What a fantastic day!

On Friday 22nd October we held our Annual Franchisee Convention which is the main event of our year when all our franchisees are invited for a day of motivation and information, rewards and Awards. And it’s fun!

It was wonderful to see almost all our franchisees in one place, all looking fabulous and fit, and ready to be inspired. Running a franchise means you are running your own business but under the ‘umbrella’ of the franchisor who creates the marketing, systems, training and in our case, the diet and materials needed for the members to achieve their weight and fitness goals. The system works because our franchisees are exceptionally special and highly talented and motivated as well as caring by nature so that our members really are well looked after and supported. The Convention is our opportunity to share our plans for the next twelve months to enable the franchisees to be as successful as possible whilst, at the same time, giving them the tools to enable them to help our members to achieve their goals.

Our Keynote Speaker was awesome. Adventurer, rock climber and runner Karen Darke fell off a mountain when she was 21 and became paralysed from her chest downwards. But she turned despair into challenge and has returned to her adventures and has completed the London Marathon alongside Tanni Grey-Thompson and has, after massive challenges and trials, managed to climb the 3000 ft El Capitan mountain in Yosemite National Park in California. The room, filled with over 200+ high-energy women was silent as she told her story and inspired and motivated everyone. The hour passed like five minutes. Karen was captivating!

Another highlight of the Convention is the presentation of 5, 10 and 15 Year Awards and I take great delight in presenting a smart glass award to those franchisees and staff who have loyally worked alongside us for five years. For the ten year Awards we are delighted to present a diamond studded Gucci watch, whilst those wonderful folk who have been franchisees or staff for fifteen years receive a diamond necklace. Needless to say, these awards are greatly appreciated and treasured. And this year, I presented our Chef Dean Simpole-Clarke with a rather fabulous watch as a thank you for working alongside me, creating recipes for my cookbooks and magazine and now featuring so much on http://www.rosemaryconley.tv/. He is a very special and talented guy. Thank you Dean!

The day was packed full of inspiring presentations from our staff and some of the franchisees. It was all brilliant.

At the end of the afternoon is the Awards Ceremony where top franchisees are rewarded for their incredible efforts to run brilliant businesses that help their local communities to become fitter and healthier. I presented our franchisee for Norwich, Sarah Skelton, with my own personal award because Sarah has been working with us to enhance and improve how we operate our classes. Sarah is an amazingly talented, bright lady and thoroughly deserved the Rosemary Conley Award.

Our Newcomer of the Year Award went to Sandie Martin (from Bournemouth) for launching her new franchise this year and turning it into a massive success story.

Our Business Development Award was given to Cherie Hunter from Swansea. Two years ago Cherie was thinking of leaving her franchise but after attending our Annual Convention that year she realised that it was her attitude that was wrong, not the business. So, with a change of heart - and attitude – Cherie set herself a goal to reach the Top 10 of all our franchisees in the network. And this year she did just that!

Our Franchisee of the Year Award is greatly coveted and highly respected and we always have ten finalists. To be in the top ten you have to be incredibly good on every level so all the finalists should feel extremely proud. Our winner this year is Lindsey Peters for Ware, Welwyn Garden City and St Albans. Lindsey was an instructor (working for a franchisee) for over 10 years before she bought a franchise herself. Since then she has won Newcomer of the Year in her first year and Franchisee of the Year in year two and she has been a finalist every year since starting as a franchisee. In that five years Lindsey, (supported by her partner Michael who also works in her business), has raised over £180,000 for charity and has also supported and mentored many other franchisees along the way. When I announced Lindsey as the overall winner the room immediately sprang to its feet as everyone applauded her with a standing ovation. Lindsey was totally shocked and just dissolved into tears – as did I – at being given the Award again. It was richly deserved as her class numbers, business performance and so much more are outstanding.

Well done to all our Award winners but also a massive ‘well done’ to all the finalists who had also achieved amazing performances.

The day finished with a glittering Black Tie Dinner and Dance and everyone looked stunning. There is always much dancing, laughter and general celebration and a warm feeling of satisfaction. The franchisees are re-energised. We have delivered our plans and everyone is happy. It’s a nice feeling.

Celebrating women everywhere!

On Monday I was privileged to be invited to the Women of the Year lunch at the Intercontinental Hotel in London. The Women of the Year Foundation have given hundreds of thousands of pounds to help support, care for, cherish and respect women across the world. Women who need our help and who are valued. It is a brilliant charity run by exceptional women who bring together, twice a year, a group of women who work hard to make a difference on this planet.

The women who are given awards at the event are exceptional. They are women who go beyond the boundaries, some are completely selfless, some are phenomenally talented and some are just extraordinary.

The Window to the World Award went to Susie Hart. Sue changed the lives of many disabled people in Tanzania by creating businesses to employ special, but rejected, people and to give them a sense of purpose, worth and respect. Tears trickled down my cheeks as I heard what this very special lady had achieved. Well done Susie!

The Outstanding Achievement Award went to Zaha Hadid, an exceptionally talented architect. Zaha has designed the stunning Aquatics Centre for the London Olympics among many, many other stunning creations across the world. There is no doubt Zaha has an amazing gift and vision.
The Yes You Can Award went to a wonderful woman who has created a youth dance and cheerleading group called Ascension Eagles. Shara Brice has put the purpose and motivation, inspiration and energy into young people in Newham in London and has changed their lives unbelievably. Instead of muggings and violence caused by young folk with nothing better to do, Shara created a challenge which the young folk of the area embraced and perfected to become a world class act. I cried when this award was given too. Shara is an exceptional woman and the award was so well deserved.

The Women of the Year Award was given to Annie Lennox for her amazing work in campaigning for HIV Aids victims in Africa to be given medication to help their condition, as well as her exceptional talent as the most successful female singer in the UK, having sold 8o million records. She made a moving and inspirational speech and the work she does in Africa is awesome.

There were almost 400 women who attended the lunch and I was on a table hosted by Baroness Floella Benjamen. What an extraordinary woman Floella is! She is feisty, inspirational and incredibly beautiful. And she made us all feel like we were the only women in the room that mattered. Thank you and ‘Well done Floella’!

Monday honoured women who had made a massive difference to this world in vastly different ways. It wasn’t about fame or fortune. It was about women who have actually made this world a better place and who make we women proud to be women. Yes. Monday was a very special day. Not for ourselves, but for the exceptional women with whom we shared this very special occasion.

The event was spectacularly well organised so well done to all the exceptional women who are the Women of the Year Foundation! Monday was very special.

Judging our Slimmers of the Year!

On Monday we had our judging session for our Slimmer of the Year Contest. There was a massive file full of applicants who had lost over 8 stone. That’s what I weigh! I cannot imagine what life must be like carrying that sort of weight everywhere you go.

We were spoilt for choice and will shortly be inviting our Regional Slimmers to attend a ceremony at Quorn House for for us to make our final selection. It should be a very special day.

On Tuesday we had our Low Fat Food Awards and representatives from many of the companies came along to Quorn to receive their awards. It was exciting and rewarding as all of the awards were voted for exclusively by our readers and members. Well done to all those who received awards. Look out for the results which will be published in our next issue of Rosemary Conley Diet & Fitness Magazine out on 11th November.

Last Friday we had a Roadshow in Maidenhead and we had a great day. The weight losses of some of those present were awesome and two were entrants for our Slimmer of the Year awards. It was exciting to say the least.

Today we had a photoshoot for the cover of our Christmas edition of our magazine. Our cover girl is such a beautiful girl who looks like a fairy princess in her Christmas party dress. We also photographed other successful slimmers who also looked stunning! I love these days.

The pups are growing fast and are giving Mike and I so much joy as they are just lovely and Waise adores them so everyone’s happy.

If you want to lose weight, check out all that we have to offer. If you saw as many successful slimmers as I did, you would join our classes and transform your life! That’s what they did!