Jacquie Alley, chief operating officer of The Media Store, gives her take on the first day of Cairns Crocodiles, presented by Pinterest. And fortunately for us, she had a blast.
From the origins of the small but deadly jellyfish, the Irukandji, Acknowledgment of Country by Gavin Singleton kicked off an amazing journey of connecting creativity on day one of the Cairns Crocodiles.
The irreverent humour of Maz, to the passionate call to embrace discomfort by Nedd Brockmann, to the musings and quirks of Taika Waititi, concluding with the impressive figures and predictions of Sir Martin Sorrell, we truly went on a ride.
The bravery of pulling together a band to share the Cairns Crocodile ‘mogo’ in 24 hours to requesting cheese platters whilst on stage, we really saw it all. The day was full of inspiration, calls to action, and a stage full of immensely creative people.
And can I say how refreshing it was to only have AI peppered throughout the day, not taking front and centre. In fact, even Najoh Tita-Reid’s AI learning safari was shared with an F1 metaphor to remind us all not to aspire to become the drivers, but the race engineers, the orchestrators of AI. To be disciplined as to what we want to use technology for and the importance of human judgment, taste, empathy and creativity, which is the irreplaceable differentiator in an automated world. Her wisdom on not focusing solely on the efficiency and cost-cutting productivity trap that AI lures us into was a strong reminder. I loved her comment that, “the only race worth running is for growth, innovation, and building brands people care about”.
Speaking of running, today wasn’t my first time hearing Nedd speak, yet his infectious commitment to seeing hard things through, for living life to its fullest, is hard to resist. His love of endurance, as “on the other side of suffering is so much growth”, was truly inspiring. As someone who is also not a runner (ha ha), I do share his commitment to resolve; to committing to things wholeheartedly, to upholding your values and integrity even when no one is watching. His call to embrace discomfort as a path to growth, to focus on living truthfully, and his aspirations to end homelessness here in Australia were incredibly powerful. His story highlighted the power of a single person with a goal to initially lose weight and build discipline into his life during COVID, to now becoming the 2026 Young Australian of the Year for his transformative work with social housing organisation, Mobilise.
Angus Ingham and David Ohana, from the United Nations Foundation, reinforced this notion that we need to make the global, personal. Their campaign to activate $23 billion in global fundraising to save 87 million lives at risk starts with one life at a time. They want to humanise the statistics, help us overcome apathy, and showcase how collective small actions, such as adding a Humanity+ subscription to your current streaming commitments, will literally save lives. They appealed to the audience full of creative, media, and brand partners, here in Australia and wider APAC, to lead this global effort, as doing the right thing is not just beneficial for business, your employees, but for future generations and the planet.
The calls to action continued with Jules Lund’s fireside chat with Bruce Poon Tip, CEO of G Adventures. His message was that tourism, when guided by empathy and deep-seated values, can be a powerful force for good. Both travellers and tourism companies must recognise their responsibility to the communities they visit, to make choices that align with a kinder economy. He concluded with some examples of what G Adventures does: Women on Wheels in India, where they train women from shelters as drivers to empower them with mobility and employment as airport transfer drivers and Oodles of Noodles in Vietnam, which provides culinary training to homeless youth, with travellers participating in the cooking classes.
Having sat in the main auditorium all day, seeing the crowds peak to see Melinda Petrunoff interview Nedd Brockmann and then again to see the hyperactivity and filmmaking genius, Taika Waititi, what became obvious was that despite the technological inflection point we are living in, what remains true is the power of human story, the joy that comes from seeing others be truly themselves, quirks and all. What AI can never take from us is our unique humanity, our ability to empathise, our integrity to do the right thing, to embrace embarrassment and as Sir Martin Sorrell concluded, to be “the trusted validators”, the independent advisors.
Thanks B&T and Pinterest (and all the other sponsors) for a truly memorable day. Now to get my sparkle on for the Opening Party!
