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As technology reshapes the workplace, HR leaders face a critical choice: Will digital tools distance people, or bring them closer together? This session explores how to leverage HR tech to amplify authentic connection, build trust, and create a culture where human relationships remain at the centre of work.

• How to design HR tech strategies that prioritise human connection over automation.
• Practical ways to use digital tools to enhance collaboration, wellbeing, and employee engagement.
• Why “human first” design leads to stronger trust, belonging, and retention.

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Today’s workforce wants more than tools. They want meaning, clarity, and support. This keynote explores how technology, when intentionally designed, can strengthen culture, deepen trust, and create an environment where employees feel valued, empowered, and connected to purpose.

• How to use digital platforms to reinforce culture and support psychological safety
• The role of AI in amplifying, not replacing, human capability
• Why purpose, trust, and meaningful design matter in every step of the digital journey

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The digital workplace sits at the intersection of technology, HR, and culture. As AI, automation, and hybrid work reshape how we work, who takes ownership? This panel unpacks how IT and HR can co-lead to design a seamless, secure, and human-centred workplace.

• Why IT and HR must share ownership of digital workplace strategy
• Using technology to enhance, not erode, wellbeing and productivity
• The digital workplace is more than tools—it’s culture, governance, and leadership

Australian employees are in a cost-of-living crunch, and businesses are having to domore with less. In this session, Greg Parkes, Founder and CEO of Auto-UX,explores how digitising novated leasing creates a zero-cost opportunity foremployers to relieve employee financial stress while also strengtheningorganisational performance.

• Why digital-first solutions and a seamless employee experience (EX) are critical to attracting and retaining a digital-native workforce (aged 18–49).
• Demonstration of the latest innovations in car benefit technology, including AI- powered vehicle selection, self-guided digital learning, predictive problem- solving, and more.
• Case study quantifying the impact of benefit digital transformation, highlighting how employers can transform a traditional perk into a strategic lever for cost- of-living relief, workforce engagement, and long-term competitive advantage.

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Participate in this interactive, guided, real-time simulation that demonstrates how data, technology, and human decision-making intersect in modern HR. This session invites the audience to apply insights, respond to evolving scenarios, and experience how technology supports strategic workforce outcomes.

Managing a large and complex workforce today requires more than traditional HR systems. Organisations are rethinking how they simplify processes, elevate the employee experience, and align people strategy with business performance.

In this session, discover how Qantas are consolidating multiple platforms into unified cloud-based HR systems and using AI to transform recruitment, development, and workforce management.

Discover how predictive workforce analytics helped reduce high turnover by identifying risks early and guiding targeted retention strategies. Learn how data insights, engagement metrics, and manager action turned attrition challenges into measurable improvements in workforce stability.

• Use predictive models to spot early signs of disengagement and turnover risk.
• Turn analytics into practical, human-centred retention strategies.
• Strengthen workforce resilience through data-driven decision-making

The average employee toggles between dozens of platforms each day, and the very systems meant to support productivity can end up fuelling stress and burnout. At the same time, HR and IT leaders face the added challenge of ensuring that fragmented systems still work together to meet compliance obligations. This panel explores how organisations can streamline their HR tech stacks, consolidate platforms, and use data-driven insights to reduce digital overload, while also identifying governance gaps early, before they spiral into risk, inconsistency or non-compliance.

• Reduce tool overload: Practical ways to simplify and consolidate the HR tech stack.
• Stay compliant: How to spot system and data gaps early before they become compliance risks.
• Build a healthier digital workplace: Designing tools and workflows that minimise stress and maximise adoption.

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Select a topic of discussion and engage in an interactive roundtable discussion with a group of your like-minded peers.

Put your cloud security knowledge to the test in this fast-paced quiz covering real-world threats, key concepts, and emerging trends. Compete for bragging rights—and a travel voucher—as the top scorer takes the crown.

AI isn’t coming, it’s already here, transforming how we work and lead. The question is no longer if we adopt AI, but who shapes its impact. If technology leads, efficiency wins. If finance leads, cost savings rule. But if People & Culture leads, we unlock transformation that makes humans more resourceful, not just more productive.
This session challenges HR leaders to set the principles for AI adoption ensuring technology serves people, enhances purpose, and elevates the human experience at work.

• Use AI to empower, not replace, human capability.
• Prioritise human value over automation speed.
• Lead AI transformation through people-first principles.

From AI recruiting to digital wellbeing apps, HR leaders are flooded with tools promising efficiency, fairness, and insight. But are these technologies actually improving the employee experience? or creating new challenges like tool fatigue, bias, and data overload? This interactive think tank invites participants to weigh in on how organisations can strike the right balance between innovation and impact.

• Which area of HR technology currently delivers the most real business value in your organisation?
• How confident are you that your HR technology stack is fully adopted by employees and managers?
• What’s the biggest barrier to demonstrating ROI on HR technology investments?
• How do you see AI changing HR in the next 12 months?
• When it comes to the ‘Right to Switch Off’, what’s the biggest role technology should play?