Dear Reader,

It is Wimbledon fortnight, and London is at its best, so this week comes with some summer out-of-office ideas as well as your usual careers content.

Inside This Edition:

• Out of Office: How to do Wimbledon without a Centre Court ticket, from the free big screens to strawberries and cream and the best afternoon teas
• From the Peer Suite blog: What executive presence actually means, and how to sharpen an elevator pitch that still sounds like you
• On our radar: How to own the room, this year's Women's Prize winner, the summer SPFs you need to add to your basket, and a coastal bolthole for August
• Resources: A free way to build a skill this summer, with LinkedIn Learning and more than 20,000 courses through your local library
• July Events: The Wealth Panel on the gender pension gap, a virtual Boardroom Breakthrough masterclass with City CV and more.

You don't need a Centre Court ticket to make the most of Wimbledon. There are pop-ups and Wimbledon-themed events across the city, and some of the best ways to watch are free.

🎾 WATCH IT OUTSIDE Free big screens go up across London for the Championships, and they are a lovely way to catch an afternoon match without the ballot. Hanover Square, just off Oxford Street, has a full setup with deckchairs and food stalls, and there is a floating garden screen beside the Tower at St Katharine Docks showing every match from midday. Time Out keeps a running list of where to watch on the big screens if you want one closer to home or the office.

🍓 AFTERNOON TEA, SW19 STYLE Several London hotels run a Wimbledon afternoon tea for the fortnight, built around strawberries, cream and a good glass of something cold. Ham Yard Hotel serves its version as a picnic hamper in the courtyard, and the Athenaeum on Piccadilly does a properly British summer spread. You can see the full set of Wimbledon afternoon teas and book one here, most running until 12th July.

🪑 STRAWBERRIES WITHOUT THE QUEUE If you want the tennis, a deckchair and a Pimm's without trekking to SW19, the pop-ups make it easy. Camden Market has taken over Hawley Wharf with a screen, seating and strawberries and cream from the stalls, and there is a cluster of relaxed screening spots in central London's courtyards and rooftops.

🎙️ PRESS PLAY How to Own the Room, Viv Groskop's podcast on women, power and public speaking, is the natural companion to this week's main piece. Each episode has her in conversation with a woman at the top of her field, from Mary Beard to Nigella Lawson, about presence, nerves and finding your voice, with practical tips you can take straight into your next meeting or talk.

📚 ON THE SHELF The Correspondent by Virginia Evans won this year's Women's Prize for Fiction. Told entirely through the letters and emails of Sybil, a retired lawyer in her seventies, this is one to pack for the park, the beach or a long train home this summer.

☀️ SUMMER SKIN The one bit of skincare I will not skip year-round and especially in summer is a facial SPF. My three go-to formulas are Caudalie, Clinique and Supergoop Glowscreen, each light enough to sit under make-up. If you are still hunting for one that suits your skin, this expert guide to SPF is a good place to compare formulas and find your match.

🌴 GET OUT OF LONDON If you can steal a few days by the sea, The Suffolk in Aldeburgh is a six-room restaurant with rooms a minute from the beach, with a rooftop terrace and a kitchen built around local oysters, crab and whatever the North Sea gives up that morning. The right length of trip when you want the coast without a long drive, and Aldeburgh itself is all shingle beach and good walks.

Free LinkedIn Learning With Your Library Card

A slower month is a good moment to build lightly build some new skills, and one of the better free resources is sitting behind your library card.

Many UK library services, though not all, give members free access to LinkedIn Learning and its catalogue of more than twenty thousand courses across communication, leadership, finance and presenting, each with a certificate you can add to your LinkedIn profile once you finish.

Check whether your local service takes part, then sign in with your library card number and PIN to get started.

Stay cool during this summer heatwave, and I look forward to seeing you at some of our July events.

Your friend,

Rebecca

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