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This is your opportunity to get updated on the latest technology trends. Grab yourself a drink and pop in to the TechTalks most relevant to you and your business.

Today’s constant state of change means the vision of the future is always evolving, making future workforce planning and org-design an increasingly challenging task for people leaders.

As ‘the only constant is change’, leaders are rethinking their approach, focusing instead on designs agile enough to lift and shift when needed.

Join our speaker to discover how an agile approach to future workforce planning and org-design has allowed their organisation to modernise their workforce strategy, align and inform wider business strategy and confidently prepare for an AI-enabled workforce.

• Understanding what working models could look like in 10 years
• Balancing how workforce planning should influence business strategy and vice versa
• Aligning training and leadership programs to what your organisation needs in the future, not today — exploring upskilling, partnering, and in-house education
• Exploring opportunities and feasibility of skills-based marketplaces
• Ensuring senior leadership is evolving alongside the wider workforce

In a world rapidly evolving through changing customer expectations and the growing role of technology and AI, culture cannot rely on values or training alone. It is shaped by both the systems organisations build and the human experiences they create.

Join to learn how to connect culture to the structural levers that drive behaviour — organisational design, recognition, leadership expectations, and performance measurement — while embedding a human-centred approach that speaks to people beyond their roles.

• How to strengthen culture at scale through both systems and human experience
• Why organisational design, recognition, and leadership behaviours shape culture
• Practical ways to embed and measure culture during periods of rapid change
• How to create environments that foster belonging, authenticity, and innovation

HR holds a wealth of people data, but unlocking its full business value depends on strong, intentional collaboration with technology teams. As organisations evolve, so too do the structures, expectations, and ways HR and IT work together. From shared ownership models to embedded teams, the way these functions interact has a direct impact on how effectively organisations turn data into insight, strategy, and outcomes.

Join Kalifa Oliver, Executive Advisor, Author, & Sr Director of Technology at Lowe’s Home Improvement, as she explores how to build high-impact HR–tech partnerships that maximise the value of people analytics and drive business performance.

• Exploring how varying organisational structures between HR and IT shape collaboration
• Establishing clear governance and decision-making frameworks to accelerate delivery and accountability
• Understanding the full scope of work across teams to improve alignment and execution
• What makes an effective HR dashboard—and why many fail to deliver value
• Getting AI right the first time: aligning HR and IT for successful implementation
• The evolving dynamics and expectations of HR and technology teams in a data-driven organisation

By now, you’re more than likely aware of the benefits of AI and its potential to improve efficiency and productivity. But in order to embed AI at scale, you also need to be cognisant of potential challenges, as well as opportunities for HR to drive value.

In this interactive session, join fellow HR leaders to discuss how real, large-scale AI implementation should be managed.

• How can HR leaders drive people-centric AI transformation through co-design
• What happens when AI truly begins to affect people and job roles?
• What are the potential pushbacks from unions, health and safety, digital regulation and more?
• What are the responsibilities of people teams to upskill and reskill their workforce to thrive in an AI-centric world?
• How can you truly bring your people along with you on the journey?

Exploring three strategic shifts in culture, capability and alignment that turn HR into the architect of readiness. In this workshop, Jess Tayel works with you across the three pillars that determine whether your people can absorb the change that is coming: Culture, Capability & Capacity.

Through guided discussion, case studies drawn from 25+ years across five continents, and a personalised readiness scorecard you can take back to your organisation, you will leave with a sharper read on where your people stand today, where the friction is hiding, and the strategic shifts that put HR at the centre of what comes next.

HR is transforming, and so are its leaders. Emerging roles are blurring the lines between generalist, specialist, and strategic partner, requiring new skills, ways of working, and mindsets.

In this current period of transformation, the HR function itself will emerge looking different to how it ever has before. Is HR transforming into the productivity enabler for the business? Is a Chief Work Officer the new norm? How will the department transform when agentic agents are working alongside human employees?

Join to hear views from a diverse range of HR leaders on how HR should evolve to drive maximum value to the organisation while safeguarding the workforce.

• How HR roles are evolving to meet changing business and workforce demands
• Practical ways leaders are transforming their skills and influence
• Balancing productivity and people guardianship to deliver strategic impact

Australian organisations are flatter, leaner and more matrixed than ever. Middle leaders are carrying increasing commercial, emotional and cultural load, often without the authority or support to match.

At the same time, many businesses still rely on outdated leadership models that no longer reflect how work actually happens.

This session will give delegates an opportunity to rethink leadership development to better equip middle managers for the unpredictability of today.

• Focusing training on practical capabilities such as commercial acumen, problem solving, emotional intelligence, influence and resilience to better equip leaders to manage through constant change
• How do we redesign spans of control, decision rights and role expectations to prevent burnout?
• Looking past capability gaps at the bigger issue — how do you fix outdated leadership systems?
• Determining if traditional leadership pipelines are still fit for purpose

While sentiment towards Diversity, Equity & Inclusion remains strong in Australia, a global trend of declining resources, funding, and board-level attention creates greater potential for reputational and compliance risk.

Now more than ever, Human Resources should be championing DEI — but what does this look like in today’s environment? Which factors are non-negotiable to remain compliant and, in an increasingly sensitive landscape, how can HR uphold organisational values meaningfully while aligning with business strategy?

Join to discuss:

• What can organisations not afford to drop
• Measuring and showcasing how DEI initiatives strengthen your organisation and drive performance
• Understanding long-term risks of a tick-box approach to DEI on reputation, talent acquisition and productivity

Efficiency continues to be a buzzword for HR leaders in 2026. Tech advances have led organisations to focus attention on tools, but it is paramount to understand how these will influence process and behaviour changes in the first instance. Equally important is how HR partners with the business to define its strategic role — clarifying what people should and should not be doing, and how to start leveraging AI and shared services effectively.

This session will combine two formats, with Alexandra Szandurski giving a short, 15-minute case-study presentation followed by a 15-minute fireside chat. She will showcase her approach to organisational transformation with key metrics and results, followed by a deep-dive discussion answering your questions and giving you the best of both worlds — key stats and results alongside honest, Chatham House Rules conversation.

• Removing drudgery through agentic AI and automation and ultimately reducing cost to serve
• Exploring where you need more cross-functional centres of excellence and standardised processes to avoid duplication and increase economies of scale
• Partnering with the business to define HR’s strategic role
• Cementing change management as a key enabler for success
• Strategising reinvestment and cost saving decisions with data-led decision making to avoid absorption of savings