The U.K.-based Association of Fleet Professionals (AFP) has launched a new training course to amplify women’s voices in the fleet industry.

Debuting today, on International Women’s Day, the new course — “Accelerate – Women’s Voices in Fleet” — is designed to provide attendees tools to speak confidently and clearly in public, whether in a meeting, one-to-one, at a conference or in a webinar setting.

“We have many talented and otherwise confident women within the AFP and the fleet sector in general who, we have found, are not keen on public speaking. This came to light last year when we were planning our 2022 conference and invited several women to speak but found that many were reluctant to do so,” said Lorna McAtear, AFP board director.

“Women’s voices are under-represented at fleet events in general, and we want to help encourage women to share their knowledge, experience and ideas publicly because we believe strongly that the industry would all benefit from hearing and learning from them.

“We’d like to help change this situation, and the course aims to provide women in fleet with the tools to step forward and be confident about expressing their views whether in a team meeting, board meeting or more publicly. If possible, we’d like some of the people who take part to become participants in panels for our AFP Conference, which is taking place in May.”

The two-day course will be held April 19-20 at the British Motor Museum, Gaydon. Module topics include confidence, courage, clarity and content.

 “We appreciate that stepping outside of your comfort zone requires bravery, and the course is designed to create a supportive environment. We want all women fleet professionals to be able to make their voice and views heard, sharing with them a toolkit that makes public speaking a skill that can be learnt, honed and repeated,” said McAtear.

Course details can be found on the AFP website.