Day 1, 12 July
Workshop 1: Integrating a psychological lens to workplace inclusion and wellbeing
When organisations see inclusion and wellbeing as ‘one’ integrated strategy, leaders can foster a culture of cognitive sharpness, which allows people to do their best work and bring their whole selves to work. This not only increases productivity, engagement and commitment levels, it positions your organisation to attract and develop the best and brightest diverse talent.
- Gain insight into the key psychology behind inclusion and wellbeing
- Start to develop an inclusive leader mindset
- Using evidence-based tools to foster greater inclusion and wellbeing in your organisation

Simi Rayat
Executive Leadership Coach & Chartered Business Psychologist, Wellbeing Face
Workshop 2: How to create a thriving, trusting team culture
The world has changed - but have your leaders? Today, employees want leaders who are less demanding and more empathetic. Now is the perfect time to transform your leadership development programs to ensure your people flourish. This workshop will:
- Reveal how the brain impacts our ability to trust others
- Unpack the three important leadership practices for a trusted, team culture
- Discuss examples of integrating a trust building system in day-to-day interactions

Marie-Claire Ross
Speaker | Trainer | Coach, Trustologie
Workshop 3: The great resignation redefined – How to turn challenge into opportunity
The pandemic has caused many employees to re-evaluate their priorities and their careers. Now, staff movement has placed additional pressures on teams prompting even further reflection. Organisations are faced with the challenge of delivering learning and development outcomes to an increasingly stressed, time-poor audience. In this potent session, we will explore how learning organisations can turn this challenge into an opportunity to retain, re-engage and attract employees. In this workshop we will:
- Explore the causes of current workplace trends
- How to embrace the current challenge and work with it to your advantage
- Identify ideas for learning functions to make a positive impact on both employees and their organisations

Mark Johnson
Solutions Lead – APAC, Ezra
Workshop 4: Closing the skills gap: making disability inclusion front and centre of your D&I strategy
By employing people with disability, businesses access a productive, safe and reliable talent pool — in turn, drawing long-term economic, innovation and inclusion dividends. Yet, low awareness about disability and available support means employers may overlook people with disability and miss out on their potential. How can Australian workplaces embed disability inclusion across all layers of the organisation to bridge the skills gap? The session will highlight:
- The business case for a diverse and inclusive workplace, offering low risk, improved productivity, and high return
- Practical strategies to build disability confidence and develop inclusive practices
- Case studies showcasing the benefits of disability inclusion
- The range of free and expert disability employment supports available through the Australian Government’s JobAccess program

Daniel Valiente-Riedl
General Manager, JobAccess
Workshop 5: Developing your EVP: How to attract, engage and retain top talent
Join us for a practical, interactive workshop to learn how to become an employer of choice, while creating and communicating a compelling Employee Value Proposition (EVP) that will draw the attention of top talent. In this workshop, Reward Gateway’s Director of Consultancy Kylie Terrell will unpack the evolving employer-employee relationship and deliver tangible takeaways to help you build your EVP strategy.
- What are the tools to identify and retain key players within your business?
- Examples of creative and cost-effective ways to attract top talent
- Top Tips to build a strong EVP

Kylie Terrell
Director of Consultancy, Reward Gateway
Workshop 6: Redesigning your employee experience strategy
The new world of work has forever changed the way companies hire, retain and engage talent -- and improving the employee experience has become a strategic priority. It’s every touchpoint across your people’s tenure with your organisation—from hire to retire. In this session, we will discuss some of the core fundamentals of an effective employee experience strategy.
- Improving your onboarding process
- Creating a culture of belonging in a hybrid work environment
- The role of modern HR technology in enhancing your company culture

Damien Andreasen
Country Manager, ANZ, Hibob
Workshop 7: HR’s role in the new world of work
Join us to see the results of a comprehensive research project into the changing role of HR. In-depth interviews conducted with C-suite and senior HR leaders from Australia, the UK and US highlight the challenges HR is currently facing, and what they expect to face in the future. This session will examine HR tech’s current role, and how it can equip HR teams for future success. Find out what’s next for HR:
- New ways of working: re-imagineering our hybrid work future
- Business transformation, culture and experiences: creating truly people-focused companies
- Competing successfully for talent: building an irresistible organisation
- Four key steps to get ahead
- HR tech as an enabler

Simon Holmberg
Leader, People Division, Sage
Workshop 8: Winning at work – defining success in the workplace
We live in an increasingly competitive world where, all too often, winning is seen as a key determinant of capability, credibility and success. As a result, the workplace can feel like a battlefield – especially for HR practitioners – and the stakes have never been higher. This workshop aims to challenge and expand your thinking about "traditional" ideas of winning by exploring a more nuanced and contemporary approach that moves beyond the binary concept of winners and losers, and how that can inform and add value to our practice as HR professionals. This session will explore:
- What does ‘winning’ at work really look like?
- Are all wins created equal?
- Is winning at all costs worth it?
- Are all battles worth the fight?
- What happens to those who lose or who refuse to “play the game”?

Miranda Crawley
Principal, Canopy HR Consulting
Workshop 9: Workplace diversity – understanding hiring practices for the blind or vision impaired
Blind Citizens Australia is connecting with employers to facilitate a greater understanding of how to hire a person who is blind or vision impaired, by providing information, tools, and resources to employers about workplace inclusion & accessibility, adaptive technology, supporting an employee who is blind or vision impaired, as well as providing information on financial and other support that is available for employers who employ staff with disability.
- Integrating employment policies for the blind or vision impaired
- Developing workplace inclusion and accessibility in your employee experience
- How to become a more disability confident business

Sally Aurisch
Chief Executive Officer, Blind Citizens Australia
Workshop 10: Helping HR teams thrive in the future of work
The past couple of years has really shone the spotlight on HR as they supported their people through the pandemic throughout lockdowns; and now as we transition through hybrid working and talent shortages, the need for HR teams to support the business is as strong as ever. But who is looking after HR and how can they thrive?
- The journey of the past two years – what we have learned
- 3 key areas to focus on to create productive HR teams
- Key actions for HR leaders to support their team

Olivia Rowan
Founder, HR Consultant and Coach, OLR Coaching
Opening remarks from the chairperson

Sonya Law
General Manager, Adaps IT
Workshop 11: Master your memory – with the 4-time memory champion
Learn techniques, tips, and tricks to remember and learn anything faster than ever before.
- Learn how your brain and memory can be a powerful force
- Unleash your power of storytelling and creativity
- Take away techniques to help you remember anything
- Learn how to apply memory techniques to your work and daily life

Tansel Ali
Memory Expert
Workshop 12: Creating happier hybrid workplaces
While best practices are still emerging in how to manage hybrid teams, this workshop explores ways HR leaders can equip their leaders with strategies, tools and skills needed to support their teams and fine tune this broadly accepted new way of working. By encouraging a positive shift that improves both employee engagement and productivity, setting up and managing a hybrid workplace (and the people within them) for success is more important than ever in this highly competitive job market that many employers are grappling with right now. In this workshop, HR leaders will:
- Develop specific strategies and tools to support leaders and their hybrid teams
- Gain top tips for leaders to build greater trust with their team members
- Understand how to set and manage expectations for a successful hybrid workplace employee experience.
- Explore key features of a remote work policy that supports the management of flexible work practices

Angela Olanda
Director & HR Specialist, Zen HR Consulting
Workshop 13: Don’t sweat it – Understanding the effects of perimenopause and menopause at work
Creating a more diverse and inclusive workplace means understanding and supporting employees no matter what they are going through. What does research tell us about peri and menopause at work and how can we support employees experiencing this transition? Join the creators of this progressive program, Dr. Ginni Mansberg and Shelly Horton, and find out how to implement small changes at work to create a more inclusive and supportive work environment.
- Understanding the research on peri, menopause and the workforce
- Identifying the symptoms that can affect employee behaviour and performance
- Break the taboo: How to encourage open and honest conversations
- How to develop programs at work to support employees with peri and menopause

Shelly Horton
Co-creator, Don’t Sweat it – Peri and Menopause in the Workplace

Dr Ginni Mansberg
Co-creator, Don’t Sweat it – Peri and Menopause in the Workplace
Workshop 14: How to build a neurodiversity strategy to access a larger STEM talent pool
This session will equip HR professionals with all they need to know to create an environment that will foster the development of neurodiverse employees skilled in STEM fields. People on the autism spectrum are overrepresented in STEM fields of study at university, yet almost 32% are unemployed, this is 8 times the current standard unemployment rate. Accessing this talent pool offers a real opportunity for HR leaders to gain more highly valuable STEM skilled people and will strengthen any organisations diversity and inclusion program.
- Gain firsthand insight into the unconventional approach to the hiring process of neurodivergent talent
- Understand the key differences that will help autistic people flourish in the workplace
- Learn about how embracing neurodiversity can lead to enhanced outcomes for your organisation and your IT project teams
- Learn how to fulfill your businesses STEM needs faster

Meredith Ward
Senior Job Coach, auticon

Dr. Ivonne Ranisch
Commercial Director, auticon
Workshop 15: Preventing burnout and finding balance
This interactive workshop will give you some implementable tips to help you, and your team, manage stress, prevent burnout and reclaim balance. In this informative and highly interactive workshop we will explore:
- Understanding the evolution of stress to burnout and how to manage it
- The neuroscience of the stress response
- The importance of self-care on your mental health
- The role mindfulness plays in preventing burnout
- A 90-second technique to combat the stress immediately

Melo Calarco
Mindfulness and High Performance Coach
Grand Prize and Sponsor Prize Draws
Workshops All Star Grand Prize
Attend all workshops for the chance to win a $1,000 cash prize!
Expo Passport Grand Prize
Collect all exhibitors’ stamps on the Expo Passport for the chance to win a $1,000 cash prize!
Sponsor Prize Draws
Plus, don't miss several exciting prize giveaways from our exhibitors! Visit their stand to discover how to enter the draws!