Sue Barker

Why organisations work with Sue Barker

• A rare first-hand account of two distinct elite careers, professional tennis and three decades of live BBC broadcasting, with the practical detail of how each transition was managed.
• Sustained composure on live television. Hosting Wimbledon, Sports Personality of the Year and A Question of Sport for decades is a working example of executing under scrutiny that few corporate audiences will encounter directly.
• Credibility with senior, mixed-gender audiences. Recognised by the Royal Television Society and the Crown across three honours, which lands with boards and partner-track audiences in a way generic motivational speakers do not.
• Strong fit as an awards host, panel chair and after-dinner speaker for corporate events that need a recognisable public figure with broadcast-grade interviewing craft.

Biography highlights

• French Open singles champion, 1976; world No. 3, 1977; eleven WTA singles titles.
• Host of BBC Wimbledon coverage, 1994 to 2022.
• Host of A Question of Sport, 1997 to 2021.
• Host of BBC Sports Personality of the Year, 1994 to 2012.
• First woman to win the Royal Television Society best sports presenter award, 2001.
• MBE (2000), OBE (2016), CBE (2021); Sunday Times bestselling author of Calling The Shots and Wimbledon: A Personal Story.

Biography

The 1976 French Open final was won by a 20-year-old from Devon who had been picked out for coaching at age ten by Arthur Roberts, the coach behind Angela Mortimer’s three Grand Slam titles. That win, eleven WTA singles titles and a world ranking of No. 3 made the first career. The second was longer and arguably harder.

After retiring from professional tennis in 1984, Barker moved into broadcasting through Australia’s Channel 7 and Sky, then joined the BBC in 1993. From 1994 she anchored Wimbledon for the corporation, a role she held for almost three decades, alongside A Question of Sport from 1997 and Sports Personality of the Year from 1994. Three Royal honours followed: MBE, OBE and CBE.

For corporate audiences, the substance is the craft underneath the visibility. Holding a live two-week tournament on air, running a long-running studio format, and interviewing elite performers in defeat as well as victory are working demonstrations of composure, preparation and reinvention. Her two Sunday Times bestsellers, Calling The Shots and Wimbledon: A Personal Story, document the same material in print.

She is most often booked as an awards host, panel chair or after-dinner speaker, where the value sits in broadcast-grade interviewing and the standing she brings to the room. The keynote content on resilience and performing under pressure is drawn directly from those two careers, not assembled from theory.

Key speaking topics

• Resilience and reinvention across a long career
• Performing under pressure on live broadcast
• Women in sport and sports media
• Teamwork in elite competition
• Awards hosting and panel chairing
• Interviewing elite performers

Ideal for

• Corporate awards ceremonies and gala dinners needing a recognised public figure to host
• Leadership offsites where resilience and career reinvention are the brief
• Conferences requiring a panel chair or interviewer with broadcast-grade craft
• Client and partner events where brand recognition and audience appeal matter

Audience outcomes

• A first-hand account of how composure is built and held across decades of public performance
• Specific examples of managing a career transition from elite sport into a second profession
• A practitioner’s view of women’s progress in sport and sports broadcasting since the 1970s
• An interviewer’s perspective on what elite performers say about pressure and recovery