The 73rd Federation Conference held at Harrogate from 1st to 3rd November proved its own theme of: 'Words whisper, actions shout!' All of the invited keynote speakers demonstrated in words how their actions had transformed lives and helped to make the world a better place for others. Outgoing Federation President Hilary-Kay Young brought reports of her busy year visiting Clubs and projects across the globe, and delighted Conference goers with her stimulating range of talented speakers.

Vera Bohle made a career change from TV journalist to deminer when filming refugees in Somalia. 'All the time I just had this feeling that I ought to be distributing food there instead of thinking about how to edit the film we'd shot,' she said. After two years training in landmine clearance she worked in mine action programmes around the world. She told her Soroptimist audience: 'The only role of the woman in war is as the victim. We have to take action – now is a good time to stop mines and cluster bombs and, in the bigger vision, to work towards peace.'

Isla Rogers-Winarto is an Australian Soroptimist who has spent the past 23 years living and working in Indonesia. She is the project director for 'Rebuilding Lamreh Village Project' in Aceh on the northern tip of Sumatra, a project started by SI Jakarta after the devastating Tsunami in December 2004. Isla described to Conference delegates who just 11 Soroptimists had made their actions shout as their aims to provide emergency relief turned into a complete rebuild of the village with housing, schools, infrastructure and recreational amenities.

Claire Bertschinger was a field nurse with the International Committee for the Red Cross in Northern Ethiopia in 1984. She spoke of her personal agonies at having to choose the children and adults who could be fed with limited food supplies, sentencing the rest to certain starvation. In her words, she 'felt like a Nazi commandant, deciding who would live and who would die'.

Michael Buerk, who has probably won more awards than any other UK journalist, spoke of his meeting with Claire Bertschinger in Ethiopia in 1984, a meeting recorded on film which famously was the inspiration for Sir Bob Geldof to initiate 'Live Aid'. He described himself as a 'Club Class misery tourist' visiting war zones throughout his TV reporting life. Michael referred to the Conference theme: 'Words whisper, actions shout!' and described himself as the quintessential whisperer, spending his life reporting on the lives of others.

New Federation President Marguerite Woodstock-Riley was installed at the glittering Change of Insignia ceremony and she launched her theme for the coming year: 'Be bold, think big, make a difference!'