Schedule and agenda

AI has rapidly shifted from the fringes of possibility to the centre of how we work, think, and connect. To open the summit, one of Australia’s foremost voices on AI, Silvio Giorgio, will take us on a compelling journey and ask three fundamental questions that go beyond technology and speak to the heart of our shared human experience:

What brought us to this moment?
Where do we stand today?
What path are we forging into the future?

In this exclusive address, Silvio will trace the arc of AI's evolution and explore its growing role in reshaping the ways we understand intelligence, responsibility, and progress. This session will challenge you to think critically about your role not just as a financial adviser, but as a person living through one of the most profound technological shifts in history.

In a market flooded with short-form content and competing advice, trust is your greatest asset. But trust isn’t bought – it’s earned. In this digital marketing masterclass, Rob Roper, one of Australia’s leading voices in organic client acquisition, will share how to create content that inspires confidence and reinforces your credibility.

In this session, you’ll learn how to:

• Build a personal brand online that earns trust to drive engagement without spending a cent on advertising.
• Craft engaging, platform-specific content that showcases your expertise.
• Use four simple, sustainable tools that can supercharge your marketing and grow your authority in 2025 and beyond.

Most experienced financial advisers have amassed stockpiles of marketing munitions – they just don’t know it. Creating content isn’t as daunting as it may seem when you know how to repurpose your existing assets into high-impact, evergreen content that continues to deliver long after it's published.

In this masterclass, you’ll learn how to:

• Recycle your existing assets to create effective and efficient evergreen content.
• Drive traffic to your website from various social channels.
• Nurture and capture digital leads across platforms and channels.

We live in a fracturing world where rising threat levels from geopolitical risk have created an uncertain investing environment. For some, the frequency and severity of geopolitical shocks is reason enough to preference more tangible trends. Others recognise historical patterns in the present and are deploying capital to climb through the chaos. In this session, our panellists will explore innovative approaches to assembling a resilient portfolio. Together, we will:

• Explore how changes in global politics and economic policy are affecting the investment environment.
• Devise innovative strategies for capturing opportunities emerging from uncertainty.
• Discuss how to factor global politics into your risk management strategies to build resilience and prepare your portfolio for geopolitical events.
• Share strategies for maintaining a long-term view through tumultuous times.

A torrent of new technologies have assailed the financial advice landscape, tempting advisers to defy logic and integrate more tools in the pursuit of simplicity. But before introducing new layers of complexity, advisers need to optimise the first technologies in their technology-first practices. This session will set the foundations for a coherent tech stack that flexes as your practice evolves. Rather than interrogating new technologies, our panellists will strip back the layers to optimise the essential functions that underpin your success.

Together, we will:

• Reveal how to strip back layers in your tech stack to understand which essential functions are driving your success.
• Weight the benefits of consolidation versus customisation in congested technology ecosystems.
• Consider how to leverage big data for tailored solutions, creating ultra targeted strategies for niche client demands.
• Identify common inefficiencies that can slow your workflow and solutions to address them.
• Craft a strategy for ongoing technology optimisation that adapts to your practice’s evolving needs.

The vast amounts of personal information relied upon to provide tailored financial advice makes advisers an attractive target for malicious actors. While trust and security are top of mind for clients, there remain significant discrepancies in security posture among advisers. Against a backdrop of regulatory consultation and technological advancement, we ask how advisers can improve the sophistication of their security practices to better handle sensitive information at scale.

Together, we will:

• Consider the security ramifications, both positive and negative, of calls to extend access of the ATO's online portal to financial advisers.
• Explore how platforms are driving security advancements for advisers, from client authentication through to fraud protection education initiatives.
• Adopt a long-term lens and consider how information is retained in systems to ensure you are protecting your clients now and in the future.
• Recognise that humans are the weakest link in any security architecture, and set about creating a culture of vigilance and reinforcement.

The widespread consumer adoption of AI signals an historic turning point in the ways we interface with information and each other. Once a site for experimentation, AI has now become a site of expectation, and businesses are scrambling to meet the newly established precedent for hyper-personalisation. But rather than resorting to the piecemeal adoption of disparate technologies, advisers with a long-term mindset will recognise that speed isn’t the only benchmark for success.

Transparency, attribution, accountability, and empathy will be crucial determinants of excellence in advice. This session has been designed to take your AI integrations from scramble to strategy. We will explore how increased AI maturity can enhance the qualitative attributes of advice by replenishing the most valuable tool in your arsenal: time.

Together, we will:

• Question what a fully integrated AI strategy looks like for growth-driven financial advisers.
• Explore how AI can enhance efficiency without sacrificing empathy by maintaining the human touch in advice delivery.
• Observe AI as a catalyst for personalisation, and consider how to leverage AI insights to craft bespoke financial strategies tailored to individual client needs.
• Balance innovation with long-term thinking to foster a culture of accountability and continuous improvement around AI.

Innovation is not just about technology – it's about fostering collaborations that enhance the client experience and drive business growth. This session will explore how advisers can partner with technology providers, other advisers, and financial institutions to create more comprehensive, innovative solutions for clients. Together, we will:

• Differentiate strategic partnerships that drive innovation in financial advice from surface-level relationships.
• Reveal how to leverage external expertise and technology to enhance your offerings.
• Open the door for collaboration models that create value for clients and advisers alike.
• Share how to overcome challenges in forging and maintaining successful partnerships.

“AI is not going to replace humans, but those with AI will replace those without.”

AI co-pilots are already being interwoven in our personal and professional lives. But as we accelerate towards an agentic future, it’s becoming clear that those who do not utilise AI will be left behind. As financial advisers, it’s essential you are not just aware of the current trends in AI, but that you are prepared for the steep ramp-up in autonomous activity that will take place in the next 12–18 months. In this session, a leading expert on AI in financial services will prepare you for this. Together, we will:

• Explore the practical applications of AI in financial advice, moving beyond theoretical discussions to real-world implementations.
• Uncover trends in AI, including the dawn of agentic AI and its implications for advisers today.
• Share strategies for integrating responsible AI within existing financial frameworks, ensuring both efficiency and compliance.