The CultureCon™ Experience
Australia’s Workplace Culture Conference
Three cities. Two defining themes. One essential conversation.
In 2026, two forces are reshaping every organisation in Australia: artificial intelligence and burnout. CultureCon™ brings leaders, researchers, and practitioners together to take on both. Across Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney, the CultureCon™ Experience delivers its signature high impact, interactive format for serious leaders
THE 2026 THEMES
AI and Burnout: The Two Defining Issues Facing Organisational Culture in 2026
Australian organisations are navigating two forces simultaneously, and neither can be understood in isolation.
AI is arriving faster than most cultures can absorb. Leaders have to build cultures that integrate it without losing the human elements that make work meaningful, creative, and psychologically safe.
Burnout is accelerating alongside it. Pressure, digital saturation, and the pace of change are compounding, and the neuroscience makes it impossible to ignore. Leaders who understand what’s happening in the brain, and what their organisations are contributing to it, have a decisive advantage.
The CultureCon™ Experience 2026 sits at the intersection of both. Every session, conversation, and speaker has been chosen to help leaders make better decisions on both.
What to Expect at CultureCon™
A full day of honest discussion and current insight on culture challenges and initiatives. Expect:
Real conversations. Every session goes beyond the headline into what’s actually happening inside organisations: the challenges, the decisions, the outcomes.
World-class speakers. Researchers, practitioners, executives, and thought leaders chosen for the relevance and quality of what they bring to the 2026 themes.
Peer connection. The people in the room matter as much as the people on stage. CultureCon™ brings together leaders genuinely invested in getting culture right.
Actionable insight. Every event is built so you leave with something you can apply straight away.
BROUGHT TO YOU BY
The Culture Institute of Australia
Contact info@cultureinstitute.com.au
© 2026 CultureCon™. From The Culture Institute of Australia.
In 2026 CultureCon™ goes on safari across three capital cities
CultureCon™ Burnout Summit — Brisbane
Date: Wednesday 24 June 2026
Venue: Blackbird, Brisbane
Tickets: $195 | Invitation only
Burnout is no longer a fringe concern. It is one of the defining organisational challenges of 2026, and most workplaces are still responding to it the wrong way. This intimate, invitation-only lunch brings together a select group of senior leaders for a rare and rigorous conversation about what burnout actually is, what the neuroscience tells us about how to address it, and what leaders and organisations can do differently right now.
Karl Treacher, CEO of The Culture Institute of Australia and founder of CultureCon™, hosts the event and leads a conversation with one of the most important scientific voices working on this topic in Australia.
Featured Speaker
Professor Selena Bartlett Neuroscientist | Professor, QUT Faculty of Health |Author | TEDx Speaker
Professor Selena Bartlett is one of Australia’s foremost authorities on brain health, neuroplasticity, and how the environments we work and live in shape our minds. A Professor in the School of Clinical Sciences at QUT and Group Leader of Neuroscience and Neuroplasticity at the Translational Research Institute, her work spans more than three decades and has earned international recognition across science, business, and public health.
She is the author of over 110 peer-reviewed scientific articles, a body of work that places her among the most prolific researchers in her field. Her public books, including Being Seen and the Thriving Minds series, translate that science into the kind of practical, human insight that leaders actually need. She is the host of the Thriving Minds and Being Seen podcasts, and a recipient of the prestigious Lawrie Austin Award from the Australian Neuroscience Society.
At the CultureCon™ Burnout Summit, Professor Bartlett joins Karl Treacher in conversation to explore the neuroscience of burnout: what is happening in the brain, how sustained pressure and digital overload rewire our responses, and what a neuroplasticity-informed approach to workplace culture actually looks like in practice.
Attendance is by invitation. Contact info@cultureinstitute.com.au or register your interest below.
The CultureCon™ Experience — Melbourne
A Full Day of Culture, Ideas, and Action
Date: Tuesday 9 September 2026
Venue: State Library Victoria — the home of CultureCon™ Melbourne
Format: Full-day immersive conference
Melbourne’s CultureCon™ returns to its spiritual home at the State Library Victoria, a venue that perfectly matches the ambition of the day. This is a full CultureCon™ Experience: world-class speakers, honest conversations, practical insight, and the kind of peer connection you only get when the right people are in the same room.
The 2026 program centres on the two themes demanding the most attention from Australian leaders: the cultural implications of AI in the workplace, and the growing burnout crisis reshaping how people work, lead, and stay. Expect immersive sessions, real case studies, and a program designed to leave you with more than just ideas, you leave with a plan.
Tickets and speaker announcements coming soon. Register your interest below.
The CultureCon™ Experience — Sydney
A Full Day of Culture, Ideas, and Action
Date: Tuesday 4 November 2026
Venue: Pier One, 11 Hickson Road, Dawes Point, NSW 2000, Australia
Format: Full-day immersive conference
Sydney closes out the 2026 CultureCon™ season with a full-day experience at Dalton House. By November, the year’s cultural challenges are in clear relief, and this event gives leaders the space to process, pressure-test, and plan. The Sydney CultureCon™ Experience draws on the conversations and case studies built across Brisbane and Melbourne, and adds its own weight to the national discussion on AI and burnout.
Tickets and speaker announcements coming soon. Register your interest below.
