No Small Talk, Only Big Talk How Impact Players 2026 Is Changing the Game for Female Leaders

By Lauren Regan.

When we sat down with Sinead and Lisa, founders of Impact Players, the leadership conference that brings together the worlds of business and sports as a catalyst for high performance, one phrase kept resurfacing: “No small talk. Only big talk.” Impact Players is coming to Belfast on 12 May 2026, and for the team, this is more than a tagline; it’s a response to a gap that has existed for too long in leadership spaces both on the field and in the boardroom, and one that women, particularly those operating at senior levels, feel acutely.

Boardroom language is full of sporting metaphors: resilience, marginal gains, playing the long game, building winning teams. Male leaders often look to sport as a blueprint for performance. Yet the lessons of sport,  discipline, teamwork, recovery, courage under pressure, belong to everyone. But where were the spaces where high-performance thinking was examined through the lived realities of women in leadership?

That’s where Impact Players was born.

“There are conferences about women in leadership,” Lisa explains. “But what we didn’t see was anything that truly unpacked performance at the highest level and did it in a way that felt energising, honest and practical.”

At its core is a fascination with elite performance: how we optimise it, sustain it and redefine it on our own terms. Sinead, whose background spans psychology and performance coaching, describes high performance as “one of the most misunderstood concepts in business. In sport, you train, you practise, you review and you improve. In business, women are often expected to arrive fully formed and simply deliver. There’s rarely space to develop out loud.”

Now in its second year, Impact Players brings together women across sectors and career stages, creating space for connection and substantive conversation. “There are systemic issues that still hold women back,” Sinead says. “But instead of internalising blame, we want women to understand what’s structural and what’s within their control. That’s where community becomes catalytic.”

The speaker line-up will be led by Clare Balding, and beyond the headline speakers of globally recognised broadcasters, Olympians, founders and high-profile leaders, the real value is in the room itself. Women connecting across industries, sharing strategy, exchanging insight rather than platitudes and acting as informed advocates for one another’s ambition.

“Influence isn’t built in isolation,” Lisa says. “When you’re considering a promotion, a board role or launching something new, you need people who don’t just say ‘you can do it’, but who can say ‘here’s what worked for me.’”

Is a conference like Impact Players still needed in 2026? Now more than ever, according to Lisa and Sinead. While progress has been made, women in business are still judged on their visibility as much as on their value. Commentary around likeability, appearance and tone often eclipses discussions about results and leadership capability.

“When focus drifts to style over substance,” Lisa says, “it reinforces a narrative that women’s value is aesthetic before it is strategic. That doesn’t just undermine individuals, it shapes cultures. The message is subtle but persistent: how you present still matters more than what you deliver. At a time when women are pushing for equity in pay, representation and decision-making power, spaces that actively challenge that narrative are not optional, they are essential.”

By bringing together women from across business and sport, Impact Players reframes the conversation around performance, resilience and influence. The qualities that define exceptional leadership, discipline, clarity under pressure, and long-term thinking, are not accidental; they are developed. “When we elevate those traits and connect women who embody them,” Sinead adds, “we create a counter-culture to outdated stereotypes. In 2026, shifting the narrative isn’t just about fairness; it’s about reshaping how women’s ambition and authority are perceived everywhere.”

The team is also passionate about redefining what self-care means for leaders. Not as surface-level indulgence, but as sustainable energy management. Women are carrying more professionally and domestically than ever before, nervous systems are stretched, and exhaustion is normalised. Impact Players invites women to examine what truly replenishes them, what fuels long-term influence rather than short-term overperformance.

The result is a space that is serious about ambition but joyful in delivery, where vulnerability and vision coexist, and where conversations about confidence, burnout, visibility, and decision-making are not fringe topics but central to leadership.

And the impact is tangible. Attendees from Impact Players 2025 described it as transformational, not because they left with a notebook full of quotes, but because they left with connections, clarity and courage.

For women navigating complex, high-stakes business environments, communities like Impact Players are not a luxury. They are strategic infrastructure for success, an ecosystem of shared insight and collective elevation, because when women have space to speak honestly, learn from one another and build influence together, the ripple effect extends far beyond a single conference stage.

Find out more at https://impact.rebootandreturn.com/

 Lauren Regan is the founder and creative director of MOLE, a brand storytelling and PR consultancy.

Crafting a meaningful brand story is within reach for every organisation. MOLE works with businesses in the UK and Canada to find their voice, tell their stories, and shape their future. To speak to Lauren about your organisations ambitions, reach out on lauren@weraremole.com