
REWRITING THE RULES OF HR – TOGETHER
18 November 2026 | The Timber Yard, Melbourne
Bring ideas. Bring your team. Build your advantage.
BRING IDEAS.
BRING YOUR TEAM.
REWRITE THE RULES.
HRFest Australia isn’t your typical HR event—it’s where the HR community comes alive.
Join 700+ forward-thinking HR professionals at The Timber Yard Melbourne for a full-day festival experience powered by bold ideas, real conversations and genuine connection.
This is the most talked-about HR event of the year, and where the future of work takes shape.
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InsuranceFest was a ‘wow’ experience – after more than 600 conferences, I’d rank the networking and social interaction on the Santa Monica Pier in my top five.
INSURANCEFEST AT A GLANCE
Network Like You Mean It
1,000+ insurance leaders, founders, and innovators in one place. Brokers, MGAs, agencies, insurers, InsurTechs. From C-suite to NextGen, they’ll all be on the pier.
Join the Conversation
60+ industry voices you actually want to hear from—from Aon to Marsh McLennan to InsurTech founders. Interactive sessions across every zone where you’re invited to jump in, ask what you really want to know, and steer the discussion. This isn’t sit-and-listen; it’s speak up and be heard.
Hands-On Marketplace
30+ exhibitors and interactive InsurTech demos you can actually touch and test. A buzzing marketplace of ideas, solutions, and collaborations where you discover new tools, products, and partners to tackle your biggest challenges.N ot just watching — finding what you’ll take back to your work.
Discussion Table Real Talk
50+ exclusive, 1-hour Discussion Tables for senior brokers and decision-makers. Small-group, facilitated conversations on Cyber, Digital Transformation, Construction, and E&S where everyone leans in, swaps war stories, and pressure-tests ideas in real time.
Bring Your Crew
Team experiences and group sessions designed so your whole organization goes back energized with shared insights and new connections. Build your own festival lineup as a team, join collaborative workshops together, tackle live challenges side by side, and turn the pier into your offsite — complete with shared moments, fresh ideas, and stories you’ll still be talking about back at the office.
Festival Energy on the Pier
From sunrise yoga to sunset sets, food trucks, cocktails, and ocean air — the pier turns every coffee break into a moment.
- Networking
- Content
- Solutions
- Experiences
Walk away with a community of new connections.
Connect with CHROs, CPOs, people directors, talent leads, L&D specialists and executives from Australia’s biggest and most exciting organisations through experiences designed to break the ice and build real relationships.
Think curated networking activities like interactive workshops and discussion tables, to fun mixology classes and wine tastings.
Expect more than presentations. Expect perspective shifts.
From provocative thinkers, live debates and hands-on workshops - HRFest is where Australia's HR community comes to think outside the box and leave with practical ideas to solve the biggest challenges.
Join industry peers to explore what's shaping the future of work - from AI adoption and psychosocial safety to employment law reform, leadership capability and workforce planning.
Explore a buzzing marketplace of curated partners and exhibitors.
Discover the platforms, tools and partners that are transforming the way HR teams work. Be ready to uncover real, ready-to-use solutions for your biggest challenges.
HRFest is better together.
Bring the whole team and make the day into a shared experience that energises, aligns, and inspires.
There is something for every level, from emerging HR professionals to senior people leaders, grow and connect through creative resets, mixology classes, and lawn games alongside interactive workshops and discussions that spark new thinking.
WHAT ATTENDEES ARE SAYING
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SPEAKERS
Dr Amantha Imber
Dr Amantha Imber is an organisational psychologist and founder of the award-winning behaviour change training consultancy Inventium. She has worked with companies such as Google, Apple, Disney, LEGO, and Microsoft to help boost productivity, innovation and wellbeing.
In 2021, Amantha was the first Australian to win the Thinkers50 Innovation Award (described by the Financial Times as the 'Oscars for Management Thinking'). She is also the host of the number one ranking business podcast How I Work, which has had over 6 million downloads.
Amantha's thoughts have appeared in Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, and Forbes, and she is the author of four bestselling books, including international bestseller Time Wise and her most recent book, The Health Habit.
Pritho Saxena
Liam Mahon
Liam Mahon is the Head of People & Culture for Supermarkets Operations at Coles, supporting 100,000+ team members across Supermarkets and Supply Chain. With over 12 years’ experience in HR, workforce strategy and transformation, Liam previously worked as a management consultant advising on organisational design and talent strategy across diverse industries. Since joining Coles in 2021, he has led major change programs, including the Coles Express demerger and Operations redesign, and shaped a national workforce strategy improving flexibility and engagement. Known for a practical, data-driven approach, Liam partners with leaders to build capability and deliver sustainable change. He is completing an MBA at Deakin University.
Erika Takahashi
Jo Cairns
Seemali Shukla
Seemali is a seasoned HR executive with deep expertise across the full spectrum of human resources, with particular strength in HR business partnering and talent acquisition. Over the course of a career spanning more than 25 years, she has led people strategies within leading multinational organisations across FMCG, telecommunications, consulting, and IT/ITES.
As Head of HR for Australia and New Zealand at HP Inc., Seemali leads the people agenda across the region, partnering with leaders to drive organisational capability, talent outcomes, and business performance. She joined HP in India in 2015 as Talent Acquisition Lead and expanded her leadership remit following her move to ANZ in 2017 as People Leader.
Across her career, Seemali has held a number of senior HR and talent leadership roles, including Talent Acquisition Lead at Ernst & Young, HR Manager at Samsung, and Staffing Head at Coca-Cola India, building broad cross-industry expertise and a strong track record in people leadership.
She holds a Master’s degree in Human Resources from Thames Valley University in London, UK, and is a member of the Australian Human Resources Institute.
Seemali is based in Melbourne, Australia, with her husband, Arvind, who runs his own business, and their son, Mudit, who is studying medicine.
THEMES AT A GLANCE
Digital Transformation & Innovation
Cyber, Risk & Underwriting
Nat Cat & Climate
Regulation, Legal & Compliance
Next Gen
E&S Unfiltered
Construction & Specialty Reports
Market Capacity, M&A & Economic Headwinds
Get the HRFest Australia 2026
Brochure

THEMES AT A GLANCE
Risk Management & Psychosocial Compliance
Tackling high-stakes workplace risks head-on and taking a proactive approach—manage tricky regulatory shifts and build a culture that genuinely keeps teams safe.
Human-Centric AI & Technology Architecture
Cutting through the massive AI hype to build smart, tech-driven workflows that actually help your people.
Uplifting DEI & Talent Capability
Moving beyond checkboxes to unlock the hidden potential in your workforce, rewriting recruitment for real equity, and building innovative training frameworks that people actually stick with.
Achieving C-Suite Alignment & Strategic Leadership
Steering through disruption with conviction and speaking the true language of the C-suite—mastering high-impact communication to win immediate executive buy-in and anchoring your team through uncertainty.
Transforming L&D & Workplace Learning
Design high-impact learning frameworks that people actually engage with—focusing on future-focused skills that build deep organisational resilience.
DISCUSSION TABLES
Step into action with our all-new themed discussion tables—built for leaders who want results now. These fast-paced, interactive sessions go beyond theory, delivering tactical conversations and proven takeaways you can put to work immediately.
Cyber
How do you keep up with rapidly evolving cyber policies while driving client education on emerging risks and solutions?
Digital Transformation
What are the transformational benefits of implementing AI effectively across your business?
Construction
What are the biggest hidden builder’s risks brokers and clients need to watch for, and how can you identify them early?
Excess & Surplus Lines
How do you build and maintain client trust in E&S placements, especially in a volatile market?
Cyber
How are you leveraging AI to outpace cyber threats, and what challenges are you facing in the cyber arms race?
Digital Transformation
How can brokers turn data into actionable insights that drive revenue and growth?
Construction
What strategies help brokers navigate high-risk construction projects in a tightening market?
Excess & Surplus Lines
How do you stay ahead of volatility in the E&S market and make confident placement decisions?
Cyber
What strategies have helped you convert cyber skeptics into loyal, proactive clients?
Digital Transformation
How do you design a digital-first client experience that truly delivers value and loyalty
Construction
How do you evaluate and implement jobsite technologies that deliver real value for clients?
Excess & Surplus Lines
What creative strategies help brokers secure E&S coverage when traditional markets say no?
Cyber
What digital threats are most concerning for your clients, and how are you helping them prepare?
Digital Transformation
What lessons have you learned from your digital transformation journey—both successes and failures?
Construction
How do you identify and negotiate contract clauses that can make or break a construction deal?
THEMES AT A GLANCE
Digital Transformation & Innovation
- Turning AI from hype to ROI in real brokerage workflows
- Building a digital client journey that wins (and keeps) business in a virtual world
- Choosing InsurTech and RegTech partners that accelerate real transformation
Cyber, Risk & Underwriting
- Turning cyber risk into a client‑value conversation, not a fear pitch
- Cyber crisis playbooks: who does what, when it hits
- Underwriting the next wave of cyber and personal cyber exposures
Nat Cat & Climate
- Rethinking nat cat models for a world that won’t sit still
- Helping clients understand climate‑driven pricing and coverage shifts
- Placing and structuring nat cat and climate‑exposed risks when volatility is the norm
Regulation, Legal & Compliance
- What new rules really mean for AI, cyber, and everyday brokerage workflows
- RegTech that actually simplifies audits, file reviews, and reporting
- Staying compliant on claims, E&S, and specialty without killing broker speed
Next Gen
- Career playbooks: what rising brokers wish they’d known earlier
- Mixing veteran experience with new ideas in
- Finding your lane as a NextGen broker in a consolidating, tech‑driven market
Diversity & Inclusion
- Real stories from women and under‑represented leaders on breaking through and bringing others with them
- How brokers can sponsor others, share opportunities, and use their voice even without a hiring title
- Where inclusion has changed client relationships, ideas, and outcomes – not just internal messaging
E&S Unfiltered
- Winning in a capacity‑tight, appetite‑shifting E&S market
- Designing E&S solutions for “wild risks” the standard market won’t touch
- Broker, MGA, and carrier partnerships that unlock specialty placements
Construction & Specialty Reports
- Managing construction risk under climate, cost, and regulatory pressure
- Spotting breakout niches across specialty lines before the market crowds in
- Claims and coverage lessons from large, multi‑party and specialty projects
Market Capacity, M&A & Economic Headwinds
- Broker playbooks for navigating consolidation and staying relevant
- Positioning your firm for sale, scale, or strategic partnership
- Competing when capacity, pricing, and client demand all move at once
Digital Transformation & Innovation
- Turning AI from hype to ROI in real brokerage workflows
- Building a digital client journey that wins (and keeps) business in a virtual world
- Choosing InsurTech and RegTech partners that accelerate real transformation
Cyber, Risk & Underwriting
- Turning cyber risk into a client‑value conversation, not a fear pitch
- Cyber crisis playbooks: who does what, when it hits
- Underwriting the next wave of cyber and personal cyber exposures
Nat Cat & Climate
- Rethinking nat cat models for a world that won’t sit still
- Helping clients understand climate‑driven pricing and coverage shifts
- Placing and structuring nat cat and climate‑exposed risks when volatility is the norm
Regulation, Legal & Compliance
- What new rules really mean for AI, cyber, and everyday brokerage workflows
- RegTech that actually simplifies audits, file reviews, and reporting
- Staying compliant on claims, E&S, and specialty without killing broker speed
Next Gen
- Career playbooks: what rising brokers wish they’d known earlier
- Mixing veteran experience with new ideas in
- Finding your lane as a NextGen broker in a consolidating, tech‑driven market
Diversity & Inclusion
- Real stories from women and under‑represented leaders on breaking through and bringing others with them
- How brokers can sponsor others, share opportunities, and use their voice even without a hiring title
- Where inclusion has changed client relationships, ideas, and outcomes – not just internal messaging
E&S Unfiltered
- Winning in a capacity‑tight, appetite‑shifting E&S market
- Designing E&S solutions for “wild risks” the standard market won’t touch
- Broker, MGA, and carrier partnerships that unlock specialty placements
Construction & Specialty Reports
- Managing construction risk under climate, cost, and regulatory pressure
- Spotting breakout niches across specialty lines before the market crowds in
- Claims and coverage lessons from large, multi‑party and specialty projects
Market Capacity, M&A & Economic Headwinds
- Broker playbooks for navigating consolidation and staying relevant
- Positioning your firm for sale, scale, or strategic partnership
- Competing when capacity, pricing, and client demand all move at once
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Bring ideas. Bring your team. Rewrite the rules of HR.
