Pause Fest 2019 is just around the corner, and with tickets selling fast, it’s time to find out what to expect from one of the industry’s biggest events.

The festival, which takes place in Melbourne from the 6-8 of February, will host talent from Atlassian, Google, Amazon, CERN, YouTube, Discovery Inc, Cloudflare, JWT, InVision, and Airbnb alongside 200 local heroes and innovators and will be held in none other than Melbourne’s iconic Federation Square.

The festival, themed ‘Intimate Future’, is a blend of creativity and business, and will tackles the concept of human interaction with technology and how it’s challenging our social fabric and the possible consequences of this future.

The sessions will centre on the theme of intimacy; from human to technology and everything in between.

Hear scientists, entrepreneurs, designers and experts deep dive on our relationship with products, services and experiences.

These are just a glimpse of some of the informative, challenging, and more than anything, intimate sessions:

Inside the commodification of intimacy

Speaker: Dr. Melis Senova, founder, Huddle

How to create an intimate listener experience through podcasting

Speakers: Christina Canters and Aaron Heath, Podcast Services Australia

Love is a (new) battlefield – 9Powered insight study

Moderator: Anjuli Plozza, head of strategy, 9Powered

Panellists: Shelly Horton, social commentator and journalist; John Aiken, relationship specialist and Married at First Sight expert; Dr. Trisha Stratford, clinical neuro-psychotherapist and Married at First Sight expert; Mel Shilling, dating and relationship expert

AI in sextech will raise awareness about female orgasm

Speaker: Dema Tio, co-founder, Vibease

Digitally and ethically yours: the future of big data and privacy

Moderator: Giuseppe (Pino) Demaio, founder and creative director, Local Peoples

Panellists: Lisa Watts, CEO and director, The Conversation Media Group; Dr Niels Wouters, digital media advisor, Science Gallery Melbourne; Martin Kemka, founder and analyst, Northraine

The limits of human space exploration: separating fact from fiction

Speaker: Dr. Jocelyn Dunn, human performance engineer, NASA Johnson Space Center

The future of trust: what does your data say about you?

Leah Callon-Butler, co-founder and chief impact officer, Intimate

The future of intimacy at work: shaping the work/life balance

Moderator: James Law, chief of staff and chief people officer, EstimateOne

Panellists: Dominic Price, head of R&D and work futurist, Atlassian; Chloe Hamman, director of people science, CultureAmp; Scott Kirkpatrick, president and chief operating officer, General Assembly

Neuro-narratives: A journey through our intimate minds

Speaker: Jared Cooney Horvath, director, NeuroEducation

Designing world-scale AR for real people

Sam Keene, lead UX engineer, Google

Speaking on the festival, Pause Fest founder George Hedon said: “We live in a world where anything is possible. The digital revolution has sparked the new gold rush, where entrepreneurs have the ability to rewrite how we live.

“All you need is an internet connection and a phone to access tools that are more powerful than those that put a man on the moon.”

“Australia is known as ‘the lucky country’ – globally envied as one of the most liveable places in the world. So, why are we moving slower than the rest of the world when it comes to innovation?

“Pause Fest is on a mission to help Australia think big and think global, and I am proud to say we have been doing this now for nine years.”

Tickets are now on sale with a new ticketing experience, available now to the public in partnership with Universe, a Live Nation company.

There are two types of tickets available for Pause Fest 2019.

• The Explorer Ticket is for the individuals that seek professional development. Maybe you’re not bringing your company in this time or haven’t launched yet, or maybe you are still dreaming of your own investment fund. No worries, you don’t have to miss out on the action this year. With the Explorer Ticket, you’ll be able to enjoy the best of what Pause Fest has to offer.
• The Leader Ticket is a sharable pass for the teams that seek business development and investment opportunities. In addition to having a flexible sharing pass for your team to hop-on-and-off the sessions between days, this pass lets you as a leader reap the benefits of VIP and invite only events throughout the year.

Spend over $5,000 on Leader tickets to automatically join the InnerCircle rewards.