Booktopia is the 2018 Telstra Busines Awards NSW Business of the Year. Satrted as a side project in 2004 the business now has revenue of  $114m, 190 people, 13,000 sqm HQ and Distribution Centre, 150 000 titles in stock ready-to-ship and have donated $750K in books and cash to literacy based projects in Australia. He talks to developing the entrepreneurial mindset needed to turn your passion, hobby or side hustle into a thriving e-commerce  business.

Aden Ridgeway was born in Macksville in northern NSW in 1962. He is a proud member of the Gumbayyngirr people. His life has seen him rise from the treadmill of poverty and growing up on an Aboriginal reserve. His early experiences have resulted in strong family traditions and he is the very proud father of two adult sons and a younger daughter. He attended boarding school at St John’s College, Woodlawn, and left in 1980. He has been a park ranger, court assessor, chief executive officer and federal politician. Aden is the first Indigenous person to be elected as a Parliamentary Leader when he held the position of Deputy Leader, Australian Democrats, during 2001-02. He retired as a Senator for NSW having served in the Federal Parliament for six years. He discusses workplace diversity and inclusion for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, particularly in Australia’s creative and media industries.

Together Victoria and Steph are Co-CEOs of Beam Australia. They have combined professional experience of more than 36 years and a huge passion for the mission they are on. Beam was established to create more work options, thereby increasing workforce participation and uncovering new pools of high quality hidden talent (the "hidden workforce") for businesses. All signs point to the need for more part-time opportunities.  As such, Beam Australia was established as the destination for professional part-time work.

If women’s workforce participation in Australia increases by 6%, the national GDP would be approx $25 billion higher. 

The ABS notes that in mobilising women into the workforce, part-time work is as important to women as access to childcare (49% v 48%).

Research by HBR, BCG and McKinsey have claimed that diversity programs and policies aren’t working in their current format and that the key driver to increasing the representation of women in leadership is by offering more part time opportunities.

Unfortunately, the number of Managers employed on a part-time basis has not shifted from 6.3% in the last 4 years.  'All Roles Flex' or 'Full-Time Flexible' policies don't mobilise those talent pools who cannot participate in the 40 hour work week. Part-time does.

Most of the people in those talent pools are women.

Based in NYC and Sydney, Dr Catriona Wallace is one of the world's most cited experts on the Future of Customer Experience and Artificial Intelligence and Bot Strategy. Catriona's keynotes feature macro trends related to technology, customer experience, Artificial Intelligence and the rise of Individualization.

Catriona is the Founder of high-profile award winning Virtual Assistant (AI) software company, Flamingo, based in NYC. Catriona previously co-founded a customer experience design firm, Fifth Quadrant and a market research firm, ACA Research. Catriona has a PhD in Organizational Behaviour in Human Technology Interaction, is a well published author and Analyst and as such brings a strong evidence based approach to her speaking engagements. Catriona's links with business schools and businesses around the world allow her to share international practice and case studies.

Catriona is a highly awarded business person having been inducted into the Australian Business Woman's Hall of Fame, winning Telstra Business Awards, being one of Advance Australia's top 3 innovators, is Alumni of the prestigious Springboard Enterprises Women Entrepreneur's and EY Entrepreneur of the Year programs. Recently Catriona was awarded a Pearcey Foundation award for leading technology entrepreneurs and is recognized as one of the Top 4 Most Respected People globally in the Customer Experience sector.

Catriona also conducts many speaking events focused on entrepreneurialism and women in leadership. Catriona is also a high profile philanthropist and human rights activist and mother of 5.

One of Australia’s leading bankers and a keen advocate of private banking, Jason Murray took on the role of Customer Executive of NAB Private in July 2018, following four years as General Manager of NAB Private North. Prior to this, Murray spent nearly two decades in senior executive roles in finance and investment banking in Australia and overseas. He is a qualified Chartered Accountant. He discusses the benefits of talking to a private banker and how many business owners don’t realise that they are eligible and should have a private banker.

Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon, or GAFA for short, have quietly opened a new battlefront for how consumers buy things and seek service. Alexa was the first shot. Now Google, Facebook, and Apple have piled in with new services consumers and brands can use to message each other—directly. This is called conversational commerce. It’s a massive new category, and will succeed e-commerce. LivePerson is working with 18,000 customers to transform customer care from voice calls to messaging and believes conversational commerce will kill the website and revolutionise the digital economy to capture nearly 90 per cent of industry sales in the future. LivePerson believe they are at the centre of conversational commerce & its platform provides the artificial intelligence and workstations brands require to wire their operations into the new services.

In the wake of the GFC, the construction industry was rocked by seismic fallout as all construction ground to a halt and funding for projects stopped. Milan Anjelkovic and Travis Erridge, then senior property managers at Goodman Group (one of Australia’s largest industrial property developers), decided to put their skills to good use and fill a gap in the industrial property market by advising to corporate occupiers/companies like Kmart and The Reject Shop on their industrial property needs. Milan and Travis created TM Insight in 2010 to consult to companies on how to construct the most efficient and advanced warehouses that will help them create substantial operational savings in their supply chain. Setting up TM Insight cost them less than $25,000, but over the past eight years it has grown into a global company turning over $9 million in annual revenue. Headquartered in Melbourne, TM Insight offers consulting services and industry experience in supply chain improvement and industrial property development. Some of TM Insight’s major clients include Kmart, Woolworths, Bunnings, Asahi, Lion, Martin Bower and Symbion. Travis discusses the rise of e-commerce and the move away from brand to brand transactions (brands selling their products onto wholesalers and retailers) towards brand to consumer transactions (brands selling their products direct to consumers). With this comes a completely different supply chain methodology, operational requirements and property requirements. TM Insight’s understanding of this and early adoption saw them completely disrupt the industrial real estate space.

Why investing in infrastructure, particularly airports, can create strong long term investment returns. An airline industry skew on why airports make good unlisted infrastructure investments especially the money that’s being ploughed into Melbourne Airport (Still Australia’s only 24hr major city Airport) Might also be a discussion here around the second Sydney Airport at Badgery’s CreekNicole has worked in the superannuation and funds management industry for approximately 16 years. Most recently as Director, Alternative Investments at Russell Investments and prior to this Head of Alternative Investments at Telstra Super, Australia’s largest corporate superannuation fund. Nicole has extensive experience in the design, implementation and management of the infrastructure asset class and has published a comprehensive report on the history of infrastructure investment in Australia.

Helping business leaders & organisations create positive lasting change, cultural transformation & achieving higher performance outcomes.Her current role/s, working with senior leaders & her skill in helping business leaders & organisations "create positive, lasting change, culture transformation & achieving performance outcomes.:  Sarah’s early career was as an occupational therapist, after graduating from Sydney University. Further wide-ranging qualifications in behavioural, biological and engineering sciences, as well as organisational behaviour and industrial relations, underpin Sarah’s unique approach to strategic leadership consulting. She earned a Masters degree in Safety Science from UNSW and completed the Art & Practice of Leadership from Harvard University. She is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and Associate Fellow, Australian Institute of Management. Sarah’s work includes her extensive experience as Executive Associate & Faculty of The Leadership Circle (TLC), where she leads certifications in the Asia-Pacific region for the TLC’s transformational leadership technology. Sarah was an accredited facilitator for the Australian Institute of Company Directors’ advanced diploma, ‘Mastering the Boardroom’ and on the Directors Coaches Panel for 10 years. Sarah has completed international training in the field of system dynamics, and developed the Australia-exclusive ‘System Dynamics & Organisational Constellations’ intensive training course. She served as the National President of the National Speakers Association of Australia, as well as various not-for-profit boards, including as Chairman for depressioNet.

Disrupting the auditing compliance risk space by creating a solution for businesses & companies to connect with highly qualified accounting specialists for a fraction of the current cost. Meetig8 & disrupting the auditing-compliance-risk space. Perhaps you may have some insights into the banking Royal commission given your compliance experience and if you are seeing more demand for your services in general.In addition to the points in your production brief, I think it would be great if he can cover our ambitions/plans for expansion globally as well. James has 16 years in risk management, living the corporate life, firstly at a big four accounting firm and then at a major bank. As a risk executive he saw two issues: the big accounting firms are very expensive, and their value is starting to erode. Turning point was James had to hire a consultant from one of the big four firms to help with a superannuation change. On his first day I asked “What do you know about superannuation regulation?” and he said, “Nothing.” Back in the day, at least we’d do some homework before we turned up at a client! The value proposition of paying $1,800 a day for a junior guy from a big four firm is outdated and hasn’t been disrupted for a long time. The vision for Meetig8, is to create an alternative means for companies to source risk talent, get better value and a better service at the same time. This means having a technology platform where we connect Australian businesses with risk and compliance independent contractors and small boutique firms. Through Meetig8, businesses can usually get a consultant with about four to five times the experience of a junior from a big four firm for a fraction of the cost.