SXSW Sydney has unveiled a new round of speakers and sessions, and expanded professional development and networking opportunities for its 2024 program, running from Monday, October 14, to Friday, October 18, 2024.
As one of the latest program additions, Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios will discuss his passage from sport to business through investments in early-stage startups and what he and other professional athletes look for when seeking to invest. In addition to his tennis career, he now has significant interests in various startups all over the world and is a noted sports commentator.
Devika Bulchandani, marketer and global CEO of Ogilvy, will take to the SXSW Sydney stage to discuss AI’s transformative power in the marketing world, posing the question: Will artificial intelligence overshadow human creativity, or can the two forces combine to achieve groundbreaking results?
This fireside conversation will see Bulchandani explore the collaborative potential of this technology, the evolving role of human insight, and how AI can become a powerful ally in unleashing creativity’s full potential. Under her leadership, Ogilvy was named Network of the Year at the 2022 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, earning this honour by producing work that upended the status quo, altered the conversation, and created meaningful change.
New Zealand-born actress, Lucy Lawless—famous for her role as Xena the Warrior Princess—will take part in an ‘In Conversation’ to discuss her directorial debut, Never Look Away, a documentary film about the life of CNN camerawoman, Margaret Moth.
Wesley Chan
Wesley Chan, Google Analytics and Google Voice founder, joins a panel titled Insider Advice for Entrepreneurs Wanting to Expand to the US, alongside Marisa Warren (ALIAVIA Ventures), Doug English (CultureAmp), and Karen Jacobson (the Australian voice of Siri).
Chan, the co-founder and managing partner of FVP Ventures, was an early investor in five $10B+ Decacorns and over 20 $1B+ Unicorns, including Canva, Guild, Dialpad, and AngelList, and currently sits on the board of Canva.
MIT Technology Review CEO and publisher, Elizabeth Bramson-Boudreau, is set to share the latest tech innovations being developed in the world’s leading labs and research centres so that the SXSW Sydney audience can better understand how their lives will change over the next years and decades. She’ll speak across fields that include AI, biomedicine, climate science, robotics, and more.
Intel Corporation’s first-ever futurist, Brian David Johnson, will show us how to think like a futurist—from AI to safety. His work is called futurecasting, using ethnographic field studies, technology research, cultural history, trend data and more to help organisations develop an actionable 10–15 year vision.
Elizabeth Bramson-Boudreau
Brian David Johnson
Newly revealed podcasts include writer, editor and podcaster Clare Stephens in conversation with Olympic gold medallist Noémie Fox for a live recording of ‘But Are You Happy?’, Lucy Jackson and Nikki Westcott live on stage with ‘Happy Hour with Lucy and Nikki’, and‘Welcome to the Future with Charles Firth & Dom Knight’, with more to be announced.
Additional speakers added to the lineup include actor and musician Tim Minchin, playwright and librettist, Suzie Miller, Australian boxer Harry Garside, author and campaigner Grace Tame, Intuit Mailchimp CMO Michelle Taite, co-founder of HumanRace Rachel Muscat, Australian radio personality and author John Safran, NBA’s head of strategy APAC Rajah Chaudhry, climate leader and political activist Simon Holmes à Court, and more.
SXSW Sydney is also expanding its professional development offering, with dozens of new workshops, meetups, mentoring, and networking opportunities added to the program. SXSW Sydney mentoring sessions offer badgeholders personalised, 15-minute one-on-one coaching from industry leaders and top organisations designed to accelerate professional and business growth.
Advance sign-up is required and space is limited. RSVPs open early September through the website.
On top of mentor sessions there will be more than 30 workshops to choose from, including ‘The Power of Stupid Ideas: How to Unlock Creative Brilliance’, ‘Competitive Advantage and Intellectual Property: Protecting Your Investment’, and ‘Cyber Siege: Prepping the C-Suite for Digital Battlefields: Does Your Board Have the Necessary Skills to Respond to a Cyberattack?’. With plenty more to be announced.
Stephen Page and Hunter Page-Lochard
New wave of SXSW sessions announced
• Securing Your Financial Future in a World Where Wages Won’t Keep Up – Hosted by You’re in Good Company’s Sophie Dicker, this expert panel—featuring CEO of Stake Jon Howie, Senior Investment Specialist at Morningstar Shani Jayamanne, and Co-Founder of Equity Mates Bryce Leske—will explain the importance of building your finance and investing skills to reach (and even exceed) your ambitions.
• Do We Belong in the Mainstream? – Is there a seat in the global market for First Nations content and artists? Dive into the discussion with First Nations filmmakers and artists as they explore how to market Bla(c)k, First Nations stories to the world. With former Artistic Director of Bangarra Dance Theatre, Stephen Page and Australian actor Hunter Page-Lochard.
• Avant-garde AI: Creative Ownership in the Second Wave – As engineers rapidly build the functionality in AI platforms, tuning in to the expectations of demanding creatives, many artists are busy pulling apart the wiring and seeing what breaks first. This panel brings together Head of Research at Leonardo AI Martin Bell, senior creative technologist Jessie Hughes, artist and educator Petr Joura, and Moderator Damian Gascoigne to discuss the genesis of AI image generation and explain how they are getting ahead of the second wave with exploratory, cross-disciplinary work.
• Can Australia be the Energy Superpower that Saves the World? – Australia is poised to lead the global charge into a zero-carbon future. This panel will delve into how groundbreaking digital tools and innovative solutions are helping to accelerate Australia’s energy transition, and how rapid progress will enable us to become a global economic and industrial superpower that helps decarbonise the world.
• The Neurotechnology Revolution is Here: What Do We Do Now? – We are living in the midst of the Neurotech Revolution. Over the past decade, there has been an explosion in the amount of resources dedicated to the development of “neural interfaces,” devices that interact with the brain or nervous system of an individual. Hear from world-leading Australian innovators about their quest to develop a brain computer interface.
• The Habit Revolution: Master the Science of Change – Join Australia’s only habit researcher, Dr Gina Cleo, for a transformative journey into the fascinating realm of habit change. Drawing from the latest research in neuroscience, psychology, and cutting-edge technology, this engaging 60-minute session will offer a fresh perspective on how habits shape our lives and how we can reshape them in turn.
• Can AI Win a Court Case? – In this workshop, Join Australian law firm, Lander & Rogers, for a live mock trial which will see a skilled legal practitioner go head to head with AI in front of a registered judge and see who prevails.
Hundreds of world-class speakers, covering a diverse yet interrelated array of timely and relevant topics, have been announced so far for SXSW Sydney Conference, including bestselling author Johann Hari, human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson, Australian Astronaut Katherine Bennell-Pegg, billion-dollar founder Min-Liang Tan, Australian race car driver Molly Taylor, Australian actor Luke Hemsworth, Google DeepMind AI researcher Clare Bycroft, Twitch CEO Dan Clancy, and many more.
Newly announced partners
SXSW Sydney badgeholders can take a break in between sessions, relax, explore and connect with fellow attendees in various lounges scattered throughout ICC Sydney.
2024 lounge partners announced today include AWS Innovation House, showcasing the “Art of the Impossible” through thought provoking talks in a relaxed setting; the CyberCX Lounge, featuring an exciting mix of panels and demonstrations around the latest in cyber security; Procore, providing an immersive, audio-visual experience that illuminates how connected technology is advancing construction; and the Accenture AI Lounge – where creativity, technology and innovation converge and badgeholders can relax, recharge and dive into interactive experiences that showcase the transformation power of artificial intelligence.
Plus, get closer to culture with TikTok House at SXSW Sydney 2024. As the leading destination for short-form mobile video, TikTok is taking over the Old Clare Hotel with exclusive invite-only panels, lunches and happy hours exploring creativity, advertising effectiveness and culture.
See also: SXSW Sydney 2024 reveals Tumbalong Park public program
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Top image: Nick Kyrgios, Devika Bulchandani and Lucy Lawless