Dizzying changes and Indigenous data in the spotlight at NFP tech conference

“It’s only 12 months since the last conference, but if you think about what’s happened over that time frame, it’s incredible,” he told the Community Advocate. “I think the discussions now are moving from organisations talking about what might be possible with things like AI to talking about what they’re practically doing and what they’ve learned over the last 12 months – the good, the bad and the ugly.”

The conference, to be held in Melbourne from Wednesday May 6 to Friday May 8, is Australia’s major technology get-together for the sector, and it includes the Australian Not-for-profit Technology Awards. While in-person tickets are almost sold out, online tickets are readily available.

This year’s event features more than 30 speakers, including:

• Hang Vo, president of the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) and CEO of Sacred Heart Mission
• Ryan Ginard, head of sector development and innovation at Minderoo Foundation
• Professor Anthony McCosker from the Social Innovation Institute
• Lee Hicken, executive director of the National AI Centre.

Hicken’s discussion with Community Council for Australia head David Crosbie, titled “The critical role of the NFP sector in shaping Australia’s use of AI”, promises to be a fascinating hour, on Wednesday.

Executives from the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Starlight Children’s Foundation Australia, and the Alcohol and Drug Foundation will also be presenting.

Spriggs said the conference would provide an unflinching, constructive debate about the escalating issue of data sovereignty in First Nations communities and foundations, with speakers including Lisa Sarago, a prominent Indigenous leader, social entrepreneur and advocate, as well as Che Cockatoo-Collins, who has left his decorated AFL career behind to become executive manager of Indigenous affairs at NBN Co. He is also a member of the First Nations Digital Inclusion Advisory Group, made up of First Nations Australians who are experts and advocates in digital inclusion and the media and broadcasting sector.

“We’re going to have a big First Nations focus this year,” Spriggs said.

“Like all of our conferences, it will be a great mix of people from across the sector – including small organisations, medium organisations, and large organisations. We’ll also have people there from tech companies and government, bringing all those perspectives together,” he said.

Community Directors will be attending the event, to report some of the highlights.

More information

The conference website is here.

David Spriggs discusses the need for NFPs to embrace AI, here.