Speaking Made Easy WOW Convention 5th, 6th, 7th September 2025
Welcome to the Speaking Made Easy
WOW Convention “Women of Words”
Join us! for the Speaking Made Easy WOW event. Come and enjoy the variety of sessions, day and evening functions, Professional speakers and Speaking Made Easy presenters, sharing their knowledge, and experiences with us. An opportunity to gather with other members, to meet new friends and catch up with old friends. Bring your family and friends, stay at the York on Lilydale Resort and perhaps stay a little longer in Mt Evelyn which is a gateway to both the Dandenong Ranges and the Yarra Valley, a picturesque area of Victoria. Don’t miss it. See you there!
Key Speakers
Saturday
Ren Alessandra – Author, Entertainer, Poet, Storyteller
Ren is a national award-winning spoken word artist and English teacher who merges her love of both arts into active, engaging and empowering writing workshops and performances. Poet and educator based in Melbourne, Ren runs her own venture, Wordcraft, blending her vocations to help writers overcome their blocks and develop their craft. Ren is 2020 Australian Poetry Slam Champion and says with a Masters of Teaching, twelve years’ experience and an Australian Poetry Slam Championship in my wings, Wordcraft holds space for you to discover your voice .
Sunday
Mariam Issa – Visionary storyteller, Life coach, Author
Mariam Issa is a visionary storyteller, a life coach, an author, a community builder and an educator holding diversity in a unified vision. She’s committed to offering tools to be more tuned skillfully together. She has a potent understanding of adversity which shines a fierce light to all issues she embraces, weaving her African heritage and her creed (Islam) into contemporary expressions of faith, inviting all to join her at the table of compassionate conversations. She has honed and distilled her unique memories to support others to tap into their inner reservoir and resourcefulness. She is a living example and embodiment of resilience and courage, teaching through demands of her own life experience, a generous, gracious contribution to contemporary conversations of belonging.
Laura Waters – Travel writer, Author, Speaker
Award-winning travel writer and speaker Laura Waters left a corporate job to pursue a career in media, following a life-changing 3,000km hike down the length of New Zealand. She is now hopelessly addicted to the blissful simplicity of walking, has hiked thousands more kilometres on trails around Australia and as far afield as Patagonia and Jordan. Laura is also passionate about getting more people outdoors and connected with nature. She writes for major magazines and newspapers and her hiking memoir ‘Bewildered’ won Best Travel Book in the Australian Society of Travel Writers Awards For Excellence 2021. Laura Waters Website
Lots of speaking and speaking activities happening at our WOW Convention by many women of words. Speaking Made Easy has many talented and skilled members and the Triennial Convention is an excellent forum in which to enhance and present those skills. There will be an array of WOW workshops, information and activities, with everything from Poetry, Word Play, Discussion. Role Play, Meet and Greet, Speeches and AI.
M Jean Ellis Memorial Dinner
Saturday evening is one of the highlights of the Triennial Convention. Speaking Made Easy State Representatives will entertain guests with lively after-dinner speeches. Be a part of an exciting, entertaining, engaging programme with much conversation, fun and friendship.
Monday – 8:30am – 4:30pm
Day Tour: through the magnificent tall timbers and rain forest in the Dandenong Ranges as well the beautiful rolling countryside of the Yarra Valley. Ample opportunities to wine, dine, lick, indulge, explore, wander, marvel. 😃