Our 2026 Agenda

Most of us are moving faster than ever, yet somehow falling further behind. Between meetings, emails, competing priorities, and constant change, finding time to learn something new—especially AI—can feel impossible. 

This session isn’t about the future. It’s about work that’s already changing.  Through fast-paced, live demonstrations, you’ll see practical AI tools and techniques that are transforming how HR professionals write, communicate, analyse information, build learning, and solve problems today. No hype. No five-year roadmap. Just real examples of work being done differently using tools that are already available. 

Rather than asking you to transform everything, this keynote will challenge you to choose one change that could fundamentally improve the way you work. 

You’ll learn how to: 

• Discover practical AI tools that can immediately reduce administrative work and increase impact.  

• Identify simple, high-value opportunities to improve how you and your teams work today.  

• Confidently take your first (or next) step with AI and other tools – without needing to become a technical expert. 

Employees still want meaningful opportunities to grow, but traditional workshops, generic training and occasional coaching sessions are struggling to keep pace with rapidly changing roles, AI-enabled work and evolving employee expectations. This session explores how People leaders can create a more responsive approach to development by combining real-world practice, stronger manager coaching, peer learning, targeted support and opportunities to build skills in the flow of work. 

You’ll learn how to: 

• Identify which traditional learning, training and coaching practices are no longer creating meaningful behaviour or performance change. 

• Equip managers to coach more effectively and make development part of everyday conversations and work. 

• Build a practical development model that responds more quickly to changing skills, business priorities and employee needs. 

• Identify where AI can remove friction in the hiring process – and where human interaction matters most to candidate experience.
• Use a practical framework to decide what to automate and what to keep human across key stages of the candidate journey.
• Take away ideas from Jane’s own TA approach that you can apply to create more time for meaningful conversations, feedback and candidate connection.

Years into hybrid work, many organizations are still testing, adjusting and debating what actually works. In this candid panel discussion, People leaders will share how their hybrid models are evolving, where they continue to encounter friction and what they have learned about team expectations, manager accountability, in-person time, collaboration and fairness. Rather than offering a single formula, the conversation will explore the practical choices and trade-offs organizations are navigating in real time. 

You’ll learn how to: 

• Compare how different organizations are approaching hybrid work and what they have changed along the way. 

• Identify the practices that are improving collaboration, performance and the employee experience—and those that are falling short. 

• Apply practical lessons from other People leaders to strengthen your own hybrid model, expectations and decision-making. 

Many hiring practices are still built around fixed job descriptions, linear career paths, formal credentials and experience with tools that may soon become outdated. This session challenges People leaders to reconsider how roles are designed, which qualifications truly matter and how to identify candidates who can succeed as work continues to change. Through five future-relevant capabilities, the session will explore how organizations can move beyond pedigree and experience to hire for adaptability, judgment, learning agility and long-term potential. 

You’ll learn how to: 

• Reassess roles, job requirements, and credentials based on the work the organization will need—not simply how the job has been done before. 

• Identify five durable capabilities that may be more predictive of future success than industry experience, formal education or familiarity with current tools. 

• Redesign sourcing, interviews and assessments to recognize transferable skills, unconventional career paths and candidates with the capacity to grow. 

• A practical map of the AI recruiting tool landscape and how to match the right approach to your team, whether you are a lean startup, scaling fast, or running an enterprise TA function  

• Real world lessons on AI driven screening, sourcing, and outreach, told first hand by a TA leader already running it in their early funnel 

AI is changing more than how work gets done. It’s changing how people learn to do it. As AI takes on foundational early-career tasks, organizations face a critical question: how will employees build the expertise and judgment needed to become tomorrow’s senior talent? In this interactive session, People & Culture leaders will explore how to identify emerging skill and experience gaps, rethink development pathways, and connect talent risks to business priorities. Participants will leave with a practical framework to help ensure today’s AI efficiencies don’t create tomorrow’s talent gaps. 

Take Aways: 

• • An Experience-Gap Framework for assessing how AI is changing the path from junior to senior roles. 

• • A practical approach to closing development gaps and strengthening future talent pipelines.

• • A framework for connecting talent risks to business impact and executive priorities.