David Bartlett was the Premier of the Australian State of Tasmania from 2008 until 2011. During his parliamentary career he also held the positions of Minister for Innovation, Science & Technology and Minister for Education & Skills. His time as Premier was characterised by bold reforms designed to lift Tasmania’s educational outcomes and capitalise on Tasmania’s natural advantages in water, food and renewable energy. For his work in promoting innovation and broadband infrastructure David was recently named by The Australian as one of Australia’s Top 50 most influential people in technology.

Prior to entering Parliament, David had an extensive career in the information technology and telecommunications sector including roles as Chief Information Officer and Industry Development Specialist. As Premier, he switched on the first non-Telstra owned optic fibre backbone in Tasmania, developed the first broadscale FTTP brownfields roll out and championed his home state as the first National Broadband Network location.

David is now a Director of Explor Consulting. He brings a unique perspective to discussions about broadband, innovation, commercialisatiion and the future of government service delivery and is passionate about sharing the Tasmanian experience with other regional economies. Since leaving the Parliament, David has been working with regional economies and communities across Australia to prepare strategies for maximising economic and social renewal underpinned by broadband and digital technologies.

David is also Chairman of Asdeq Labs, a technology startup building enterprise mobility solutions and currently expanding operations into the US. He is a Director of PlaceSpeak international, a company delivering the worlds first geo-social online consultation platform for Government and industry. David is a Senior Advisor to the Nous Group and a member of the advisory board for the Centre for New Public Education.

Click here to download David's presentation.

February 22nd 2011 will be a day that will forever be in the memory of New Zealanders and the people of Christchurch. Graham’s technology company was based in the CBD of Christchurch, with 35 staff working from a multi-story office block when a 6.3 magnitude earthquake hit with devastating results.

Hear Graham’s story, detailing the reaction, the response and then the recovery of his business. Evacuating the building within seconds of the event, the challenges were unprecedented. With staff unaccounted for, stairways damaged and server rooms flooded and compromised. Being well prepared for a disaster and managing risk mitigation is paramount in any organisation. When put to the test, there were successes and catastrophic failures of IT, processes and systems over the ensuring weeks and months to recovery. You will hear the highs and lows, what to do and what not to do when an emergency faces your business.

Learn from an entertaining and engaging speaker, giving an honest and transparent account of the events as they unfolded, including swimming the Avon River behind the military cordon to access critical hard drives, dodging the Singaporean army to gain emergency access to the building and the ‘rescue’ of the signed Bruce Springsteen fender guitar.

Graham has spoken at many events and organisations over the years and has represented his industry at both a local and central government level. As Director and Co-Founder of Hairy Lemon Web Solutions, Graham is the Sales Director of New Zealand’s fastest growing web development company. With 30+ staff and clients around the world, the company is a leader in the Web Development Industry. Majoring in Computer Science at UC, Graham has a strong knowledge of the industry, as well as extensive management experience.

Formerly a Branch Manager for Steel and Tube Ltd, one of New Zealand’s largest steel merchandising companies, he heads the marketing side of Hairy Lemon. From humble but ambitious beginnings, Hairy Lemon has become a leading web development house. Hairy Lemon believes in cutting edge technology, based on timeless business values such as service, support and communication.

Click here to download Graham's presentation.

Peter recently joined the Geraldton Data Centre team, in the role of Sales and Technical Manager, with a successful career of over 25 years of experience in the IT industry.

Peter has an extensive set of skills in technical, sales and management within the IT industry ranging from small businesses, public listed companies, National IT integration organisations, to the global stage.

Peter’s previous role was with IBM Australia, as the Senior Sales Lead for the Integrated Technology Services division of GTS (Global Technology Services). It was from this role that Peter became involved in the development of the Geraldton Data Centre, Western Australia’s first ever regional data centre. The data centre will be the first commercial, tier 3 data centre with the ability to deliver cloud services in Perth, Midwest and the Pilbara regions of Western Australia.

Click here to download Peter's presentation.

Jim is a Digital Futurist working within the Western Australian Department Of Commerce. Jim is head of the Digital Economy Branch and leads a committed team pursuing innovation in the economic and social use of digital technology.

Jim is a key player in driving the digital economy agenda within WA to enable the State to realize the optimal benefits from the deployment of next generation digital technologies, devices, applications and content.

Previously Jim worked for the Queensland Government overseeing telecommunications and broadband strategy and prior to this was the Project Director Digital Futures for the Tasmanian Government, working on the early planning for the National Broadband Network.

Assisting all parts of the State’s economy and society to realize the benefits of the digital age is his passion.

Click here to download Jim's presentation.

James Reid has been the WA State Manager for the Nextgen Group since 2007. The Nextgen Group has the 2nd largest fibre optic network in Australia with over 20,000 Kms of coverage and 13 operational data centres. The Nextgen Group is now 70% owned by the Ontario Teachers Pension Fund and a 30% holding by Leighton Holdings. James manages the corporate, government and service integrator sectors.

Previously James was the WA Sales Manager for People Telecom/ Swiftel Limited from 2000 to 2007 servicing the government, corporate and carrier sectors.

Prior to this, James was based in Paris, France from 1993 until 2000 engaged by AC3 International Group consulting into organisations such as Hewlett Packard, Alcatel, Bull, the LVMH Group, Readers Digest and Lucent Technologies. James consulted in various fields such as project management, train the trainer, cross cultural communication, the art of negotiation and sales training.

Previous to that James was based in London England between 1988 and 1992 working within the Lloyds of London Insurance Market servicing the North American Non-Marine market.

Click here to download James's presentation.

Glenn has many years experience in the Computing industry. Prior to joining aCurix Technology, Glenn was the Managing Director of Rescue Technology, an Amcom Telecommunications Ltd subsidiary, and also the previous State Manager for Novell Pty Ltd in Western Australia. In this role he was responsible for all Major Account, strategy and business development.

Glenn has worked with many of the largest organisations here and abroad in a similar capacity and had exposure to providing solutions based on specific line of business such as Health, Banking, Manufacturing, Distribution, Retail, Commercial and Education.

His work involved the positioning of various solutions based on both hardware and software services through some of the following suppliers and vendors such as NCR, UNISYS, HP and Novell.

Click here to download Glenn's presentation.

Peter is the WA Community Account Manager for NBN Co. In this role he is responsible for local and state government engagement and implementing NBN Co’s community and business outreach programs across both metro and regional WA.

Peter started his career in Federal Government at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He held roles across policy, trade and business outreach portfolios. Following this he consulted in public policy and government relations whilst working closely with IT multinationals in the research and development space.

Peter was appointed an Adjunct Senior Lecturer at Edith Cowan University in February 2011 and still holds this position.

Having started out studying journalism, Clayton’s professional development over the past 15 years has been less than conventional, rather driven by a commitment to learning from others, throwing himself in the deep end, an ability to think creatively and strategically and an urge to challenge the status-quo.

Four years ago Clayton successfully made the transition from working in and managing award winning small businesses in Perth & Melbourne to working with a global corporation in Microsoft. However, his passion for small business has never waned and this is recognised at Microsoft where his roles have revolved around helping SMB customers achieve greater success through technology, coaching Microsoft’s partner channel in sales and marketing strategies and presenting industry thought leadership at events around the country.

Clayton is married with two children and resides in Melbourne.

Click here to download Clayton's presentation.