Women in Estate Agency Conference 2025

In case you've missed the deluge of people gushing about last week's Women in Estate Agency (WIEA) Conference on just about every social media platform, I thought I'd add my thoughts on what was, yet again, an incredible event.

Let's start by saying that this conference is unlike any other in the estate agency circuit. You won't learn how to increase your fees, how to enter the prime market or how to increase your vendor leads. There aren't debates about the Renters Rights Bill or how we can collaborate to make buying and selling better. There aren't even awards to win. Despite this, it is now my favourite industry conference of the year. But why?

What this amazing group of people have landed on is that, women and men alike, are calling out for so much more. There are plenty of clever people and articles out there that can help you map out a system for success. However, how often have you been truly inspired by a talk at a property conference? How often have you sat there and thought 'Shit! That's my story, my journey, my challenge, my internal voice!'?

But I'm a man, surely I don't get those things from a conference aimed at raising up women!? If that's your thought, how wrong you are. There are talks, stories, views and lessons from ages 23 & 24 that still merrily bounce around my head and help inform me to be a better husband, father, business partner and leader.

So, what rocked on the day? It will surprise few, that the 'Agents of Change' panel featuring my incredible work-wife & business partner An Deckers blowing people's minds with her, often unbelievable, life story and journey to date has to take top spot. Not only was I immensely proud to see her smash the thing she probably fears more than anything else- public speaking, but it was incredible to see her share her story of overcoming adversity in so many ways and see that resonate with a room of 450 people. It didn't stop there though, Vicky Bibiris, who I am now proud to call a very dear friend, ripped off the bandaid and shared her journey from rebel to avid learner/unlearner. Her raw personal journey, combined with her passion to never stop learning- and her epic array of mantra's and learning materials to inspire and inform others. The session was beautifully rounded off by Dani Nash, the MD of Property Academy, and her poignant and often funny journey of self-realisation and discovery on her career and life journey. They shocked us, wowed us, made us laugh and sometimes cry but, above all, they inspired.

That, in a nutshell, is what this conference is about- inspiring us all to aspire to be and do better.

In what was a packed day, there was no filler here- just thriller! We had Hayley Brackley's passionate embrace of her own neurodiversity turning what was once seen as a disability into her immense superpower. Not only a story of success against adversity, but a lesson for us all to learn about the importance of allowing and embracing people to be their true self and learn how to get out of their way and help them soar. Natasha Terinova caught us all by surprise, taking inspiration from a 3500 year old Egyptian Pharaoh and dynasty and applying those lessons to the modern proptech scene, women-leaders in the space and the importance of driving investment with purpose. Jeremy Langmead's beautiful, warm and often amusing tribute to Sarah Edmendson didn't leave a dry eye in the house. Jennie Barker shared her amazing thoughts and insights on the importance of fostering a positive and high-performance culture- with revenues exceeding £350m and retaining their 70% profit margin, you could argue Rightmove have done this better than most. Lunch and the often post-break lull and cobwebs were, in true WIEA & Lucy Noonan style, blown away with possibly the first ever UK estate agency flashmob dance sesh! Within minutes, hearts were racing and smiles were beaming! Emma Serlin shared her tumultuous journey of personal and professional discovery as she leapt from aspirations of being a theater & film director- to a career that she now finds truly rewarding empowering people through speech workshops to some of the biggest brands in the world and beyond. This story resonated a lot with my departure from acting, as I have pursued a career that, to me, has much greater meaning and impact. My one regret, was that I missed the final keynote speaker of the day- that of Group Captain Flight Lieutenant Jo Salter MBE- the UK's first ever female fighter pilot. I don't want to do her talk a dis-service so do please seek other's comments on this amazing and inspiring talk.

Lastly, something truly radical happened at the conference, me and 3 other men were invited to hold an exclusively male panel debate around the current state of Men's Mental Health, what does it mean to be a man in today's world and what is The Boys Club? For those that don't yet know, The Boys Club is an initiative started by Ben Madden, looking to offer a safe space (private Facebook Group for now) for men to share their own personal stories and experiences of overcoming mental health struggles, in the hope they will inspire other men to seek help and find ways to tackle the many mental challenges they face in today's society. Since its concept, Ben has engaged the council of Spencer Lawrence, Toby Martin, Ross D'Aniello and me as we try to collaborate and support one another in this epic and daunting issue. On the day, Ben invited Iain McKenzie, Daniel Keedwell and me- to face and answer some spikey and totally unknown questions on the topic as we sought to give a raw and candid effort at tackling this beast in just 30 minutes. Not going to lie- initial thoughts of sitting on a stage in front of 350+ women as we discussed the challenges faced by men (whilst important) seemed questionable. However, the committee and those involved agreed that this was a vital topic that needed open discourse, and with so many women in the audience with dads, husbands, brothers, male business partners and sons- surely there was value for all here. Whilst it wasn't everyone's cup of tea, the impact of this talk was beyond anything we had anticipated or hoped for, and to see some women cite this as their favourite panel of the day quickly justified its place on the schedule.

Of course, then the fun kicked off with The ESTAS sponsored aftershow party where we all got to let our hair down and revel in the inspiring and moving day. Many of us took great advantage of the immensely fun 360 camera booth sponsored by The Guild. For some of us, the party continued for quite a while, with many of us ending the night singing at the top of our voices to the likes of Wonderwall as a live musician did his best to lead us all along in the basement bar of The Big Chill nearby. Needless to say there was a lot of love & laughter in that room.

So, in short, they bloody did it again- Conference of the year for me! I just can't wait to see what these incredible people come up with for 2026. If you make one plan already for 2026, make sure it's to buy a ticket- or maybe dio what we and some other companies did- shut your office and take the whole team. You won't regret it!