And we’re off! We’ve just released the first half of the VIVID Creative Sydney program, starting with sessions at the Sydney Opera House, running from May 30 – June 4.
I’m particularly thrilled to be able to bring Matt Stinchcomb, European Director of Etsy, to Sydney to share the Etsy story with our audience… talking to Matt, I was surprised to learn that Australia is Etsy’s third largest market for both buyers and sellers – apparently Aussies are seriously addicted to e-commerce!
I’m also looking forward to hearing the stories behind two amazing Sydney fashion businesses; Shoes of Prey (founder Jodie Fox) and We Are Handsome (founder Jeremy Somers).
I’m excited about all the sessions, but stand-outs for me in the first batch are:
StartUp City: encouraging creative risk in Sydney
How do we encourage a culture of entrepreneurial risk-taking? How do we support new businesses and help people turn ideas into something concrete? We’ve got some amazing speakers confirmed (including investor Peter Davison and NBN/IP law expert Sonia Sharma) and a few more to come… I’ll be taking notes at this one.
Future Smarts: education for the 21st century
It’s crazy to think how much the world has changed since I started primary school (or since I finished high school, for that matter) – so how do we know if we’re teaching our kids the skills they’ll need for the world they’ll inherit? I was lucky enough to hear Raju Varanasi speak about the fact that our school system is a relic of the industrial age – so I’m glad that he’ll be contributing to this discussion about updating our approach to learning. We’ve also got the inspiring Chris Nicholls from Sistema Australia and Intel GM Philip Cronin contributing to this crucial conversation.
DIY World: the rise of citizen engineers
3D printing blows my mind – this session is about the radical shift that new technologies are having on design and fabrication, with their potential to completely rewrite the way we think about materials and production. We’ll be talking to people with hands-on experience with the technology (including Damien Butler, who has set up his own FabLab in Chippendale) as well as exploring the implications for intellectual property and designers from this shift towards what is an inherently open source culture…
The Affection Economy
These days you brand loyalty is about giving back, creating an emotional connection, and delivering more value than just the product or service you sell – I’m calling it the Affection Economy. Matt Stinchcomb from Etsy will be joined by a few more stars TBC…
Who am I kidding? I love all the sessions (but then again, I’m pretty biased…). View the full program at the site and register for sessions from Monday May 2. Get in quick, these should book out pretty quickly!
