SXSW Sydney has unveiled its first speakers for the 2024 Conference, including Courtney Act, Nakkiah Lui, and Craig Tiley.
SXSW Sydney chair and TEG Group CEO, Geoff Jones, said: “After the success of the inaugural SXSW Sydney in 2023, we are once again inspired by the overwhelming response from the creator communities to participate in the 2024 program.
“This is the first of many announcements as we roll out the extensive and diverse range of visionaries and creative thinkers from around the globe that make up the SXSW Sydney 2024 conference lineup
“SXSW Sydney is about discovery and an opportunity to be surrounded by the best and brightest minds from Tech & Innovation, Games, Music, Screen and Culture. This year’s SXSW promises to be as inspiring as ever.”
The first round of featured speakers for SXSW Sydney 2024 include:
• Australian astronaut at the Australian Space Agency, Katherine Bennell-Pegg
• World-renowned futurist and authority on global business, politics and corporate governance, Ryan Patel
• Global head of business marketing at TikTok, Sofia Hernandez
• Trend curator and founder of Non-Obvious, Rohit Bhargava
• Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant
• Award-winning Australian filmmaker and director of Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat 2, Simon McQuoid
• Gomeroi and Torres Strait Islander writer, actor, director and publisher, Nakkiah Lui
• Boy, girl, artist, advocate, global queer icon, Australian entertainer and television personality, Courtney Act
• Founder of POPS Worldwide, revolutionising Vietnam’s digital music landscape, Esther Nguyen
• Vice president of product – AI platform at IBM, Armand Ruiz
• Australian human rights lawyer and barrister, Jennifer Robinson
• Tennis Australia CEO and director of the Australian Open, Craig Tiley
• Vice-Chancellor and president of the Australian National University, Professor Genevieve Bell AO
• CEO and founder of multi-million dollar production studio Spawnpoint Media, Jordan Barclay (AKA EYstreem)
• Group CEO of leading Singapore-based creative agency, The Secret Little Agency, Eunice Tan
• Vice-Chancellor and president of the University of Sydney, Professor Mark Scott AO
• Co-founder of Metaphysic.ai and Codec.ai, Martin D. Adams
• Founder and chief AI officer at the AI Leadership Institute, Noelle Russell
• Filmmaker, 2019 Australian of the Year, and Lieutenant Governor of South Australia, Dr Richard Harris SC OAM
• Founder and CEO of Silicon Quantum Computing, Professor Michelle Simmons
• Host of the podcast, The Psychology of your 20s, Jemma Sbeg
• Ass. Dean Indigenous, Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University, Professor Christopher Lawrence
• Co-Founder, Andromeda Robotics, Grace Brown
• Resident architect-councilor, HY William Chan
• Mathematician, comedian, raconteur, and conversationalist, Adam Spencer
The first round of Sessions announced include:
• 36 Months: Raising the Threshold for Social Media Citizenship (Hamish Blake, parenting specialist Maggie Dent, Michael “Wippa” Wipfli, and Felicity McVay, former global head of entertainment at TikTok)
• A New Playing Field: Opportunities to Monetise Athlete IP and Expand Sport Globally (Australian cricketer David Warner, sports advisor David Gallop, Olympian Tillie Kearns, and Nicholas Saady, Pryor Cashman)
• AI and You: What You Need to Know Next (Dr Sandra Peter and Professor Kai Riemer, University of Sydney)
• Designing with Country: Cultural Design as Driver of Extraordinary Contemporary Places (Ros Moriarty, MD, co-founder and creative executive, and Ngunnawal man Johnny Bridges, Indigenous Creative Lead, Balarinji)
• Beyond the Big Screen: Film Tech in the Real World (Aaron Corera of XM2, filmmaker Gregory Read, Duncan Jones, CEO of Myriad Studios)
• For News Media, Digital Transformation Isn’t a Process – It’s a State (Lucy Blakiston, founder of Shit You Should Care About; Duncan Greive, founder of The Spinoff; Gaven Morris, Bastion Transform, Lee Lowndes, CEO Daylight)
• The Digital Fashion Experience: In Conversation with Jere Calmes, CEO, The Iconic (Jaana Quaintance-James, CEO of the Australian Fashion Council)
• Meet: Nature – Your Actual CFO. How Nature Impacts Every Organisation and Will Dictate Your Future (Moderated by Atlassian’s work futurist Dom Price, with climate and ecological experts Chris Ewing of Taronga Conservation, Guy Williams of Pollination, Dr Rachel Marshall of Accounting for Nature, and Cr Bradley Widders, National Parks Wildlife Service)
SXSW Sydney 2024 will take place from 14 to 20 October.
See also: SXSW Austin 2024: Virtual try ons the future of online shopping, suggest J.Crew and Google