A simple question...
Yesterday, a simple question visibly stumped me and left me a bit speechless.
It was the inaugural Women Mean Business (and a few good men) where along with some fantastic, and famous, people I was invited to the stage with the renown "marathon man" Chris Rees to talk about sailing. We talked about the various kinds of sailing (performance offshore solo racing to cruising around with a glass of your favourite tipple), and getting people involved with the sport and industry.
Then, when the roving mic was given 1 question, it caught me unawares... A simple, how can we help, was all it took.
Hopefully the answer that came out did the question justice (added to by the interviewer's comment of get your wallets out that reminded me of this sketch) but having had time to sleep on it I wanted to simply list a few of the biggest things that would help right now:
- Get involved
- Introductions to those with an interest in supporting the next generation of engineers.
- Advice on how to better engage those interested in supporting as well as the students.
- Access to a Class 40 to develop relevant live case-studies.
- Marketing/PR to raise the awareness of STEM and sailing.
Lastly, financial or in-kind partnerships will mean it can grow quicker and therefore help more people. Although it's always being modified I've broken it down further with examples of items and possible businesses that you can comment on here.