrielle set up Soleberry Advisory and has worked with leading consumer brands on building their online presence and increasing market share.

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. Her team has developed The Inclusion Launchpad, and The E.Q. Accelerator programs to help support lasting change. She shares accessible case studies and implementable insights gained from working with international corporations across a wide range of industries.

Leaving her job at Accenture for the uncertainty of a startup, Alex and her friend Jules started Hassle.com. The pair got through the challenges, the mistakes, and the lack of investment to build a company that sold for over £20million. They’re repeated the process with Resi, a disruptive architecture and planning business. Alex looks at the lessons for other startups and those wanting to emulate them, as well as how the tech sector is performing, the sharing and gig economies, and what the future holds for brands and consumers.

Annie Auerbach is a writer and consultant specialising in the new world of work and the future of the workplace. She is the co-founder of cultural trends and insights agency Starling, and the author of Flex – Reinventing Work for a Smarter, Happier Life. Her work and research has big implications and fascinating insights for anyone that employs people, sells things, or works for a living.

Julie Leitz is a psychologist and neuroscientist who escaped her Oxford lab to help teams and their leaders create from conflict. She believes that learning how to have tough conversations is the key to peak performance. Having observed that there are crucial, tough conversations that every team absolutely needs to have but is avoiding out of fear that conflict of ideas might escalate into interpersonal conflict, Julie is on a mission to change our perspective on conflict by helping leaders and their teams harness the potential and power inherent to it.

Alicia is the entrepreneurial founder and President of Skimlinks, an innovative platform helping publishers such as Buzzfeed, Conde Nast, Gizmodo, and Aol monetize their commerce-related content. Alicia started the company in her living room in Sydney, Australia, and over 10 years as CEO of the business she grew it to a $50m/year business based in London with operations in San Francisco and New York. In 2018 she stepped down as CEO to focus on building new businesses, and speaking about culture, storytelling and innovation. Prior to founding Skimlinks, Alicia worked in product management and business development for both corporates such as IBM, Vodafone and Fairfax Media, as well as startups. She has a computer science degree from University of Technology, Sydney, where she graduated at the top of her class. Alicia is now on the Board of Trustees of the charity Young Enterprise, helping young people build their confidence and enterprising skills while starting their own businesses at school.