I have been lucky enough to work with many wonderful clients. I like to keep this section up to date, and so here is a selection of the feedback from recent online and in-person events.

Testimonials for Online and In-person Workshops


I very rarely make speaker recommendations here. If we all did it for all good speakers, we’d be swamped. But I make an exception to recommend a rising star: Emma Bell on resilience. Timely, of course. But also highly authoritative & thoroughly researched, original, very engaging, superb use of Zoom and immediately actionable.

– Harry Marsden, Vistage Chair.

Considering the session was shorter than a usual speaker and via zoom, I thought this was as good a speaker session I have had since joining vistage and 100% relevant for the current situation I thought the presentation was very good considering time limitations and changes due to online restrictions. Thought provoking.

– Vistage Workshop Attendee, Nottingham

Probably the best and most useful speaker I’ve had in the last two years of Vistage – she’s brilliant.

– Vistage workshop attendee, London.

Brilliant, relevant and delivered with poise and confidence – the group loved it and there’s lots for all of us to draw from, me included!! Good use of polling, breakout rooms which encouraged great discussions and sharing. Highly recommend this session for all times, not just now as Emma spent more time than most speakers to gather group needs beforehand and tailor the session to what they needed.

– Jo MacSween, Vistage Chair, Edinburgh.

Emma wins my prize for the best speaker I’ve seen! The content was very powerful and new and it was very applicable and implementable.

– Vistage workshop attendee, Edinburgh

I think Emma is my favourite speaker to date. She was giving me new information, based on robust research and data that I can easily apply to my own work and personal relationships. Really her session was such a challenge to habitual ways of thinking and with practical easy ways to change that. She communicated science-based factual information in a totally accessible way and with humility and no ego. The other beauty is that this new learning can be applied to any relationships professional or personal. I think I will grow as a person from this speaker session.

– Vistage workshop attendee, Northern Ireland.

Brilliant really used the online medium well. Already booked for other group. Excellent content and delivery. Really engaging and inspiring.

– Mark Burns, Vistage Chair.

Excellent to have the experience of someone who has done such detailed research with 50 Thrivers. Some excellent stories. The team got several take-aways from the session and I was delighted to see the spread of actions from my group as a result of the session. The presentation style was at a great pace and the 4 x one question polls worked really well. Breakout sessions were well handled and were of a good amount of time at 10 minutes each. Resources/podcasts etc in this area for us to continue to develop our knowledge. She was great and had nailed the conversion of the talk to work over video conferencing. The different strategies she mentioned to help improve resilience and communication. Very powerful and practical presentation.

– Roger Wilson, Vistage Chair.

This was an excellent session even from before it started. Emma sent out a questionnaire asking participants to identify 3 issues they are facing and 2 desired outcomes from the session they would like to see. This meant it was a really tailored, relevant session. For a 3-hour workshop the time seemed to go surprisingly quickly. There was a lot of variety, with good use of polls, screen share and breakout rooms as well as two breaks. The members were engaged and alert all the way through and the content was spot on for the time we are in. Emma is a skilled facilitator and managed the “room’ really well. Emma is also a great storyteller and highly credible with her own extensive research backed up with references to other research and studies. She was also very generous in sharing lots of resources with the Group afterwards. She is one of the best speakers I’ve had for a long time.Very inspirational and humbling Clearly and well-presented. Well organised. Warm and engaging. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

– Laura Gordon, Vistage Chair.

Many thanks for a really great session today Emma – brilliant to work with you.

– Simon Puryer, MD, i-Realise Ltd

Just to say thanks you again for this morning, I think the scores on the doors said it all. I really appreciate the way you listened to Steph and I and made the session relevant not just for COVID19 for St Oswald’s.

– Deborah Heron, HRD, St Oswald’s Hospice.

Just wanted to write a quick note to say thank you for today, very thoughtful topics and definitely somethings to work on over the coming weeks and months!

– David Bigland, MD, IVC Group

Testimonials for Webinars


Many thanks again for yesterday’s Webinar. I very much enjoyed it and I took a lot away to think about (I am especially going to use “Pause”!). Here is a selection of the comments I have received:

“Thank you so much for this invitation. I so enjoyed the webinar and will certainly look into the PDF download and more information. It was really excellent.” “Just a quick note to say how much I enjoyed Emma’s webinar this morning”.”Just wanted to say ‘thanks’ for the invitation to this morning’s webinar – absolutely fascinating! Really enjoyed it”. “The webinar has just ended. Very much enjoyed it – thank you!” “Good session today. Well-presented and interesting”.

– Clive, Director, B3Sixty

Thanks for your time on this – it was fantastic, I have pages of notes and looking forward to reading your book!

– Jude McCrory, Chief Executive, SBRC

I had a pleasure to attend the webinar session you facilitated on 12 May 2020 on Building Resilience to Thrive Through Covid-19 and Beyond. I really enjoyed the session and thought it was useful to reflect on the learning and also to remind myself about some of my habits that I shall change. The kind of tips you shared with us were useful and I will try to incorporate some of them into my daily routines. I would definitely recommend the session to anyone who is looking some support and also to share in their wider teams as this would allow to benefit others from the learning. Thank you very much for the time and effort put into preparing and facilitating the session.

– Dorota Pawlik, Learning and Development Officer, Public Health Scotland.

I don’t know where to start to thank you. This has been the highlight of the lockdown for many of our colleagues. I know many will have fed back to you individually, but there is a collective chat around the sector about how valuable this has been. You are amazing and I am looking forward to reading your forthcoming book.

– Margaret Lannon, Deputy Director, Education and Professional Learning.

This has been absolutely brilliant and will change my ability to thrive going forward.

– NHSNSS webinar attendee

That session was absolutely brilliant – thank you so very much.
– Ali Rimell, In-house Counsel, InterGen.
Thank you, genuinely useful webinar and I am really looking forward to watching this over again to embed the thinking further.

– NHSNSS webinar attendee

Thank you for the webinar today – it was great, really enjoyed it and so informative!

– SCIS webinar attendee

This is an excellent session – great case studies and really useful tips, done at the right pace (for me anyway!) – thanks and well done.

– First State Investment webinar attendee

Thank you for a very insightful and inspiring webinar.

– Hug For Healthcare webinar attendee

Thank you, Emma for a fantastic webinar!

– B3Sixty webinar attendee

Thanks so much – really engaging and insightful and lots of suggestions to take away and apply in practice!

– InterGen webinar attendee

Thank you very much. It has been very insightful to hear you sharing the stories of so many inspiring people.

– SCIS webinar attendee

I just want to say that was amazing. Thanks so much.

– CVHA webinar attendee

Thanks this will be so relevant to so many of the team.

– CVHA webinar attendee

Testimonials from Leadership Development Programme Attendees


Just a little note to say thank you for all of the sessions we’ve had with you, I have thoroughly enjoyed them and feel I’ve learnt a lot, a lot of the little tips have definitely stuck with me and made a difference to my day, particularly the ones on dealing with difficult people and how not to let things affect you if you can’t change them. I often hear my colleagues quoting you when we’re discussing specific situations, so that’s a huge compliment to you ! I’ve been on a lot of different learning experiences over the years and I can honestly say none of them have stuck with me like this. Its your delivery as well as content, both excellent, so thanks again.

– Rose Hamilton, Johnstons of Elgin, Leadership Development Programme Attendee