Partners in Reos Partners, Melbourne

Morning Master Class:
‘The Change Lab: solving complex social problems through design thinking’ (November 28, 9.00am-12.00pm)

Steve Atkinson and Leigh Gassner are partners in Reos Partners, Melbourne.  Reos Partners is an international organisation dedicated to supporting and building capacity for innovative collective action in complex social systems.  Steve and Leigh focus on working with clients to co-design, facilitate and build multi-stakeholder interventions to innovatively tackle complex problems and innovate in new ways to realise unprecedented aspirations.  They bring substantial expertise in large system reform across government, civil society and business.  Recent work assignments include scoping a national scenario building assignment with Adam Kahane for the country of Thailand, designing a national scenario dialogue for Indigenous Australians, initiating a change lab intervention for finding new ways to tackle systemic problems in the child protection sector, facilitating an innovation forum for leading Australian to design workplaces of the future, and working to create a new global benchmark for innovative environmental and social sustainability practices within the construction industry.

They are presently also working on Aboriginal health system strategy reform in Australia.  Steve has recently facilitated two scenario projects in South Africa relating to the future of healthcare and the socio-political and economic future of South Africa.

Steve is a speaker and lecturer at the Gordon Institute of Business Sciences, University of Pretoria on systems and scenario thinking and Leigh with the Australian and New Zealand School of Government on social system reform.

aka “The Ideas Guy”, leading ideas and marketing expert

Morning Master Class:
‘A Killer Innovations Approach to Marketing Your Business’ (November 28, 9.00am-12.00pm)

Tim Reid, aka “The Ideas Guy”,  is a leading ideas and small business marketing specialist, and creator and host of Australia’s #1 Marketing podcast – The Small Business Big Marketing Show.

He has 25 years of extensive and diverse experience in assisting large corporations, not-for-profit organisations and SMEs maximise their Marketing Communications efforts including helping to grow businesses such as Clemenger BBDO, Flight Centre, Reach Youth, Smorgon Steel and many others.

For the past 7 years Tim has been running his own business that shows business owners how to make their business so irresistible that it makes competing against them far less desirable. His Clients have included Noodle Box, Trewarne Jewelers, Woolworths, Gillette, Centro Shopping Centres, Uncle Tobys, Yellow Pages, Australand, SIDS and Kids and The National Stroke Foundation.

Tim now spends his working hours running marketing workshops and webinars for  busines owners, marketers and not-for-profit organisations…where participants discover how to make marketing and innovation their best friend in attracting, engaging and satisfying more customers. He also blogs, tweets and podcasts!

Discover more about Tim at www.SmallBusinessBigMarketing.com

Co-authors: Who Killed Creativity…and how to get it back!

Morning Master Class:
‘Who Killed Creativity?…and how to get it back’ (November 28, 9.00am-12.00pm)

Authors Andrew & Gaia Grant have travelled the world from the classroom to the boardroom, teaching at many levels from tribal education to CEO corporate coaching to discover ‘Who Killed Creativity?…  and how to get it back!’ (book | keynote |workshop | board game)

Leading management consultants

Afternoon Master Class:
‘Solving Wicked Problems in the Workplace’ (November 28, 2.30-5.30pm)

Tim Dalmau has worked for the last 33 years as a consultant to public and private sectors.  He is one of Australia’s foremost management consultants, the author or co-author of an extensive selection of books and other publications.  His practice covers the world, advising leaders of corporations and engineering focused companies in the resources and manufacturing sectors, working with Boards and senior teams, and designing systems for change.

Jill Tideman has 25 years’ experience in facilitating sustainable change in public and private systems.  She has worked in the engineering, infrastructure and resource sectors, and consulted in sustainability, safety and transport policy in Australia, the U.K and the USA.  She is a highly regarded coach, change designer, educator and advisor to mid and upper management across the resources sector, steel industry, sugar production, engineering, mining, education and road transport.

Global thought leaders on business storytelling

Afternoon Master Class:
‘Wicked Problems Need Wicked Stories’ (November 28, 2.30-5.30pm)

Gabrielle Dolan is co-founder and Director of One Thousand & One. She has worked as an independent business management consultant and has held various senior management roles at the National Australia Bank. Her hands-on experience of the challenges organisations face in communicating effectively led her to the power of organisational storytelling.

Gabrielle has had extensive experience in the finance industry, agricultural, manufacturing and not-for-profit sectors. She has held various roles in change management, learning and development and project management. This background puts her in an ideal position to provide expertise on the various applications of organisational storytelling.

Gabrielle’s current academic qualifications include a Master’s degree in Management and Leadership from Swinburne University and an Associate Diploma in Education and Training from the University of Melbourne.

Yamini Naidu is co-founder and Director of One Thousand & One. She has extensive corporate experience and has worked in a range of industry sectors with senior industry leaders, key stakeholders and company boards.

Yamini is the Vice President of ElNet (Elearning Network of Australasia) and has taught leadership and management at RMIT University. This passion, experience and knowledge in learning, e-learning, management and leadership studies are now being directed to organisational storytelling.

She has a Master’s degree in Economics from Bombay University and a Master’s degree in Personnel Management from the London School of Economics and further qualifications in Education and Training from the University of Melbourne.

To satisfy her thirst for continual learning she is also undertaking swimming and Bollywood dancing lessons, although not at the same time.

Australia’s Passion Provocateur

Presentation:
‘The Courage To Be Different: Powerful Strategies To Access Your Strength And Resilience To Avoid Following The Crowd!’ (November 28, 9.00am-12.00pm)

After 20 years of high level legal and business experience, Charles Kovess turned his back on the law in 1993 to share success strategies as a professional speaker, educator, facilitator and coach.  Charles has enthused and inspired many companies and individuals to achieve outstanding results by harnessing passion, and is known as Australasia’s Passion Provocateur. He is a graduate of both University of Melbourne (LL.B. (Hons)), and Monash University (LL.M.).

He has been President of the Australia-Hungary Chamber of Commerce & Industry for the past 20 years, and is a Certified Speaking Professional, Past National President of the National Speakers’ Association of Australia, and Trustee of the Global Energy Network Institute. Charles has authored two inspirational books, ‘Passionate People Produce’, and ‘Passionate Performance’, and is the co-author of ‘The 7 Heavenly Virtues of Leadership’.

Charles is not only passionate about the power of passion: he is also passionate about sustainable behaviours and sport! He is currently competing in his 28th consecutive season in triathlons; he qualified as an international water polo referee, played A Grade Amateur Football, and has completed nine marathons. He is the father of five children, aged from 30 to 18 months.