Conferences - Servant of Chaos

The Creative Innovation Conference You Don’t Want to Miss

In almost every presentation I give, there is some reference to Ray Kurzweil, a nod to Edward de Bono and a smattering of the design thinking process that came from IDEO. And I am sure I am not alone.

Just consider how readily you respond to business or customer challenges, employing a version of lateral thinking in your problem solving technique. Consider how easily you think about the use of mobile and digital technologies and the way they can be incorporated into our behavioural landscape. And consider how you engage your stakeholders and frame a response to their challenges. Yes, de Bono, Kurzweil and IDEO have pervasively infiltrated our minds and the way that we work – and sometimes we hardly even notice.

So imagine if there was a conference which brought together these creative innovators. Then imagine that it went further – including folks like Pete Williams from Deloitte, Craig Davis from Mojo and BrandKarma, and a bevy of leading thinkers from James Moody to Gus Nossal and Hugh Mackay. And then, imagine, that such a conference would be held near where you live – say, Melbourne. Then, what you’d have is the Creative Innovation 2011 conference.

For two days, 16-18 November (hurry up and register!), the Sofitel on Collins will glow with the collective intellect of a global consciousness. You want to bathe in that brainy brine, right? If so, you’d better get going.

Australasian Sourcing Summit #sosu11

Conferences

How did you find your last job? Did it find you – or did you find it?

Increasingly, employers will face the challenging prospect that the best people are already “otherwise engaged”. So how do you find and attract the best people to your business? The Australian Sourcing Summit – in Sydney on August 10-11 – will shine a beacon of light into this strategically important space. With speakers from Deloitte, Ernst& Young, Qantas (amongst others) – and kicked off by yours truly, it promises to be a fascinating blend of insight and practical experience. Hope to see you there!

Attend the Web 3.0 Conference

Conferences

The Web 3.0 and Future of Social Media conference – to be held at the Sheraton on the Park Hotel in Sydney, August 15-17, 2011 is shaping up as one of the must-attend events of the second half of the year.

It is bringing together worldwide leaders in digital PR and communication and focusing on the shifting role of public relations.

Key themes include:

Key perspectives of web 3.0 and the semantic web
Anticipating web 3.0’s impact on communication
Investigating social media’s new pathways – why it’s time to go beyond 2.0 tools
Determining how communities are evolving and will be shaped under the new information environment – how the semantic web will provide structure and value to social networks
The shift to ‘PR3.0’ – assessing the requirements for progressive PR strategy
The social way – Putting the ‘public’ back into public relations

I am particularly interested to hear from Peter Shankman and Peter Witts from Cisco – as well as Ian Lyons and Matthew Gain who always get me thinking. And of course, I will be sharing my thoughts on The Social Way – why we need to put the “public back into public relations” – and how you do it.

Hope to see you there! Oh – and if you tell them I sent you, you’ll get the early bird rate! Check out the full conference Brochure here.

Sir Richard Branson to Open the Creating Climate Wealth Summit in Sydney next week

Conferences

If I had a lazy couple of thousand dollars lying around, I’d love to attend the Climate Wealth Summit next week. To be held at the Shangri-la Hotel, Sydney on July 7-8, the summit is a joint production of Richard Branson’s Climate War Room and Janine Cahill’s Future Journeys.

There’s an impressive line-up – and the event is limited to a small number of executives, investors, entrepreneurs, and leaders from the private sector. You’ll be there with GE’s Commercial Director for Australia and New Zealand and head of the GE ecomagination initiative Ben Waters, former Premier of Western Australia Geoff Gallop and Charlie Finnie, Managing Partner Greener Capital. There are two days of workshops and the event will be opened by Richard Branson himself.

If you use the code CCWAspecial by July 6, you’ll qualify for a significant price reduction ($2000 rather than $3300). But be quick – as these early bird tickets are limited.

And if you do make it along – be sure and tweet it out for me.

Questions for a Better Future at #gathering11

Conferences, Innovation

I’ve just spent the last weekend immersed in the deep thoughts and creative actions of a hundred or so social innovators and business activists at the inaugural Gathering11. Organised and curated by the unstoppable David Hood, it brought together people from all around the world – Ralf Lippold, Venessa Miemis, Christine Egger, Michel Bauwens, Jean Russell, Annalie Killian, Tim Longhurst, Stephen Johnson and a host of others (more links, names and ideas to come).

It was one of my personal highlights to spend time with the brilliant and personable Ray Wang and business strategy guru and big wave surfing passionista, John Hagel. I even got to brainstorm with Adam Bandt during a World Cafe workshop.

There was much to enjoy, think about and act upon at this two day conference. I am still processing much of it – but one thing that I liked was the chance to articulate, raise and express the questions that we have for the future. Where does the environment fit in? What will our work and personal lives look and feel like? What’s the role of governments and institutions?

Many of these questions came from the participants themselves – and were captured in photography by Courtney Crow below. Do these questions resonate with you? Was there something we missed?

Over the coming days I will be sifting through my notes and thoughts and writing up some ideas. There’s more to come. Don’t forget to check out the Gathering11 site.

I’m Not Racist But…

Conferences, Events, Vibewire

"I'm not racist but …" starts many sentences. But how deep does this go into our psyche? On June 2 at Sydney’s Seymour Centre, Vibewire together with NSW Reconciliation Council will explore the topic with a great line up of young, creative thinkers.

The 5 x 5 minute speeches will be followed by a Q&A session – so come ready with an opinion or at least a bag full of questions. You can book tickets here.

Speaking on the night are:

Rhianna Patrick
Rhianna currently presents the Indigenous radio program “Speaking Out” on ABC Local Radio and is a former member of the Triple J News Team. She was born in Brisbane and grew up in Weipa before moving to Sydney. Her family is of the Zagareb tribe of Mer (Murray Island) in the eastern islands of the Torres Strait.

L-FRESH
Also known as The LION, L-Fresh is a Hip Hop artist and youth ambassador. He has shared the stage with some of the best Aussie Hip Hop acts and international icons, including Nas, Public Enemy, Urthboy, Drapht, Pez, and Horrowshow. L-FRESH is an ambassador of The Street University where he works as a mentor and arts and recreation coordinator of Australia’s largest youth drop-in centre.

The Antibogan
A former school teacher turned sports psychologist, The Antibogan grew up in cosmopolitan Newtown before going to high school in Cronulla where he adopted racist and sexist attitudes from bogan school friends. He spent a few years as a racist himself before coming to his senses and shaking discriminatory influences loose. He soon turned to rallying and supporting various anti-discrimination movements and while he feels more pride at his work within such humanitarian circles, he has attracted the public eye in his work exposing racists and sexists by republishing their public comments on theantibogan.wordpress.com.

Tom Tilley
Tom started at Triple J as a Hack reporter in 2007, travelling right through Australia reporting on everything from pig hunting to federal politics. Tom has reported on two federal elections, the apology to the stolen generations and has paid close attention to suicide and mental health. In 2011 Tom became the host of Triple J’s Hack program.

Samah Hadid
Samih is a youth advocate, performance artist and author. In 2010, Samah was the Australian Youth Representative to the United Nations. Samah was the first Australian to be selected to complete a fellowship in minority rights with the UN office of the High Commissioner. She published a book called The Future by Us as well as studying Masters in Human Rights Law and Policy.

Be sure to come along – it’s bound to be fascinating!