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2 min read

FIRESIDE CHAT: Faster companies, slower people | 13 August 2026 | Sydney

Picture of Compono Compono Updated on August 18, 2026

HR event Fireside Chat event
FIRESIDE CHAT: Faster companies, slower people | 13 August 2026 | Sydney
2026 Fireside Chat
One Night One room

The night in pictures

The whole night, in 120 frames.

A full room at Work Club Locomotive, Andrew Banks in the host's chair, and a panel of Matt McFarlane, Hassanah Rudd and Sharon Gray. Tap any photo to open the album, jump between chapters, and share a link straight to your favourite frame.

View all 120 photos

Swipe or use ← → to browse, G for the grid, Esc to close.

Photography by Grapefruit Creative. Spotted yourself? Open the album, find your frame and use "Full size" to save it.

Andrew Banks hosts a fireside conversation with leaders at the top of the people business, in front of some of Australia's most senior HR and business leaders.
One room, one night only.

The gap

Companies have never moved faster. Their people move at a different speed.

Every quarter brings another restructure, another tool, another shift in priorities, and now AI on top of the lot. The people inside those companies move at a different speed. Culture takes time to shift, and trust takes time to earn back once it slips.

That distance, between how fast the business wants to go and how fast its people actually can, is where good organisations quietly come undone. It shows up as the change that never sticks, and the strategy that looked brilliant on the slide and stalled in the corridor.

The leaders who understand this gap best are the ones who have paid for it while building companies. On 13 August, they are on the stage and in the seats around you. That is the point of the evening.

Andrew is looking forward to seeing you Thursday

The conversation

A fireside chat in the proper sense.

No lectern No slides No script No pitch

Andrew Banks, who built two of Australia's largest HR & talent businesses, in conversation with a panel of leaders who operate at the top of the profession, on what is actually happening inside organisations right now.

Conversations at this level usually happen behind closed doors. For one evening, the door is open. It happens once, and the room only exists that night. If you are not in the room, you miss it.

Who you'll hear from

Your host and an award-winning panel

Andrew Banks

Your host

Andrew Banks

Andrew Banks is a serial entrepreneur who co-founded Morgan & Banks and Talent2, building two of Australia's largest HR & talent businesses with combined annual revenues exceeding A$1 billion. Today he is an active investor, mentor and one of Australia's best-known business leaders, recognised by many from Shark Tank Australia.

The panel

Every seat on the panel is an award-winning leader working at the top of the profession.

Matt McFarlane

Matt McFarlane

Director of FNDN

Matt McFarlane

Director of FNDN and founder of the Startup People Summit, and one of the most-followed HR voices in the country. Matt has built people and culture inside some of Australia's fastest-scaling companies, and is an HR Influence Awards winner.

HR Influence Awards winner
Hassanah Rudd

Hassanah Rudd

Head of People at Preacta

Hassanah Rudd

Hassanah Rudd is a high energy People Leader with a career built on big thinking, bold moves, and brilliant execution. Currently Head of People for Preacta, Hassanah is an ex Canva talent leader bringing deep expertise across People, Global Talent Acquisition, Workforce Planning and Strategic Transformation.

Corporate Talent Leader of the Year 2021
Sharon Gray

Sharon Gray

Head of People and Culture at OzHarvest

Sharon Gray

Sharon leads people and culture where mission and stretched resources meet, where people and purpose intersect with an accelerating need to do more both at an organisational and community level.

HR Influence Awards winner

 

2026 Fireside Chat

Faster companies, slower people?
Thursday 13 August, Sydney.

Andrew Banks and a panel operating at the top of the profession, in a room of peers you will not find together again soon. When the seats are gone, they are gone.

Work Club Locomotive, Eveleigh, Sydney


 
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