Now in its fourth year, HR Innovation & Tech Fest 2017 is happening this November in Sydney. The agenda has just been released, and it's a whopper – 30+ sessions over 2 days! We sat down with #hrtechfest Program Director, Simon Yeowart to get an insight into what we can expect this year.

How is this year's event different to last year's?

We're excited to be back in Sydney and have a huge emphasis on how HR teams can work with the wider business to drive innovation. Whether it's employee experience, data-analytics or culture-change our focus, more than ever before, is how HR can complement business strategy and in many cases lead the way in transformation projects.

Who are the big hitting internationals coming across for the event?

The one and only Josh Bersin is headlining – undisputed world thought-leader in HR Tech and has a unique insight into the ANZ market.

From the US we have amazing stories from Amazon, Hulu, and Hollywood Casino, Deutsche Telekom are making waves in HR transformation in Europe and Asia Pac leaders from Cathay Pacific and Spotify!

What stories from the front line of HR do people need to hear about?

Our speakers always present their case stories as warts and all. Each one of the presenters has a case study which not only tells the tangible successes, but isn't afraid to open up about the pitfalls faced on the way, with a few happy to say ‘'if I had my time again, I would do this completely differently.'' I know our community love the honesty and vulnerability of our speakers. There are very few egos but that means no BS either.

One of the recurring questions at the roundtable discussion groups was “How will disruptive technology change the skill sets required for HR professionals in the future?â€' Who is going to answer that at the conference?

If cutting edge technology companies like Amazon, Spotify and Deutsche Telekom aren't best placed to answer this, I don't know who is. We also offer deep-dive workshops where we'll be examining specifically how the areas of recruitment, employee experience and HR strategy are being transformed and what you can do now to ensure you stay ahead of the game.

What other cool things are on offer?

We have an exhibition hall bursting at the seams with cutting edge technology solutions and thought-leadership sessions, the world's leading start-ups showcasing their ideas and the opportunity to connect with ANZ's largest HR Tech community on our event app!

We have over 25 speakers delivering sessions at HR Innovation & Tech Fest 2017. That's a lot of information! What's your advice for people coming along to make the most of it?

Turn off your emails for two days and immerse yourself in this thriving community. The opportunity to interrogate some of the leading exponents of HR transformation from all over the world doesn't come around too often. We'll have more networking and experiential components to be involved in too.

How can people follow the action before, during and after the event?

Twitter's where most of the action will be. You can search the event hashtag on #hrtechfest to follow all the latest updates.

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