And now, the fun stuff

There couldn’t be a gathering of more than 1600 financial experts in one place without a selection of networking events to help build those bridges with each other, and industry.

Most of the networking, at multiple points during the day, will take place in the exhibition hall. Here will be the usual array of things to do, goodies to pick up, coffee machines working overtime, and much discussion about the future of the sector and how suppliers and technology providers will make that move into the future easier and more streamlined. As with previous conferences, the exhibition hall will form a central hub for people across the three days.

Outside the venue – and working hours – there are also a range of other activities for people to take part in, unsurprisingly focusing on Melbourne’s reputation as a food and wine Mecca, and a beautiful city to boot.

A Slice of Victoria, taking place at 5.35pm on the end of day one and hosted by Colonial First State, will be the first formal get together. Day two, Schroders are taking people on the Explore Melbourne networking night, which explores the streets of Melbourne from Little Bourke Street, Lygon Street and St Kilda Beach, with food and drinks hailing from each corner of the city. Given the propensity for indulging experiences involving food and wine in Australia today, both events are expected to be incredibly popular.

The Class Final Day Lunch will feature special guest speaker, Rachael Robertson. Robertson is a former Antarctic expedition leader, leadership guru and best-selling author. She is Australia’s pre-eminent authority on extreme leadership and was entrusted with leading 120 people to the ultimate uncertain environment, the Antarctic, for a year. It is going to be a really thought-provoking conclusion to an event that will be all about change and adaptation.