Peter Williams To Head Up PRIA Disruption Conference

Peter Williams To Head Up PRIA Disruption Conference
Neil O'Sullivan MPRIA
By Neil O'Sullivan MPRIA



The Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA) has announced Peter Williams, chief edge officer, the Centre for the Edge, Deloitte, as the keynote for this year’s 2015 PRIA National Conference MasterClass in Hobart, 25 October 2015.

The theme for Williams’s full-day MasterClass is ‘Disruption’ – certainly a major recurring theme in 2015. Here’s a glimpse of what he will be diving into next month, down in Tasmania.

Part One – Current Disruption: Williams mapped the Australian economy a few years ago in terms of who would be disrupted, when, and by how much. The good news is that his team have been on the money. Williams will discuss where and why disruption is occurring right now through real-life examples and case studies. He will explain how the incumbents failed to move and more importantly, why they failed to move. He will also dive into effective response to disruption using local examples and also how to direct disruption to where you want it to go. This segment is not to be missed if you want to learn from current case studies and examples. You’ll leave this session with stacks of tips, takeaways, do’s and don’ts, and lots more to bring back to your office.

Part Two – Future Disruption: Here, Williams will talk about the impact of what he calls ‘exponential technologies’ and explore a selection of examples. He’ll discuss where the future lies and whether we’ll be using robots, have driverless cars, 3D printing, using new wonder materials (graphene and the other ‘enes’ such as Silicene, Germanene), mobile payments and cryptocurrencies, wearables and the ‘Internet of things’. This segment is not to be missed if you want to know what will be disrupted in the future, how things will likely play out, and how to think about these developments and respond.

A little bit about our host…

Based in Melbourne, Williams is a ​practitioner in innovation with a particular focus on digital innovation and was recently named as one of Australia’s top Digital Influences, is Chairman of Deloitte’s Innovation Council, an Adjunct Professor at RMIT, Board Member of Deloitte Foundation and Circus OZ.

Williams is a sought after speaker, thought leader and media commentator both locally and internationally and has worked with boards and senior executives of many companies helping them understand and adapt to the rapidly changing digital environment.

One of Australia’s technology titans is here to help explain and map the new terrain. Williams is the obvious person to have led the newly formed Australian Chapter of Centre for the Edge, a Silicon Valley Applied Research Centre chaired by two technology luminaries, John Hagel III and John Seely Brown, with a mission to identify and explore emerging opportunities related to big shifts that aren’t yet on the senior management agenda, but ought to be. While the Chapter is focused on long-term trends and opportunities, it is equally focused on implications for near-term action, the day-to-day environment of executives.

If you can’t get enough of disruption, check out B&T’s Daze of Disruption conference happening in Melbourne in December.




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