Sally Armstrong

Having Sally Armstrong as a keynote speaker on the Friday night of our conference was a huge success! We filled the room to capacity and the venue staff were running for more chairs as we began. Sally was wonderfully gracious and she complimented our organization, personally mentioning one of our founders who was in attendance. Every single conference evaluation mentions Sally as a highlight of our weekend! We did an exercise the next day to have people recall what inspired them about Sally’s address – people had retained exact quotations which is a sign that Sally is both a good speaker and a good teacher! Sally is passionately committed to her work as a journalist, author and advocate for girls and women. Her ability to tell stories in an interesting and down to earth way, to offer insightful analysis of how the world is changing and to inspire the rest of us to ‘get on board’ for positive change is really inspiring!

Sally is a most engaging speaker and her optimism and mission to help women and children is contagious. Not only did Sally share a most compelling narrative, but she was also very easy to deal with. She always promptly replied to all correspondence, offered her time for book signings and a board dinner the night before the event. Most helpful was a call to discuss who we are (Impact 100) and what part of her message mapped over to ours. This access to Sally gave us the opportunity to tailor her message to our message and enhanced our success.

On behalf of the CGFNS International, I wish to thank you for your contribution to the success of the symposium, Building Global Alliances: The Challenges of Migration for Health Professional Women. The articulate and passionate stories of your experiences in Rwanda, Somalia, and Afghanistan and the women with whom you came in contact, were at once disturbing, heart rendering and heart warming. You painted touching and realistic pictures that provoked insight and context for the following day that served as a foundation on which all of the subsequent speakers could build.

She was the absolute perfect speaker for our event. She took the time to research and take in the event and artfully wove together our YMCA Peace Medal recipients and their personal stories with her message. It was the perfect message for our event and the people we were honouring and I so appreciated her time and care she took in preparation for the speech to make it so personal to our community.