We’re in an era of transformation. The organisations we lead have to adjust to major political, social and economic shifts, once-in-a-lifetime technological advancements, the rapidly evolving needs and expectations of our employees; and they have to do it on top of business as usual. HR leaders are increasingly being asked to play a leading role to navigate these changes, ensuring our organisations and our people keep pace with this new world we live in. But transforming an organisation at scale is no easy task.

Syed Ali Abbas is no stranger to transformation; he’s built his career on it. He’s passionate about building great organisations that achieve their full potential, look after their people and create positive social impact.

In this Keynote, we’ll hear from Abbas about the various cycles of transformation he has seen during his career and what brought success in each of them. He will also share insights on the mammoth transformation he and his teams are helping lead at HelloFresh now. And finally he will share some thoughts on where AI is changing the game… and where it isn’t.

When thinking about our talent strategy at scale, we’re often faced with one big question: as things continue to evolve as rapidly as they are, how do we create a workforce that it set up to succeed when we don’t know what jobs or skills we’ll need in two, five or seven years?

In her role as GM Talent and Mobility at ANZ, Sarah Traynor is focused on enabling effective utilisation of the workforce, and a big part of that is how to build for an unknown future, rather than trying to codify for what we currently know.

In this Keynote, Sarah will share why she’s not trying to predict the future, but is putting her efforts into designing and building an adaptable workforce that can thrive in any future, whatever it may look like. It’s not just talent acquisition and mobility; it’s talent management at scale.

In today’s world, as many of us navigate tighter budgets and scrutiny on ROI and our impact on business success, it’s more important than ever for HR leaders to drive increased productivity, performance and efficiency, while also being able to measure and report that back to the business. But first we need to define productivity and performance, and what they actually mean. Is productivity redundant if we’re forgetting about effectiveness or value of contribution? And in the context of employees in Victoria, who endured one of the longest lockdowns in the world during COVID-19, how does that all play out when thinking about working norms and hybrid working?

In this panel, we’ll hear from we’ll hear from HR leaders that are driving the performance agenda in their organisation, as they share how they’re rethinking what it means to unlock high performance within their organisation. How can we challenge traditional working norms to rethink performance and productivity? How do you think about productivity in terms of giving people ownership of their time back? How do you better use performance metrics in succession planning to identify future leaders? And do you measure behavioural performance? How do think holistically to keep performance up while also prioritising wellbeing?

AI is no longer on the horizon, it’s already reshaping how we work. From recruitment and onboarding to performance and workforce planning, AI is filtering into every stage of the employee lifecycle. But while the tools are evolving fast, many organisations are still catching up on how to integrate them, both strategically and ethically.

This discussion will explore how senior HR leaders are navigating the AI revolution in real time: the tools they’re testing, the resistance they’re facing, and the new ways they’re aligning workforce strategy with business transformation. We’ll unpack the organisational readiness gap, the shifting skillsets required for future roles, and what it means to lead people in an AI-augmented world.

Psychosocial safety continues to emerge as a critical issue for organisations, with many experiencing a rise in whistleblowing, work health and safety complaints, and a skyrocketing number of psychological claims which can be incredible complex and nuanced in nature.

This Think Tank will give HR leaders a forum to explore how they are addressing these challenges as an organisation, from legislative changes to the practical impact on employee engagement, resilience, and wellbeing. With rising premiums and a growing obligation on businesses to act, what steps are organisations taking to create a safer, more supportive environment for their people? How do we navigate the dynamic between HR and Health and Safety Teams in managing claims?

This session will explore key strategies for managing risk, fostering a holistic approach to employee wellbeing, and understanding the broader implications for organisational health and safety.

Thinking about what our workforce needs to look like in the future is a crucial component of any organisation wanting to set themselves up for success. But are we asking the wrong questions?

We don’t necessarily know what the workforce of tomorrow needs to look like with the economic, technological and societal landscapes changing as rapidly as they are. So, instead of asking how the workforce of tomorrow looks different to the workforce of today, this Think Tank will explore the question that we should be asking instead: How can we design and build a workforce that can thrive in an unknown future?

Join us for this interactive discussion as HR leaders will come together to share how they’re thinking about their future workforce to support long-term organisational success, and the steps we can be taking to create a future-fit, adaptable and optimised workforce.

Sustaining your energy and vitality as a high performer requires some diligent routines and habits which we will explore in this workshop.

In this highly interactive workshop we will learn various tools and techniques to help you stay energised and consistently perform at your best, without compromising your wellbeing!

You will also learn ways to stay calm and focused in high-pressure environments and how to optimise your productivity and performance everyday.

Come along, have some fun and learn some valuable tips to stay energised!

In a world flooded with automation, digital transformation, and AI-driven efficiency, one truth is becoming increasingly clear: the next true competitive advantage isn’t technical, it’s cultural.

In this provocative and practical keynote, corporate anthropologist Michael Henderson unpacks why care not code is the force that will define the next generation of high-performing organisations.

Michael reframes culture not as a soft concept or the next project, but as a strategic asset that determines performance, retention, innovation, and trust.

You’ll learn:

• Why AI has raised the bar for cultural expectations and what that means for leaders now
• The three traits shared by companies that consistently outperform through culture: Wisdom, Mastery, and Certainty
• How to move from shallow initiatives to deep, sustainable cultural capability
• Why culture must evolve from measurement to meaning and how to make that shift

This session is a call to action for culture leaders ready to outpace the competition where it counts most: in the hearts, minds, and care of their people.

Because in today’s world, the only thing AI can’t replicate is what your people feel.

And the organisations that learn to outcare the competition will be the ones that outperform, outlast, and outlead.

This keynote is ideal for senior HR teams ready to lead at the cultural edge.

AI is no longer on the horizon, it’s already reshaping how we work. From recruitment and onboarding to performance and workforce planning, AI is filtering into every stage of the employee lifecycle. But while the tools are evolving fast, many organisations are still catching up on how to integrate them, both strategically and ethically.

This discussion will explore how senior HR leaders are navigating the AI revolution in real time: the tools they’re testing, the resistance they’re facing, and the new ways they’re aligning workforce strategy with business transformation. We’ll unpack the organisational readiness gap, the shifting skillsets required for future roles, and what it means to lead people in an AI-augmented world.

In a climate of constant transformation and financial pressure, HR leaders are facing a critical challenge: how to prioritise what matters most—without burning out their teams or derailing progress elsewhere in the business.

As enterprise-wide change accelerates, work is no longer confined to neat siloes.

Interdependencies are increasing, leaders are pushing priorities downwards, and HR is often left navigating a flood of initiatives without a clear view of the total impact on people and capacity. So how can we build stronger visibility across the enterprise to avoid change collisions, duplicated effort, and burnout?

This Think Tank will dive into the real-world strategies HR leaders are using to drive smarter prioritisation, assess organisational bandwidth, and influence at the enterprise level.

We’ll share experiences around change governance, capacity planning, and how HR can help the business take a more integrated yet realistic approach to transformation.

As global political shifts challenge the progress of diversity, equity, and inclusion, Australian organisations are grappling with the ripple effects. How do we best navigate the complexity between what we think is right versus what the organisation may need to focus on in order to do business? How can we continue to champion belonging and inclusion among our workforce, particularly in the context of Australia’s unique and nuanced cultural landscape?

In this interactive discussion, we’ll unpack what is influencing corporate inclusion strategies; the role of HR in advocacy and maintaining employee engagement amid external noise; whether inclusion is shifting from a specialist function to an embedded cultural norm; and strategies for keeping our inclusion efforts relevant, resilient, and impactful in a changing world.

Join us as we explore how we safeguard DEI progress, maintain momentum, and prepare for what’s next.

Movember is on a mission to change the face of men’s health. As they strive to attract the best talent to support that cause, they’ve built a strong EVP around doing good work and emphasizing that connection to purpose. They often find candidates connecting with and applying to work at the organisation because they’ve been touched by the cause in some way, making the recruitment process a particularly emotive one. But as a not-for-profit organisation, they’re often working with limited resources. So, how can they ensure that candidates receive that time, connection and support they need as part of the process?

In this interactive session, we’ll hear from Edan Haddock, Head of Talent, People and Experience globally at Movember, as he shares his solution to that problem: his team of AI agents.

In this interactive session, we’ll hear from Edan Haddock, Head of Talent and People and Experience globally at Movember, as he shares his solution to that problem: his AI agent Joel!

Edan will join us to shed some light on how he built, trained and manages his team of AI agent to create a conversational, engaging and ultimately more human recruitment process, sharing some live examples of his agent in action.