"Speechwriting is best accompanied by 18^th-century classical music"

Describe your perfect day at work. 

A good hour to clear down emails and anything hanging over from the day before, before a morning of addressing core work and progressing longer-term projects. I love having afternoon meetings (especially if they’re online), as it means I can set up for the rest of the week or later, but if the day starts with meetings I often find I’m less energised for detailed work later in the day.

If I can read over my lunch break I’d be thrilled… not sure I’m thrilled very often! I find I’m far more productive if I’m working from the office, but if the whole day revolves around online meetings, I’ll stay at home and be more comfortable.  

How do you respond when your day gets off to a bad start?

I try to reset with a change of pace – whether that’s doing some work on a project that I particularly enjoy, or catch up with the endless need for elements of graphic design that aren’t part of my job but which need to be done for the organisation. If not, I send a quick message to my wife, smile to myself and try and get some happy thoughts flowing, and crack on. 

Do you have any work rituals?

I find my schedule is fairly chaotic and unpredictable, but there are some key touchstones that always help. I like to literally clear my desk and sit with a good quality notebook on a fresh page when addressing anything new or challenging – really nice paper is crucial (but I’m not organised enough to consistently have a nice pen in the right place at the right time!).

A mid-morning coffee always helps the day progress, and a constant flow of water as cold as possible keeps me functional.

What’s your work Spotify playlist? 

My music won’t be to everyone’s taste, and tends to adjust to whatever I’m doing. I find distracting five per cent of my attention really helps me focus the other 95 per cent. Speechwriting is best accompanied by 18^th century classical music (ideally recordings by historical performance groups); design is always supported by Metallica, and strategic planning gets something a bit more grandiose – Shostakovich or Tchaikovsky symphonies. If not, podcasts like ‘The Newsagents’ or ‘The Rest is History’ help keep things moving.

What’s your dream job?

It used to be ‘Olympic Gold-medallist in Giant Slalom’… these days, I’m not sure there’s any such thing. 

What’s been your favourite/most memorable event to date? (planned or attended)

I organising a live film-music concert in Chennai, India, for 22,000 people with the most celebrated modern Indian composer, Ilaiyaraaja. Organising the event, the associated orchestra tour from the UK, and conducting the orchestra and two choirs in my previous life as a musician was a huge, stressful, and massively exciting process.

What event are you currently working on?

A European Area Conference and Women’s Empowerment Summit in Bucharest, Romania, in October 2025, and our association’s next World Conference in Ottawa, Canada, in April 2026.

What would be your dream event to work on?

I’d love to organise UNESCO’s General Conference – a three-week-long, global, intergovernmental event which captures the elements of such conferences that I love: human rights, civil society participation, governmental delegations, and a huge and diverse number of topics. It only happens every two years, for good reason!