Agenda

Nimesh Dhanak, Call Design

Contrary to popular thought, true leadership isn’t about exerting influence – influence can be coercive. True leadership is about mastering the art of persuasion. In this dynamic and empowering keynote, Michelle Bowden will reveal how great leaders inspire action, foster collaboration, and drive results by persuading with integrity and confidence. Drawing on the proven techniques from her best-selling book How to Persuade, she will teach you how to:

Packed with practical strategies, real-world examples, and her signature energy, this dynamic and interactive keynote brings laughter, sharp insights, and practical exercises that stick.

She will empower you to master persuasion, inspire action, and drive real change. You’ll leave equipped and inspired to lead with purpose, influence, and undeniable impact.

Michelle Bowden, Persuasion

Capacity planning has moved beyond simply determining how many people are needed. Done well, it helps organisations make better decisions about where to invest, when to act and how to balance customer experience, workforce capacity and business priorities.

This session explores how connecting workforce, operational and experience data can move organisations from static planning in spreadsheets to a more dynamic, continuous approach to decision-making.

Colin Whelan, Aspect | Karen Elliott, Cinareo

Two years ago, David stood on the WOW stage and described building a workforce planning function where none existed. Then he did something he swore he never would: went back to school in his fiftieth year. The surprise? Every “big strategic concept” they teach in business school was already familiar. Workforce Planners use them every day. We just call them different things. In a refreshingly honest session David connects the dots between workforce planning and strategy, showing why the skills you use every day are far more commercially valuable than you may realise. No dashboards, no buzzwords. Just stories, sharp observations, and practical takeaways.

If you’ve ever wondered how to move from being the person who reports the numbers to the person who shapes decisions, this session is for you.

Dave Woolford, Woolworths

The best workforce planners are often the laziest and that’s a good thing. Not because they avoid work but because they constantly look for smarter ways to do it. In a world where AI is changing how decisions get made, that instinct has never been more valuable. This session explores where AI can remove repetitive effort, support better decision-making, and reduce the effort required to deliver high-quality outcomes. Discover how workforce planners can use AI as an advantage, not a threat. Because the future won’t reward those who work harder. It will reward those who work smarter.

Nick Baldock, Air New Zealand

Despite investing $2 trillion globally on structured workforces, most enterprises capture only 45-65% of their workforce’s productive potential. The problem isn’t lack of data, it’s the gap between insight and action. While 72% of AI projects fail to deliver promised ROI, organisations remain stuck in reactive management cycles, operating disconnected workforce silos with no unified execution layer.

This session introduces Dynamic Workforce Orchestration -a new category of enterprise intelligence that transforms reactive operations into self-optimising systems. Join this session to learn:

Haresh Gangwani, Intradiem

As workforce planners develop, they build far more than forecasting and scheduling expertise. They gain commercial awareness, strengthen stakeholder influence, and develop a deep understanding of how operational decisions impact broader business outcomes.

However, as this capability grows, it often moves further away from day-to-day operational decision-making.

This session challenges attendees to think differently about organisational design, questioning whether experience should always progress away from operations, or whether the future of workforce planning lies in bringing our most capable people closer to where business decisions are made every day.

Jess Pigot, nib

Choose a table. Join the conversation. Share ideas that work.

These fast-paced interactive workshops are designed to bring together Workforce Optimisation professionals from across industries to discuss real operational challenges, fresh ideas and practical solutions. Simply pick a topic that interests you and join a table of peers for open discussion, problem solving and knowledge sharing.

From forecasting and scheduling through to real-time optimisation, leadership, employee engagement, AI, back office planning and operational strategy, each table will focus on a different area of Workforce Optimisation.

Expect honest conversations, practical takeaways, new perspectives and the opportunity to learn from people facing many of the same challenges as you. No slides. No sales pitch. Just real discussions with people who understand the work.

Every quarter, ACXPA independently assesses Australia’s contact centres through the Australian Call Centre Rankings, using consistent mystery shopping scenarios and the Australian Contact Centre CX Standards.

This session shares key insights from the latest results, revealing how organisations handling the same customer enquiries can produce vastly different outcomes – from wait times and accessibility through to talk times and overall customer experience.

Justin will explore what these differences tell us about workforce optimisation, operational processes and agent capability, and highlight practical opportunities for WFM and operational leaders to improve both efficiency and customer outcomes.

Justin Tippett, ACXPA