You are invited to #BreakTheBias and celebrate this year’s International Women’s Day with WeAreTheCity and WeAreTechWomen!

We are delighted to host our first in person networking event in 2022!

You are in for a fun packed evening starting with speed networking, hosted by Vanessa Vallely OBE. This is fantastic opportunity to meet other members of the WeAreTheCity and WeAreTechWomen community.  Thereafter, we will welcome Mairi McHaffie, Personal Impact Expert & CEO of Scene Change Creative Consultants who will be talking to us about Unconscious Bias. The evening will end with a group brainstorm on how we can challenge bias with everyday actions not just for IWD, but every day. The brainstorm will be followed by networking drinks.

About Mairi’s keynote, Fight, Flight and Unconscious Bias

If you have a brain – you have bias. Our brains instinctively categorize people using quickly observed criteria.  We all do it. It’s part of our “fight or flight” chimp brain that has been useful since our primitive days to allow us to differentiate between friend or foe. The disadvantage of this is that it can lead us to make assumptions and decisions about others based on those biases. This result is a tendency to rely on stereotypes, even if we consciously disapprove of them.

This interactive talk provides practical insights about how our brains make decisions and how our preferences affect how we interact with our clients and each other in the workplace with positive and negative effects. We will:

• Discover how we subconsciously process information and why
• Understand how bias can affect decision making and interactions at work
• Learn to mitigate the negative effects of how we judge each other
• and become consciously inclusive

About Mairi

With over 15 years of experience as a personal impact and communications consultant Mairi has designed and delivered bespoke people development and talent initiatives globally across the sectors and across commercial brands, international law firms, banking and financial institutions and the UK central government. She specialises in Embracing Change, Presentation Skills, Managing Crucial Conversations and Influencing Skills – enabling learners to credentialise themselves and confidently position themselves as a trusted advisor.

As a trained professional actor and BBC TV presenter Mairi combines her theatrical training with results driven social psychology systems.

She has been a judge for the BBC Apprentice Final and for the prestigious WeAreTheCity Rising Stars Awards. She is the mother of two young boys and occasionally dabbles in stand-up comedy.

For the safety of others, attendance for this event is limited to 50 guests. Tickets cost £30 (including VAT)* and are on a first come, first served basis.  

Please ensure that you perform a lateral flow test before attending. Proof of a negative lateral flow will be required for entry.

*Publicis Sapient do not receive any ticket fees