The path to achieving your goals can seem meandering, murky and downright confusing. These speakers at Inspirefest 2018, however, will be the beacon of light your career path needs.
It’s fair to say that most of us would like a boon in our career. We’d like to advance, achieve acclaim, get more autonomy or even score a raise. It’s one thing to idly dream about all of these rewards and successes but it’s another thing entirely to take steps towards achieving your goals.
Perhaps you’re not sure what you want. Perhaps you do know what you want but you just don’t know how to go about it. Whatever you’re seeking, these speakers on the billing for Inspirefest 2018 should not be missed if you’re looking to take your working life to the next level.
It will make your business more human
Businesses need a lot of things – capital, staff, branding etc – but did you know that they also need humanity?
As counterintuitive as it may seem, Tim Leberecht is a huge proponent of the idea that romanticism is essential in businesses in order to weather the future of work.
“It’s almost an oxymoron. Romance seems to be at odds with organisational rigour and social protocol, but at the same time it is an important spark for a much richer emotional experience for humans as consumers and citizens,” Leberecht said to us in an interview just this week.
Whether you’re looking to strike out on your own in the world of business or even want to know more about the kind of direction your organisation will need to go in to stay ahead, Leberecht’s Inspirefest keynote is sure to be illuminating.
You’ll find out about tackling diversity in business
Inspirefest speakers all come from a massively diverse range of sectors, backgrounds and approaches to success, and they often themselves harbour ambitions to make the business and STEM landscape that bit more equitable.
Arlan Hamilton built her venture capital firm, Backstage Capital, from the ground up while homeless. She set out with a goal of backing 100 underrepresented founders by 2020 and, as of June 2018, has invested in 100 start-ups with at least one founder who is a woman, person of colour or LGBTQ.
Also doing their part to level the playing field for underrepresented populations is Yuka Nagashima, a global advisory board member and former president of Astia, an organisation committed to lifting up women entrepreneurs.
As we’ve talked about before in Careers, diversity is a massive priority in the business sphere of late and is very likely going to completely transform the face of the workplace.
You’ll hear about million-dollar success stories
Surbhi Sarna never set out to be an entrepreneur or CEO. But the 32-year-old just sold her startup for $275 million https://t.co/SZQgEtRAMl pic.twitter.com/0QmGImhOl1
— Forbes (@Forbes) April 19, 2018
What better way to motivate yourself to reach your potential than hearing about some of the incredible things other inspiring people have achieved?
Surbhi Sarna saw a glaring void in the area of female health innovation, and this inspired her to found her start-up, nVision Medical, a medical device company that focuses on earlier detection of ovarian cancer. After drumming up $17m in venture-led funding, Sarna’s company was eventually acquired by medtech giant Boston Scientific for a cool $275m.
Inspirefest will also host Eden Full Goh, the inventor of SunSaluter, a low-cost mechanism to optimise solar panels. For her efforts, Goh has been honoured by the MIT Climate CoLab’s grand prize and has also been named one of the Forbes 30 Under 30 in energy and industry for three years in a row.
You’ll learn how AI is going to transform the future of work
It is very seldom that a conversation can be had about the future of work without mentioning the role that artificial intelligence will play. Amid mounting fears that automation will lead to mass job loss and throw the global economy into a state of flux, you may be interested to know what is coming down the line.
Luckily, there are a number of future-of-work panels on the Inspirefest billing this year, where you’ll hear from people such as Rajeev Behera, founder and CEO of Reflektive, and Katie Burke, HubSpot’s chief people officer. Both will be on hand to offer their insight into how workers and business leaders alike can keep ahead in today’s disrupted markets.
You’ll hear all about accessibility in the workplace
Great to be joined by 2 other @UCDALUMNI Elaine Howley, Gerry Ellis at the 4th #EU Parliament #EPPD in #Brussels. 2 fantastic #disability advocates who started their campaigning as students. @aheadireland #GetInvolved. @EDFaccess @UCDSU @UCDforALL @ucddublin pic.twitter.com/FJ0DgOTeAE
— Vivian Rath (@RathVivian) December 9, 2017
Up until this point, workplaces have not necessarily been open to those from a diverse range of backgrounds. Fortunately, this is changing. At this year’s Inspirefest, you’ll get to hear from some of the people guiding that change.
Accessibility and usability consultant Gerry Ellis, who is blind, has worked as a software engineer and mainframe technical specialist for more than 35 years. He is a former chair of the Irish Council for People with Disabilities and has represented the interests of those with disabilities for ComReg and Broadcast Authority of Ireland user groups as well as the RTÉ Audience Council.
Also in attendance will be Peter Brabazon, an electrical engineer and general manager of Specialisterne Ireland, a specialist employment agency for people with autism.
Both will be giving talks concerning accessibility and inclusion, giving attendees an opportunity to hear their unique perspectives on these issues.
Rest assured that these deeply impressive individuals are just some of an array of people absolutely killing it in their field who will grace the conference line-up this year.
Inspirefest is Silicon Republic’s international event connecting sci-tech professionals passionate about the future of STEM. Get your tickets now to join us in Dublin on 21 and 22 June 2018.
