We can all see the world morphing before us into something completely new and unknown, but we’re not quite sure what to do about it, how to harness it, or how to keep on keeping up with the ever-changing landscape that is the future of work.
Whether you’re at the top of your professional game, just starting out, looking for a career change, or just in it for the included alcoholic beverages, there’s a conference happening somewhere soon that’ll get your fire stoked no matter what industry you’re in (or want to be in). It might be inspiration that you need, or it might be specific and rigorous know-how—either way, we’ve scoured the region to bring you these conferences that’ll seriously up your career game.
Social Impact Festival | July 2018
Perth
If you believe in the idea of business as a force for good, Perth’s Social Impact Festival should be on your agenda. The Social Impact Festival is a platform for cutting-edge knowledge and ideas that address complex social problems concerning leadership, housing and homelessness, urban design, law and justice and place activation (among many others).
The Festival hosts a Social Impact Summit of leading academics and industry experts from all over the world, as well as Impact Sparker events that highlight and celebrate initiatives already driving significant change.
Amongst others, you'll hear from Dr. Otto Scharmer, the man behind Theory U, which is all about transforming capitalism, shifting awareness from ego to eco and harnessing business for creating positive futures. This is the place to renew and reinvent the way you work, based on bigger thinking and a care for everything.
Forefront Summit | 19 July 2018
Sydney
When you find out 15 thought leaders from companies like NASA, Adidas, YouTube and Vogue will be in the one spot, you stop what you’re doing and get yourself a ticket.
For anyone with an interest in culture, technology and change (so, everyone), Forefront Summit will be a day full of mind-blowing ideas and opinions from some of the world’s most thought-provoking individuals.
One cheeky stalk of the speaker profiles and you’ll be left feeling inspired, so imagine what actually hearing from them might do!
Semi Permanent | 9—11 August 2018
Auckland
If you need a good injection of creativity, look no further. Semi Permanent was presented as part of Vivid Sydney, the world’s largest festival of light, music and ideas—in May and it really wow-ed the crowd, so if you're in Auckland, make sure you put this one in the calendar for August.
Semi Permanent features names such as David Campbell, the Senior Designer at MONA in Tassie, Scott Dadich (the guy who produced Netflix series ‘Abstract: The Art of Design, watch it), Nike sneaker designer Tinker Hatfield, and Alex Schleifer, VP of Design at Airbnb!
This is a place where every idea, big or small, gets its time in the sun, and where creatives across industries come together to figure out how they can adapt to or, better yet, shape the future.
It's less a conference and more a festival full of talks, exhibitions, installations, innovation labs, workshops, parties and networking opps, so get around it.
Pause Fest | 6—10 February 2019
Melbourne
Pause Fest is aptly named—it’s a space for free thinkers to come together, cross-pollinate and find shared purpose, without the noise. Coming from humble Melburnian roots, Pause Fest has grown into the leading innovation event for the creative, tech and business industries in the Asia Pacific region.
Throughout its eight year history, the festival has featured foremost thinkers from leading brands such as Airbnb, NASA, Netflix, This American Life, Pixar and Amazon.
Call for Entries for the 2019 program are opening in April, so if you’re already on the top of the ladder, you might wanna’ consider getting involved. If not, stay tuned for ticket sales - this is an ideas incubator promising content you can’t Google.
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