What is LAST Anywhere?
Since 2012, we have organised LAST (Lean, Agile and Systems Thinking) Conference, in Melbourne, Australia, that has grown to Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra and Adelaide.
The experience at these events is focused on meaningful interactions, and learning by collaboration and connectedness with other participants. This has worked well for us so far, but we started thinking about people who for a variety of reasons, can’t physically be at one of our conferences. LAST Anywhere was born!
Latest Article about the current thinking about LAST Anywhere.
The 2 elements of LAST Anywhere…
1. LAST Anywhere Talks — valuable, affordable talks series
Over the years, we have made great connections with engaging speakers from across Australia and beyond. We will kick off this series with a mini-festival of talks, The Best of LAST, Spark and 1st, in the week beginning 30 March, and then have talks at regular intervals, following that. We will be drawing from the speakers from LAST Conferences, as well as its sister event, 1st Conference, and Spark the Change Melbourne. We’ll be able to cover everything from workplace and societal meaning and purpose, to technology and software development.
These talks are not behind a paywall…info.
Looking for more interactive, smaller group sessions? View Workshops…
Looking for videos and info about past talks? Start here…
Wednesday 8 April 2020
11:30a – 12:30p AEST
Andrew Murphy, Melbourne AU (LAST Conf)
Influencing
Have you ever wanted to know how people work and exactly what to do to influence and motivate them? Especially when we lose so much of our influence when working remotely?
Andrew has a powerful 5-Step People Problem Solving Framework that helps you solve big and small problems, group and individual troubles and simple and complex issues.
RegisterThursday 16 April 2020
11:30a – 1:00p AEST
Craig Brown Melbourne AU (LAST Conf)
Launch your product in 6 weeks
In this presentation (with a workbook element) Craig leads you through the inception and planning of a startup. At the end of this talk you will have created a clear concept of the product you want to launch, and a created a plan for launching your own startup. We will cover concepts including market validation, lean product development, business models, pricing and building your product.
ComingBeing Scheduled…
Norman Bodek, Craig Brown, Singularity U week, and more…
Previous talks
Monday 30 March 2020
9:30a – 10:30a AEDT
Rebecca Tapp, Sydney AU (Spark the Change)
Igniting Life’s Turning Points
A turning point is a time when a situation starts to change in a significant way. A defining moment ignited by a personal or collective crisis (like COVID-19), a disruptive innovation, or even a significant planetary event like climate change. These moments not only a present great opportunity, but they also expose our deepest vulnerabilities. So how do we go about navigating these personal or professional pivot points?
11:30a – 12:30p AEDT
Andy Kelk, Melbourne AU (LAST Conf, 1st Conf)
Culture Gardening
From hiring, through organisational design, learning to firing. How do effective managers think about their teams? This is a whistle-stop tour through techniques for leading high performing teams.
Tuesday 31 March 2020
9:30a – 10:30a AEDT
Kerri Rusnak, Edmonton CA (LAST Conf, Dare Festival)
Leadership – 6 years later
In 2014, Kerri spoke at Dare Festival, which later became Spark the Change. She delivered a powerful talk about the nature of leadership, with lots of personal reflections on the roles that she had at the REA Group.
Kerri went on to work for RedBubble before moving to Europe for several years working in Berlin and Stockholm, with Home24, Scout24, and Spotify.
Along the way, she worked in very demanding leadership roles. In her Best of… talk, she will build on her 2014 talk with powerful insights on what else she has discovered about herself and how her experience of leadership has changed.
11:30a – 12:30p AEDT
Richard Parton, Melbourne AU (Spark the Change, LAST Conf)
The science of Ikigai (Reason for Being) – thriving in a crisis
Richard will provide a recap of Ikigai and explain how it can enable you to thrive in the current crisis. He will show how each element relates to reducing anxiety and boosting a sense of wellbeing. Participants will fill out their own Ikigai canvas.
1:30p – 2:30p AEDT
Lynne Cazaly (Dare Fest, LAST Conf)
Adaptive Thinking
How we think about things can prove to be a foundation for growth and change … or a turning point towards spirals and stagnation.
When we are asked to change, or need to lead others in change, it’s how we think – and how we adapt our own thinking – that helps make great change happen.
Watch video…
3:30p – 4:30p AEDT
JoAnna Ferrari, Sydney AU (Spark the Change)
Tough TImes
How to use the current tough time we are all experiencing to develop the skills of surviving at your highest level, become a better version of you and come out the other side landing on your feet and making more money!
This session is loaded with practical guidelines that you can use immediately to better control your emotions, your body, your communication, your relationships, your finances and your focus.
Watch video…
Friday 3 April 2020
9:30a – 10:30p AEDT
11:30a NZT
Sandy Mamoli. Auckland NZ (Spark the Change, LAST Conference)
“Gold Medal Me” – Olympic Tips to Be the Best You Can Be
Increased complexity and rapid technological change require us to collaborate better. Collaboration is done in teams but team work is an individual skill.
Those skills are a must-have in our complex world where responsibility, resilience and rapid learning are everything. In this highly personal talk former Olympian Sandy Mamoli dives deeply into the Olympic mindset and contrasts the perspectives and attitudes of professional sports with modern work life. She demonstrates guidelines and tools from the sports arena that we all can immediately apply.
Sandy shares insights that unlock the secrets behind becoming a future-fit employee and leader and describes skills that will make you a successful and appreciated member of any team and organisation. From critical feedback skills to learning from failure and high-performance teams, come along and learn practical ways for how to apply ideas from Olympic sports to your professional career!
Watch video…
11:30a – 12:30p AEDT
Simon Dowling Melbourne AU (Spark the Change
Making Bold – Create the conditions for teams to perform at their best
The research is in. The number one differentiator between the highest performing teams and the rest is this: team dynamics. Without the right dynamics in place, otherwise smart and motivated individuals shrink in the presence of their team. In other words, the whole becomes less than the sum of its parts. What the…?!
So what does it take to set a team up to play to their fullest? To enable people to be bold enough to do the things that truly underpin high performance: to speak up, challenge the status quo, to contribute ideas and to give and receive feedback. This presentation shows you how.
Developing a great products is hard. It can be made easier if you have authentic discussions with people that are going to use it. Cath will take you through techniques that you can use, especially those that can be implemented with people who aren’t in the room.
Tuesday 7 April 2020
9:30a – 10:30a AEST
Nigel Dalton, Melbourne AU (1st Conf)
The future of strategy: just hire teenagers.
In April 2020 we suddenly need a new workplace strategy, a remote work strategy, a product strategy, an IT strategy, a cost-saving strategy…and a strategy to explain all the other strategies. To be caught without a revised strategy, is a double-kiss plus handshake greeting in the times of Coronavirus elbow taps.
This talk aims to demystify that ‘strategy’ magic spell, and get a much wider range of people engaged in strategic thinking. It will cover Amazon’s approach to strategy, Underpants Gnomes, and some counter-intuitive left-field thinking for a post-COVID work life.
2. LAST Anywhere workshops
These are 60-90 minute facilitated sessions. There will be fewer available places than in a talk, and there is more emphasis on interactions between participants and the session leader. A typical format is for the session leader to introduce a number of talking points, illustrating with stories, practical tips etc. Each talking point is then taken up in smaller group discussion, facilitated by a skilled practitioner.
These are paid sessions that can be a one-off fee, or a monthly membership (Info about pricing). Each month, there will be 4+ workshops to choose from, across a variety of subject matters, from mindfulness and positive psychology, to technology and sustainability, and more.
Thursday 16 April 2020
7.30am to 9.00am AEST
Staying Calm and Positive in Challenging Times.
With Ruma Dak. Our LAST Anywhere sessions continue with this webinar/workshop run by Ruma Dak. Ruma has a strong interest in Positive Psychology, and will be sharing ways that this can help you. More details…
Previous workshops
Wednesday 1 April 2020
9:30-11:00a AEDT
6:30-8:00p US Eastern
Successful Virtual Events.
With James Christie, who in 2016 founded the online conference Sustainable UX. He’s also Director of UX at Mad*Pow in New England. In this role, he regularly collaborates across timezones with colleagues and clients. More details…
Thursday 2 April 2020
9:00-10:30a AEDT
6:00-7:30p US Eastern
Running Remote Companies
With Jay Hyett.
And just like that the world suddenly went remote first.
In this session, Jay will share lessons learned working with distributed teams at Envato, including how to run a virtual demo with 200 people! He will also provide some insights into how to keep teams engaged and connected without the need for a physical location.
Jay is a Senior Delivery Coach with extensive experience working in distributed and digital teams, from start-ups and teams beginning their journey together to large scale enterprise transformations. More details…
Monday 6 April 2020
4.15pm to 6.00pm AEST
London. 7.15am to 9.00am BST
Creating habits for wellbeing in a new world – practical Mindfulness.
With Ruth Farenga. Ruth is the Founder of Mindful Pathway and is Mindfulness Trainer, Professional Coach & Speaker. Ruth’s values are openness, connection, trust, love and efficiency. She believes in empowering others and connecting with them so that they can achieve their own strengths and success strategies.
Reference books:
* Finding Peace in a Frantic World by Mark Williams & Danny Penman
* Atomic Habits by James Clear
More details…
Highlights of the first-ever LAST Anywhere workshop session
Our first LAST Anywhere was with John Cutler. It was a great success, with really good feedback.
Remote-first, with substance
A couple of years ago, we started to think about changes in the way people work, communicate and learn, and the convergence of technologies and the changing workplace.
Early in 2019 we worked with Lisette Sutherland, an expert in remote collaboration, and it had us thinking about how we could create an experience that helps people to learn, but also to feel a connection with people, despite their physical location.
LAST Anywhere became the lab for us to experiment with the form. With current world events, it’s now meant that the thought and work we’ve done, are now about to be put to use. We hope people are going to get value from it.
Be Informed
We’d love for you to be part of it and share your feedback about it with us, so please contact us below and we will keep you informed.
We also want to keep writing about LAST Conference Anywhere on this site. Please expected regular blog/twitter/LinkedIn updates about what we are doing.
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