Gareth Thomas

Official Feedback from In-Person & Virtual Events

Feedback from In-Person Events:

"I just wanted to drop a note to say thanks for arranging Gareth Thomas last week. The feedback was really positive from staff and his story was very inspiring." - Irish Rugby Football Union

"I just want to thank you for helping organise the talk with Gareth. It was incredible. He spoke with such honesty and you could clearly tell it was the real him. It’s the best turn out we’ve had for a talk as well and the feedback has been amazing. Please do send on our thanks to Gareth – we would love to have him back!" - Rowena, Canopius

"The speech from Gareth went fantastically well and he responded to the questions brilliantly and there were plenty. He is such a lovely and warm person considering his life success and stardom. It was a real pleasure to be able to meet him. Thank you for all your assistance with arranging Gareth’s attendance, it made our conference really special and made all the stress in the preparation worth it." - Tracy Ceraldi, KeolisAmey Docklands Ltd

‘It really was an amazing event, you guys and the BRG are amazing, impressive and courageous. Both Kellie and Gareth were so open and honest, we are really priveledged to have had them visit the office and share. Thank you so much.’ - CMAS

'My own personal take away was Gareth describing 'how faster you can run, how higher you can jump' when the burden had been lifted after he came out.' - CMAS

“The event was a resounding success and Gareth Thomas was absolutely amazing. Professional, accommodating, attention to detail and incredible fun. It is by far the best event that I have hosted so far. Gareth did not disappoint in any way whatsoever. All my guests are still raving about the event and “Alfie” this morning.”- Loredana Williams – IWC

"We all very much appreciated his kindness and honesty in sharing his journey with us.  Gareth was a huge hit and we have received nothing but positive feedback about the evening from clients and staff alike." - Stephenson Howard Law Firm    

"Wow, wow, wow !!  My favourite so far.  Gareth was truly inspirational, made us laugh and cry.  We have never had a speaker receive such a long round of applause before. Everyone was talking about it afterwards. Thank you very much for another great speaker, look forward to working with you again very soon." - UHY Hacker Young

“I thought I would just let you know that our event was a huge success! Gareth was a fantastic speaker and an all-round lovely guy. The feedback from my colleagues was all very positive, one even said that he was the best speaker we have ever had! Now the challenge is to find someone just as good for our November event!” - Cleo Phillips - PGIM Real Estate

"Gareth was amazing yesterday, such a lovely friendly guy, and his talk was extremely emotional and powerful. We have had some fantastic feedback. Please pass on my thanks to Gareth, it was great to have him here taking part in our Pride events for 2019." - Jennie, Shop Direct

"Thanks so much for the suggestion – he is doing amazingly with media." - Josh, Head of Regions, Broadcast Revolution 

"He was amazing! He had everyone in tears. Wonderful feedback - I will forward on some of the comments from our webcast in the next few days so that you and he can see them." - Sian, Senior Manager, Novartis

"No it all went incredibly! We have had the most overwhelmingly great response!" - Rebecca, HR Advisor, Danone plc

"As part of a three-day event celebrating the best of British cultural journalism, Newsworks hired Gareth Thomas as a speaker as part of a live podcast recording with The Daily Mail’s Bryony Gordon. Gareth was very honest and inspiring; he opened up about tough subjects such as mental health struggles surrounding homophobia and toxic masculinity that still exists in sport and the stigma around people living with HIV. His messaging will make a difference to the audience in the room and those who will listen to the recording. Gareth was also such a delight with all the staff and left a great and lasting impression." - Coral, Media Executive, Newsworks

Feedback from Virtual Events:

"Gareth - Thank you very much for today’s event. You shared your story in such a wonderful way which was really inspiring. The number of questions and positive comments afterwards shows the event was well received which we are really pleased about. Many thanks for being such an engaging speaker!" - Alex, Safeguarding Risks Consultant, Zurich

"The feedback has been absolutely incredible! Everyone loved it and really appreciated Gareth’s openness and vulnerability. It’s gone down as one of the best guest speakers we’ve had and we’ve had many throughout the years!" - Polly, Senior Engagement, Diversity & Inclusion Advisor, Softcat Plc

"We had 50+ messages of thanks and gratitude in the Teams call chat space and we have had individuals from across the business emailing directly thanking us for the session and for Gareth being so open and honest. Please if you can, pass on our heartfelt thank you to Gareth for his time and effort for today's call. The emotionally open, honest and raw state with which he spoke about his journey has really struck a chord with many of our colleagues and we are so grateful to him for his time today to help celebrate Pride and to answer questions from colleagues. Thank you to you both for helping to facilitate the call too, very much a success all around!" - Adam, Internal Communications Manager, Pennon

"It was great! Very well received and we got some great feedback... a small selection of comments are below. 'Very honest and an inspiration', 'What an incredible man', 'Gareth, this is the second time I have heard you speak. Inspirational', 'As an English rugby fan I hated seeing you on the field, as a Lions fan, I loved seeing you on the field. As a human being, you have truly humbled me today. Thank you', 'A legend on and off the field. Thanks, Gareth', 'Always been impressed with Gareth as a rugby player but this takes it all to a completely new level' and 'We should surround ourselves with more Gareths!'. " - Theresa, Manager of Global Privacy Office, Crawford & Company 

"Gareth was fantastic. It was a very inspiring and emotional talk. Thank you for helping us make it happen." - Tomas, Mollie

"Gareth was brilliant and went down really well. We have already had some great feedback from those who attended the session." - Martine, Trainline

"This has made my year!!!!! Thank you Gareth and team." - Rosie, Brand Manager, Elastoplast

"I wanted to touch base personally to say how amazing I thought Gareth was today, and how well received he was by all our staff. Please let him know how much everyone enjoyed the session. He was so laid back, open, honest, eloquent, considered, enthusiastic and funny, and it was massively appreciated that he cared to tailor his talk to resonate with our audience. We have had soooooo much feedback immediately from staff saying how much his presentation, and answers to our questions, have made them think differently about sexuality, and in particular, how non-LGBT people have a huge role to play in ensuring we as a company, and a society, evolve to create true equality for LGBT people. Plus from what I can tell… he made a significant proportion of the audience cry too, myself included! It was my first time hosting an event of this sort with a high profile person (well, with anyone to be fair), and he made me feel really at ease/comfortable too, demonstrating patience and good humour whilst we experienced a few technical issues at the beginning – overall, far more than I could have ever hoped for from someone of his profile, or who has achieved what he has done in his life. [...] He should be so proud that telling his story the way he does can have such a resonating and positive impact on those who hear it." - Jonny, Operations Manager, XPS Group

"I just wanted to drop an email to say thank you for helping us arrange Gareth coming to speak to us on Monday. I have had so many people speak to me in the days afterwards saying how inspirational the talk was, how they took something out of it. (I feel like a celebrity at work) I myself, related to so much of what Gareth said it was at times hitting very close to home. Please can you pass on our thanks and gratitude to Gareth, and tell him, with his appearance he has started the conversation rolling, which from an EDI team is an amazing start to what we are trying to achieve. I use the word inspirational again, as that is what he has been called when people have spoken to me since Monday’s session." - David, Megger

"Wow, what a day and what an event it has been! I would like to thank you all for your help with the event! It was incredible, and the positive feedback that we keep receiving is great!" - Rza, BP 

"I would like to add my personal thanks to Gareth for his openness and for helping to move the dial on D&I in BP considerably. It was an honour to be on the call with him" - Neil, BP 

"He was AMAZING!!! So emotional - we had a few tears from the team and audience. Loads of really amazing feedback." - Elle, Weareutopia

"Thank you for a very honest and open talk. It was fascinating, and very emotional hearing your experience.”

“Truly inspirational… thank you for sharing your story with such authenticity Gareth.”

“I can’t get the story about your parents’ reaction out of my mind – so personal and emotional – and very powerful to share with others. Thanks for discussing with us so openly.”

“Your outlook on only needing acceptance from the people that matter to you and reiterating how you can't please everyone all the time is such a powerful message and reminder for so many people. Thank you for reminding us all of this as it's so true. Been great to listen to you today and thank you for your time.”

“Thank you for your openness – incredibly inspiring, moving and powerful.”

“Thank you for sharing your story with us. It is so moving. The brave steps you took will have inspired so many others to be brave.”

“Thank you for being so honest, open and vulnerable – it is important for us to hear this.”

“You are such an inspiring man, god bless you.”

“Wow, inspiring, insightful and sad in a way that in this day and age you’ve had to go through what you’ve been though. Thanks for sharing your story.”

“You showed such strength, and your actions will inspire many for years to come.”

“WOW! What an amazing session. Thanks so much Gareth for being so warm, genuine and open about his struggle to be authentic. This was absolutely inspirational. I have no words!”

"The event was really well received, with lots of positive comments from colleagues who attended. As I said in my voicemail, Gareth is truly inspirational – so humble and honest. His story was incredibly moving and we really enjoyed being able to speak to him today. We would like to say a big thank you again!" – Louise, Clifford Chance

"I just wanted to thank Gareth so much for his open, humbling and inspirational talk yesterday. We were all really moved by his story, delivered in such a way that it seemed like it was the first time he’d shared it. If you could pass on our gratitude to him I’d be very grateful!" - Kate, Marketing Manager, Curtins

"He was super honest, and brought many of the points we’d spoken about in the briefing to light – linking back to business where possible. I think everyone really enjoyed the session, and personally I found him very knowledgeable, easy to work with and friendly. Not many people bring their successes, challenges, knowledge and highlight learnings or mistakes/ traits that they are less proud of to the forefront during speaking sessions, and I thought this well rounded approach made him very relatable." - Siwan, Inclusion & Diversity Manager, Princes Limited