Inspiring Speakers Locked In For IWG 2022 FINAL

Registrations have surged past 1,200, with limited spaces now remaining for in person participants. Closing date to register for the hybrid in person / virtual pass is now 23.59 NZT on Wednesday 9 November 2022. This date may move forward should capacity limits be reached sooner; local organisers are now urging final registrants to get in quick, to avoid missing out.

The 10-strong field of Inspiring Insights speakers has been confirmed for IWG 2022, with senior Olympic media operations official Anthony Edgar joining a high-powered line-up that will provide insider perspectives on the major issues facing women and girls in sport and recreation around the globe.

This announcement comes as the 8th IWG World Conference on Women & Sport officially becomes the largest event in its 30-year history, surpassing the previous global attendance record set at Botswana 2018. It is now the biggest sports conference to ever be staged in Aotearoa New Zealand, with participants confirmed from 300 organisations in over 60 countries.

Anthony Edgar, recently appointed as chair of a new international women in sports photography competition, has been involved in the delivery of every Olympic Games since 1997.

His address at the IWG World Conference in Auckland, New Zealand, in November - the eighth edition of the world’s largest gathering to advance gender equity and equality in sport and physical activity - will assess the state of the world’s sporting media.

Edgar, the former chair of the IOC Press Committee, joins FIFA Chief Women’s Football Officer Sarai Bareman (Women in Football); IOC Executive Board Member His Royal Highness Prince Feisal Al Hussein (Safeguarding); former Olympic swimmer and model Casey Legler (Athlete wellbeing); and former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Deputy President of South Africa Dr Phumzile Mlambo Ngcuka (Encouraging men to support women in sport) as speakers on the opening day of the four-day global conference.

"We’re delighted that Anthony will be joining what is an incredible group of global sporting insiders," IWG New Zealand Secretary General Rachel Froggatt says.

"The media have a massive role to play in how women’s sport is framed and digested. Anthony has vast experience in media operations and worked on the IOC’s 2017 gender equality review, so it will be fascinating to hear his views on where things stand now.

"To be announcing this calibre of speaker, at the same time as breaking the global attendance record for IWG, shows that advancing gender equality is now central to strategic growth for sporting organisations worldwide."

In keeping with the fast-paced nature of the IWG World Conference, the five Day 1 Inspiring Insights speakers will deliver their addresses over just 60 minutes on the event’s opening morning. Each theme will then be discussed by panels featuring a star-studded list of sports industry figures.

Silver Ferns coach Dame Noeline Taurua completes a quartet of Dames alongside Dame Louise Martin, Dame Valerie Adams and Dame Sophie Pascoe, with the local contingent also featuring the likes of Melodie Robinson, Megan Compain, Louisa Wall, Sarah Cowley-Ross, Allan Bunting and recent Kea Award winner Katie Sadleir.

Stephanie Hightower, a champion hurdler who was denied her shot at Olympic glory due to the US team’s Moscow games boycott in 1980 - now a prominent social justice and racial equity campaigner and chair of World Athletics’ Gender Leadership Task Force - is among a list of international panellists that also includes:

• Chris Mosier - the first transgender athlete to represent the United States in an international competition
• Rowena Samarasinhe - a commercial lawyer who specialises in the negotiation and implementation of international sponsorship and broadcast agreements
• Madeleine Pape - an Australian Olympian who raced against Caster Semenya who is

now a prominent sociologist who specialises in the politics of ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ and advises the IOC on inclusion

The Inspiring Insights elements of the conference - to be held at Auckland’s Te Pokapū - Aotea Centre from Monday 14 November to Thursday 17 November - conclude on Day Four with addresses from the Chair of UK Sport Dame Katherine Grainger; Chief Executive of Sport New Zealand Raelene Castle; Afghan Footballer and Girl Power founder Khalida Popal; climate change expert Dr Madeleine Orr; and Lazy Sneakers founder Maia Mariner.

Over 1,200 participants are expected to participate in the conference in person with another 500+ joining online via a world-class conferencing system.

People wishing to attend in person will need to secure their passes by 23.59 NZT Wednesday, November 9. Virtual passes will be available right through to the conclusion of the event.

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