At a sparkling evening aCommittee City Cruises' "Mayflower Garden", Chair Karen Ramírez, announced the winners of the Chairman's Awards.

Sponsored by the British Travel Awards and presented by CEO Lorraine Barnes Burton, the Honorary Award, in memory of Joan Richardson, went to

Karen said: "Phil is an incredibly worthy winner. Phil moved from India to the UK in 1951, and rose up through the ranks of Air India over a period of 33 years. She is a longstanding member and supporter of AWTE, was instrumental in setting up the Benevolent Fund and was also involved in setting up IFWTO, an international organisation for women to become actively involved in policy-making decisions across the industry."

Karen continued: "Debbee works tirelessly to raise the profile of organisations she is involved with, has a strong reputation within the industry and is passionate about supporting and developing people, and being a sounding Committee for those around her."

The guest speaker at the Chairman's Awards was Francesca Ecsery, global sales director of internet-based travel group Cheapflights Media, who has worked in both multinationals and new start-ups, has an MBA from Harvard, and speaks six languages.

Francesca gave an entertaining and insightful account of her career journey, from her time at McKinsey and her roles in marketing at PepsiCo, to her 18 years in the travel sector.

She said there were three key skills that helped make an effective and successful Committee member: being good at numbers, good at politics, and having great attention to detail. She emphasised the importance of paying attention to politics and making it work for you in the organisation. One of her key tips is to send proposals to other Committee members at least a month before a Committee meeting to get their feedback and support.

"If you pre-empt everything, then by the time you come to present to the Committee, it will just be a case of rubber-stamping your proposal," added Francesca.

The AWTE runs a series of seminars to help mentor and inspire senior women in travel to reach Committee positions. The next event in the Boardroom Ready programme is Choosing Your Committee, date to be released shortly.

If your employees are harassed on a night out with clients or suppliers, then your company could be held liable under new anti-discrimination laws. That was one of the key messages that came out of the 'Getting to grips with HR' panel discussion held by AWTE this week.

Speaking about the Equality Act that comes into force on 1 October, employment lawyer Jeremy Nixon, from Thring Townsend Lee & Pembertons, told seminar delegates that employers would be liable if their staff were harassed by third parties unless they didn't know about it, or had taken reasonable steps to prevent it. However, this would only apply if the employee had been harassed on at least two separate occasions.

There are nine areas where employees can claim protection against discrimination under the new Act: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion and belief, sex, and sexual orientation.

Jeremy said: "You're off the hook if you don't know about it, but it's all a question of fact and degree. If you're organising an event, then as a manager it's up to you to bring it to a conclusion at a suitable time."

Jeremy's fellow panel members at the AWTE event were Emma Taylor, head of HR at Appleyards, and Ronnie White, VP of HR - Europe for Millennium & Copthorne Hotels. The debate was moderated by Debbee Dale, director of Debbee Dale Development.

Emma said: "A one-off is not sufficient to trigger a harassment claim, but employers have a duty of care to the individual, especially if the situation is ongoing."

Ronnie added: "Both sexes may have used this to their advantage in the past, but this new Act is likely to change people's mindset."

Jeremy advised delegates that the Act would not require a wholesale redesign of discrimination policy procedures within an organisation, but was a chance "to review things generally, and an opportunity to renew training".

AWTE Chair, Karen Ramírez, commented: "This is clearly a minefield - the level of responsibility that companies must take for behaviours and attitudes of suppliers, colleagues, employees and others can be daunting. From participation in this seminar, our members will have a clear overview of the implications of the Equality Act, and what they should be reviewing to ensure compliance."

Getting to grips with HR is part of the AWTE's Boardroom Ready programme, an initiative to equip senior women in the travel sector with the skills and resources to fulfil a non-executive directorship.

AWTE continued its 'Boardroom Ready' programme by guiding members through the maze of financial reporting at a meeting in London on 29 June. Delivered by White Hart Associates and Pinpoint Communications, the objectives were to ensure that terminology, reports, financial interpretation and key performance indicators (KPIs), were fully appreciated, especially the significant impact on business which occurs if regular analysis is avoided.

Pinpoint Chairman and Non-Executive Director, Gwyn Hughes, told members about the importance of cash flow – the main criteria for failing businesses. He quotes, 'Companies fail when they run out of cash. Cash flow is vital to every business – yet the number of small companies not producing cash flow projections surprises'.

Nikki Spoor, Partner White Hart Associates, supported this statement by detailing the balance sheet, highlighting areas of concern often overlooked. Spoor suggested KPIs would depend on the sector and listed possible options with product contribution analysis and revenues/profit per unit being important elements.

AWTE commenced the 'Boardroom Ready' programme last year and aims to ensure that women are confident and well-equipped for boardroom careers. New AWTE Chair, Karen Ramírez, says "Finance is one area that women often find challenging or intimidating, so this interactive session was highly appropriate to our members. We will be running similar sessions in the next few months."

This year's Benevolent Summer Lunch took place on Saturday, 26 June, for the third time at the The Chesterfield Hotel, Mayfair, a lovely venue very popular with our members.

AWTE was delighted to welcome over 65 delegates to its AWTE Chairman’s Reception at the ITT Conference in Benidorm. Sponsored by Teletext Holidays and held on the terrace at the Asia Gardens Hotel, Karen Ramírez, AWTE Chair, welcomed the group, after which Lucy Huxley, Group Editor of Travel Weekly, spoke about her own role, her career path and expressed her support for AWTE.

Tricia Handley marked the end of her chairmanship of the Association of Women Travel Executives (AWTE) at the Chairman's Farewell Luncheon, hosted by Baroness Flather of Windsor and Maidenhead, at the House of Lords on 26 April.

Tricia stepped down as chairman after two years in the post and passed on the reins to new chairman Karen Ramírez at the AWTE AGM on 14 April. Speaking at the lunch, Tricia said she had enjoyed her time as chair, "but there's still a lot of work to do". She added: "We needed to establish brand values and do a lot of listening, and all of our members have supported this and run with it.

Being chair has taken me into territories I'm unfamiliar with, but I'd say to any woman: if you're thinking about doing something, then please go for it. It has boosted my confidence and I've proved I can achieve things I didn't know I could achieve, and I'll carry on supporting Karen Ramírez."

During her two-year tenure, Tricia boosted the AWTE's profile within the press, and introduced bold new initiatives such as the Director Progression and Committeeroom Ready programmes.

Karen praised Tricia for her commitment, energy and passion and said it had been a privilege and an inspiration to work for her. "For me, she's 'Nike Woman' - because whatever she does, there's no messing about - it's a question of 'Just do it'," she said.

Karen added that within the next few weeks she would communicate the AWTE vision for the year ahead. "It will focus on really maximising the intrinsic value of our network. What does that mean? It's about working together to facilitate and drive business opportunities, give each other a leg up when times are tough - and have some fun as we do it."

Richard Gooding, CEO of London City Airport - where Tricia is currently masterminding the marketing drive - also spoke at the farewell lunch. He said: "We wish Tricia well in not being the chairman, and Karen for taking it on - because taking anything on from Tricia is going to be a challenge!"

Baroness Flather gave an impassioned speech about how extreme poverty around the world can be changed by bringing women into the workforce.

She highlighted key themes in her new book 'WOMAN - Acceptable Exploitation for Profit' about the wasted potential of women as a vital and untapped asset in the labour force of developing countries, especially in the Indian sub-continent and Africa.

She said: "Women do three-quarters of the work and earn 10% of the wage and own 1% of the property. We have not come forward; we've gone backwards because things are a lot worse. Empowerment and equality are two banned words. You can't empower someone; when women are ready, they will take it," she added.

Once again, the AWTE Luncheon at the House of Lords, organized with such panache by Bella Rangel Callan, was a splendid occasion, enjoyed by some 65 members and guests.

The 'Boardroom Ready' session last night was proved the most emotive and interactive to date, kindly hosted by Millennium Mayfair Hotel, with guest speaker, Sunny Crouch OBE.

Sunny took the audience through her "ME PROJECT" approach which included recognising ambition, identifying paths to success, investment in one’s self and charting success. She encouraged AWTE members to serve on boards where influence is an opportunity, making speeches and presentations regularly, to apply for non-executive boards where you can introduce and champion initiatives - and above all, to let others know of your intended career path as women do not undertake self-promotion. She recommended that we flirt with our future!

Preparation, discipline and general management are good grounds, says Sunny, but above all you must familiarise yourself with the financial agenda as without it you will sink. She quoted American statistics: the most important factor is how you are brought up by your father, and gave various examples of women whose lives were affected by this approach.

Sunny is currently a Non-Executive Director of Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corporation, Places for People Housing & Regeneration Group, Island Health & Trust and a Governor of the University of East London, plus Chair of Capital Projects Group, overseeing £200m of new development over a period of 6 years. Along with her many achievements for being an inspiration to women, she was awarded an OBE for business, regeneration and tourism.

It was a brilliant evening and went down storm. There was so much content last night - we could not close the meeting for questions ... even at 9pm!

AWTE member and Managing Director of GfK Ascent, Sarah Smalley, shared some of the most recent insights into the UK leisure sector from the statistical evidence gathered by Gfk Ascent. This was then coupled with some direct consumer feedback from the British Travel Awards annual consumer survey which is sent out with voting forms for the BTAs. Both Sarah Smalley and Lorraine Barnes Burton, CEO of BTA, got together after discovering that Gfk's actual booking information for 2009 was validating the consumer intentions from the BTA 2008 survey. A full report was created with these consumer intentions and industry actual figures which is available from BTA.

Highlights of the presentation:

The first 3 weeks of January 2010 were not promising, however, the last week of January going into February showed far better promise, with an 11% increase on 2009. Agents are strong, especially on early bookings, however direct bookings are on the up.

Gfk Ascent continues to gather the information from the industry to help organisations strategise for the future. BTA will be reviewing their questions for the 2010 consumer survey and will annually announce their findings to the industry, again to help with planning and marketing for future sales based on the consumers' intentions.