Confirmed Speakers

Dr Chrissy Burns is the Director, IT & Knowledge at Blake Dawson, a leading Australian law firm with over 160 partners. Chrissy is responsible for the development and implementation of the firm's IT and expertise strategies, and management of the firm's IT and knowledge teams. A strong emphasis on making systems and processes easy to use are a legacy from her days as a lawyer. So too is her focus on change management.

Chrissy has a long standing interest in client facing technology. Before becoming Director of Knowledge (and later IT), she managed the firm's online legal services team.

One of the most stimulating aspects of her current role is involvement in some of the IT and knowledge management initiatives which the firm's clients pursue. Chrissy's doctoral research examined the use of technology by in-house legal teams.

Chrissy regularly writes and presents papers on legal IT and knowledge management.

Kate specializes in online collaboration, social computing, digital media, and integration of online and offline strategies. She has first hand experience in the role of social computing technologies at enterprise level; the challenges, risks and power these technologies have in assisting with internal and external communication.

Kate has worked in senior strategic management & consulting roles with leading organisations such as AMP, Microsoft, GE, FMT and Westfield to develop and implement their corporate web and e-commerce solutions. She helps enterprises with innovation around the use of technology as a business application, and expertly marries technology, marketing and business development. She develops strategic digital marketing strategy and tactics that drive profitability, and trains teams in the use of web technology including social computing, social media, and social networking.

As a technology forecaster she is active in monitoring and tracking developments in social computing including: social computing, web 2.0, enterprise 2.0, social media, and online collaboration. She is deeply involved with the open source and social computing communities.

With an extensive background in business improvement activities, she also has a strong foundation in 6 Sigma, process improvement and enterprise application development.

Dedicated to lifelong learning, Kate has a Master of Management (Macquarie University), has completed postgraduate work in e-commerce and is currently studying law part-time.

Kate is an educator and skilled facilitator with strong communications skills and a fresh, dynamic approach to public speaking and teaching. Kate is an in-demand speaker and has served as a guest lecturer at Macquarie University in their graduate programs.

Kate has an excellent writing style which aims to provide clear and succinct information to a wide range of audiences. She has written articles for various technology and business publications.

Website, personal blog Aide-mémoire

Stephen Collins is the Founder and Chief Troublemaker at acidlabs.

Recognised as one of Australia's leading proponents of participatory culture, Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0 and social networking, he is a driven by aneed to help people and organisations effect change in their capacity to retain, distribute and share knowledge. He has extensive consulting experience for a diverse client base across government and private enterprise and has expertise in social media and networking, knowledge management, web strategy, information architecture and user experience.

He is a member of Social Media Today and Social Media Club, industry bodies focused on mentoring expertise, increasing business literacy, advocacy and best practices in social media and social networking in a business context.

He is a frequent speaker and interview subject for media, conferences and seminars in Australia and internationally including Office 2.0 in San Francisco and Interesting South in Sydney.

In May 2008, an interview with him was featured in a major article on Enterprise 2.0 in Australian CIO Magazine and on June 23 2008 the Australian Financial Review, Australia's lead financial daily, featured his views in a piece on social computing and business. In July 2008 Stephen was heard on the Australian Financial Review's podcast, The Scoop, discussing social media and networking value in business.

Stephen is a member of the Information Architecture Institute and Usability Professionals Association and is also a life member of Electronic Frontiers Australia and an Electronic Frontier Foundation member. He is an active organiser and contributor to the BarCamp movement. In 2008, he is a contributing author to the second edition of The Age of Conversation.

In real life, you could describe him as "husband, Dad, web worker, very amateur triathlete, rugby nut and Brumbies supporter."

Ross Dawson is Chairman of Future Exploration Network and CEO of international consulting firm Advanced Human Technologies He is author of the acclaimed Living Networks and the Amazon.com bestseller Trends in the Living Networks blog. Dawson has delivered keynote speeches to senior executive audiences across six continents, while his frequent global media appearances include CNN, Bloomberg TV, Washington Post, SkyNews, Reuters, ABC TV, European Business Network, Channel News Asia, and many other leading print and broadcast media. He has lectured or run executive programs at numerous leading academic institutions around the world. Prior to establishing Advanced Human Technologies in 1996 Dawson worked in a range of senior positions in London, Tokyo and Sydney, most recently as Global Director - Capital Markets at Thomson Financial.

James Dellow is an experienced information management consultant and is recognised as an influential Enterprise 2.0 blogger.

James is not just technology 'savvy' - he brings practical value to the Enterprise 2.0 discussion by combining his experience with large organisations, critical thinking and an ability to comfortably cross the domains of people, process, content and technology. In articles published in Image & Data Manager magazine during 2008 he has addressed important Enterprise 2.0 themes that other social media consultants ignore: such as Web 2.0 and information security, strategic options for achieving an Intranet 2.0 and understanding the value of Enterprise RSS.

His professional background includes a range of government, professional services and blue chip companies, such as AMP, ASIC, BHP Billiton, BlueScope Steel, CSC, Ernst & Young, and Rio Tinto. He also completed a Master of Business & Technology (MBT) at UNSW in 2005. He is also a well regarded workshop facilitator and has presented at numerous conferences, including a workshop on Intranet 2.0 that received feedback comments such as "Great explanation of 2.0 technologies" and "Very knowledgeable".

Wendy Hogan was appointed Vice President & Managing Director of CBS Interactive (formally CNET Networks Australia) in 2001. CBS Interactive is the seventh largest Internet property worldwide, reaching over 200m people every month.

In this position, she is responsible for the operations of CBS Interactive - directing the growth of its web site properties Builder AU, CNET.com.au, GameSpot AU , ZDNet Australia, TV.com and AppleSource. Wendy also manages the operations of CNET Direct which offers one-to-one marketing services and CNET Channel, which provides trusted on-demand product information.

Wendy joined the company in 1999 working in various roles before her current appointment. Under her leadership, Wendy has grown of the company from a team of 5 to 65 full-time staff in 2008. Her strategy and direction has been instrumental in the company's successful expansion in Australia. This includes the successful launch of CNET.com.au and GameSpot AU in response to the increasing demand by Australian consumers for localised content. CBS Interactive's properties are the prime source of information and entertainment attracting an audience of over three million Australians per month.

Wendy holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Marketing & IT) from Griffith University.

David Holloway has been writing and commentating on technology since the early 1990's, with an emphasis on online collaboration and virtual worlds. From the text-based MUD and MOO worlds of twenty years ago to the current 3D immersive experiences of worlds like Second Life and World of Warcraft, he has observed the growing power of the avatar.

In 2006, David created The Metaverse Journal, a virtual worlds news site with an Australian focus. He also regularly commentates on virtual worlds for ABC Melbourne, Fairfax and News Limited newspapers and Crikey.com.au. With postgraduate qualifications in health and business, particular passions for David are the opportunities and challenges of virtual worlds for health and for business.

Chris Lampard is the Business Technology Consulting Manager at Corporate Express. Currently his charter is to relay business ideas and strategy and interpret their relational requirements of internal IT development and demand as the company moves to mature its business model. Previously at his 8 years employment at Corporate Express, Chris has gained a wealth of hands on experience in roles including analytics, sales & marketing, product management, procurement, logistics, process improvement and operations.

Chris has been in the ICT industry for the last 20 years, and prior to Corporate Express, he retained similar positions for six years at Harvey Norman.

He is an avid technologist, and regularly is invited to participate in evaluation of the latest gadgets and software. With the combination of his experience, this provides Chris with a unique aspect to assist organisations simplify and enhance their future business strategy through the effective use of upcoming technology improvements.

Laurie is the co-founder of Optimice Pty Ltd, a firm dedicated to helping its clients optimise their business relationships. He is one of Australia's leading practitioners in Social and Value Network Analysis for organisational change. With many years of experience in roles ranging from research, management and consulting, Laurie has recently completed his PhD research at the University of Sydney on corporate social capital effects on share market performance. He was previously a Principal Consultant with Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), where he led the knowledge and information management consulting practice and was a research member of CSC's global leading edge forum. Prior to that he worked for many years with BHP Billiton within their corporate research laboratories, leading their research programs on knowledge based systems and artificial intelligence.

Alex Manchester is a Senior Consultant at Step Two Designs, Australia's leading vendor-neutral consultancy focusing on intranets, information management, usability and content management.

He is passionate but pragmatic on the business and enterprise application of social tools, with an "evolution, not revolution" perspective that's drawn from research and experience on the topic.

Prior to joining Step Two, Alex was a researcher and editor at internal communication research agency, Melcrum where he was the lead author on the best-selling report, How to use social media to engage employees, and editor of number of other publications focusing on social media, intranets, internal communication and KM.

Personal blog: alexmanchester.com

Forrester senior analyst Steven Noble serves the Interactive Marketing professional. He is an expert on social computing and its effects on all aspects of marketing and business strategy. Steven keeps a watchful eye on broader marketing trends across Australia and in Asia Pacific.

JP Rangaswami is Managing Director, Strategy and Innovation for BT Design - BT Group's design and delivery business. BT Design has total responsibility for designing, building and implementing BT's network, IT and business processes, systems, networks (non-Openreach) and technologies.

JP is responsible for defining and executing BT Design's strategy, leading a team that explores how to make the art of the possible a reality. JP's reputation for innovation and collaboration make him ideally suited to a role that encompasses the development of BT's 21CN web services, BT's growing Open Source innovation group and other initiatives seeing innovation at the edge of the network. He has extensive international experience and is passionate about delivering outstanding end-to-end customer experience.

JP joined BT from Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein where he served as Global CIO demonstrating recognised market leadership in the use of innovative tools and techniques. He is a compelling advocate for community-based "opensource" development methods and practices.

He is a fervent blogger, a frequent tweeter and a regular speaker at industry events, particularly on collaboration, innovation and opensource. He was named CIO of the Year by Waters Magazine in 2003, CIO Innovator of the Year by the European Technology Forum in 2004, European Innovator of the Year in 2005, and was named as one of the 50 Global Agenda Setters in 2007 by silicon.com.

He is a Fellow of the British Computer Society (BCS) and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA). JP is also a Freeman of the Information Technologists Company (a London City Livery Company, also known as the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists).

Passionate about education, he is chairman of the School of Everything, a startup focused on social action through education. He also serves on the management board of Kings Church International and on the board of trustees of Byte Night, the IT industry's annual sleep out in aid of the National Children's Charity (NCH).

Stan Relihan is a Headhunter & Recruiter based in Sydney, Australia, with more than 10 years of success in assisting start-ups, blue chip multinationals and leading regional players in satisfying their Human Capital requirements.

With a background in Advertising & Media, he was involved in the genesis of Internet & Broadband in Australia.

Asia Pacific's most-connected LinkedIn user (and in the Top 50 worldwide), Stan is also the host of The Connections Show, one of the world's most popular business podcasts - and an acknowledged expert in Web 2.0 & Social Networking.

James Robertson is the Managing Director of Step Two Designs, Australia's leading vendor-neutral consultancy that focuses on intranets, information management, usability and content management.

James is recognised as a worldwide thought leader on the topics of intranets and content management, and has also written extensively on using collaboration in a business context. He has keynoted conferences and workshops across the globe, including throughout Australasia, S-E Asia, Europe and the US.

He is also the author of a number of best practice reports on intranet strategy, content management, staff directories and search.

Blog: www.steptwo.com.au/columntwo

Nathan has spoken around the world on web applications, agile software methods and writing for the web. After founding and running a successful Intranet content management and software consulting business for seven years, he entered the corporate world to run the IT department for Janssen-Cilag, the pharmaceutical subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson in Australia. While at Janssen-Cilag Nathan has lead a series of projects through his "simplify, clarify then implement" approach; transforming the Intranet into a simple, world-class Wiki environment; turning around the internal CRM system; and bringing a fresh approach to all aspects of IT infrastructure.

Nathan Wallace's blog: http://www.e-gineer.com/v2/blog/

Jenny has been in technology driven marketing (on and offline) for the last 20 years. She has worked across Asia, America and Europe and is focused on driving innovation, growth and the evolution of the digital marketing industry.

As a director on the national board of the Australian Direct Marketing Association, chair of the digital round table of industry bodies and vice chair of the digital division of the AFA, Jenny is actively engaged in defining the Australian digital industry and in 2007 was named in B&T's Digital Media Magazine as one of the "40 Biggest Players of the Digital Age".

As an educator, Jenny is a head lecturer for the UTS AFA Ad School digital marketing program, She also chairs the digital education committee for the board of ADMA and is actively involved in cross industry training initiatives.

An experienced speaker, Jenny has given keynotes at conferences and seminars nationally and internationally about trends and best practices.

Starting her career in Europe in software development she then moved to the United States in the early nineties, working in multimedia production. She later took up a role as Global Director of Engagement and Project Management for Zentropy Partners, (McCann Worldgroups interactive division), . In 2000 Jenny relocating to Sydney to head up McCann Relationship Marketing (MRM) Australia and went on to become Head of Interactive for MRM Asia Pacific.

Leaving MRM In 2002, Jenny set up Ideagarden Consulting and ran this successfully before being lured back to the world of advertising in early 2006 when she took over as managing director of Tribal DDB Australia where she ran the Melbourne and Sydney offices. In 2008, Jenny returned to Ideagarden to drive digital change from a broader industry perspective.