ICON upcoming events

The David Maister Series (01 September 2026)

Tue, 01 Sep 2026 03:00:00 GMT

The Thinking Behind the World's Best Professional Firms. Now Yours to Learn

For decades, the most successful law firms, consulting practices, accounting firms, and advisory businesses have been shaped by one person's ideas. Now, with David Maister's permission, those ideas are available to you in a learning experience built for the way professionals actually work today.

The Authority Behind the Course

David Maister isn't just an academic voice. As a former Harvard Business School professor who spent decades consulting to professional partnerships across six continents, he built his frameworks inside real firms facing real challenges — growth, culture, client trust, profitability, and the relentless pressure to perform.

His books — Managing the Professional Service Firm, True Professionalism, and The Trusted Advisor — aren't just well-regarded. They're dog-eared, underlined, and sitting on the desks of partners and leaders who built careers around his thinking.

Who This Is For

If your work lives at the intersection of expertise and relationships, you'll find this course immediately useful. That means fee earners like lawyers, accountants, consultants, engineers, architects, financial advisors, and bankers — but equally, the business development managers, marketers, client relationship leads, and growth strategists who make professional firms competitive.

Great BD and marketing in professional services isn't just campaigns and collateral. It's trust, positioning, and understanding how clients buy expertise. Maister understood this better than anyone.

You can register for the complete eleven-module series, or choose the individual modules most relevant to you. The modules can be taken at any point within 12 months of purchase.

What Clients Really Buy From You
The Trust Equation
David Maister's Frameworks for an AI World
The Economics of Law Firms
Business Development For Professional Services
Managing Up & Working with Senior Colleagues
Professionalism and Ethics in Practice
Shaping Culture & Managing Team Performance
Productivity & Time Management
Mastering Peer Collaboration in Professional Services
Building Trust & Service Leadership

in partnership with

BD to Bottom Line (02 September 2026)

Wed, 02 Sep 2026 03:00:00 GMT

The BD to Bottom Line Series is built on a single, practical insight: most damage to profitability does not come from poor work or bad decisions. It comes from good work that quietly drifts beyond what was agreed, from habits that were never examined, and from economics that were never fully explained. Together, these courses give professionals a clear understanding of how firms actually make money, what sits between the hours recorded and the fees collected, and why everyday choices around scope, time, billing, and client communication have a far greater impact on margin than most people realise. Rather than focusing on theory, the series develops the commercial language, habits, and judgment that professionals can apply immediately — helping them spot problems earlier, respond more confidently to client and partner pressure, protect realization, and start thinking and acting like someone who understands the business behind the work.

Module 1: The Commercial Mindset — From Hours Recorded to Value Created

Many lawyers are taught to measure their contribution in hours, but clients and firms care most about outcomes, value, and profit. This course helps lawyers develop a genuine commercial mindset: understanding how realisation and margin work, seeing how everyday behaviours create or destroy value, and knowing when and how to raise commercial questions with partners and clients.

Through practical concepts and adaptable scenarios, it shows how to think and act more like an owner while still delivering excellent legal work.

Module 2: Law Firm Economics — From Hours to Realisation and Margin

Many lawyers are taught to judge their performance by hours recorded, but firms only earn money from fees that are billed, collected, and aligned with what clients value. This course demystifies the economics that sit between the timesheet and the firm’s profit and loss. Using simple numbers and practical examples, it shows how realisation and margin work, why write-offs and discounts matter so much, and how lawyers can influence commercial outcomes in everyday work.

Module 3: The Real Cost of Write-Offs, Discounting, and Billing Leakage

Write-offs, discounts, and billing leakage often feel like small, routine decisions, but together they can have a major impact on profitability.

This course helps lawyers understand how margin works in practice, why seemingly minor fee reductions have an outsized financial effect, and how better billing habits can protect both matter economics and firm performance.

These modules can be taken at any point within 12 months of purchase.

in partnership with

ICON Webinar: Advising Upwards, How to Influence Partners to Act (18 November 2026)

Wed, 18 Nov 2026 02:00:00 GMT

Firms spend heavily on getting client insight right, identifying opportunities and giving partners the information they need to act. Then, too often, the last step doesn’t happen: nobody picks up the phone. For BD professionals, the challenge is not simply identifying the opportunity. It’s influencing the partner to act when you don’t have the authority to make that decision yourself.

At the ICON Conference, you’ll hear directly from clients about what they value and what they look for from their firms. Two weeks later, we’ll turn the lens inwards and look at the partners you need to influence to act on that insight.

Help shape the conversation by sharing your experience of turning client insight into partner action in this short, anonymous survey. Please note, the survey closes on Wednesday 7 October. After submitting, you can separately provide your email address to receive a summary of the findings after the webinar.

Drawing on original research using modelled partner profiles, this session will explore how partners think about business development, how they assess opportunities, the objections they raise and what may actually be holding them back. Members will hear the arguments they’re up against in the language partners use, understand what sits behind those objections, and learn practical ways to respond, influence decisions and turn good client insight into action.

Speaker:

Steven Lewis
Taleist Agency

Steven Lewis is the founder of Taleist, an intelligence agency for professional services firms. He researches how clients choose firms, and what stops firms from acting on what clients tell them.

He has seen the partner problem from both sides of the desk. After reading law at Oxford, he instructed international law firms as a client, edited legal journals for Sweet & Maxwell, wrote for the Financial Times and Esquire, and worked in business development inside a top-tier Australian law firm.

Event Details:

Date: Wednesday, 18 November 2026

Time: 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm

Price: Members: Free | Non‑members: $90.00

ICON NSW: Coffee catch up - book club (25 November 2026)

Tue, 24 Nov 2026 20:30:00 GMT

Hello Sydney!

Our second Book Club Coffee Catch-Up of the year is here, and what better time to share your best reads of 2026 going into the holiday season!

Bring along a book, podcast or media recommendation that's made an impact on you this year. Whether it's a marketing masterclass, a career-changing memoir, or something completely unexpected — we'd love to hear about it. We'll all leave with a fantastic holiday reading list.

Event Details:

Date: Wednesday, 25 November 2026

Time: 7:30 am – 8:45 am

Location: Caffeine Cartel, 32 Martin Place, Sydney

Price: Pay for your own coffee

Please note: Seating may be inside or outside depending on the weather, dress accordingly!

We look forward to seeing you there.

The ICON NSW Committee

ICON WA: Winning Work, Up Close (26 November 2026)

Thu, 26 Nov 2026 00:30:00 GMT

Join us for a light breakfast and gain insights from a 2026 ICON APAC double award-winner.

Ally Smitham; 2026 ICON Strategic Champion and Precision Impact Award winner will share how she and her team built Clayton Utz’ Digital Economy Strategic Growth Area from scratch, including the strategy, execution and measurable impact behind initiatives at scale. All of it was led from Perth - proof that national impact can be built from anywhere.

Event Details:

Date: Thursday, 26 November 2026

Time: 8:30 am – 10:00 am

Location: Clayton Utz, Level 27 Reception, QV1 Building - 250 St Georges Tce, Perth

Price:
Members: $40.00 |Non‑members: $90.00

ICON thanks our sponsor

We look forward to seeing you there!

ICON VIC: EOY Event - Christmas Party (02 December 2026)

Wed, 02 Dec 2026 06:30:00 GMT

Join us as we wrap up the year and celebrate the festive season in style at the ICON Victoria End of Year Party 2026!

Enjoy an evening of drinks, laughter and great company as we come together to celebrate the highlights, achievements and successes of 2026, and toast to an exciting year ahead.

We look forward to celebrating with you!

Event Details:

Date: Wednesday, 2 December

Time: 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm

Location: Curated Advisory Group Office 902/343 Little Collins Street, Melbourne

Price: Members: $28.00 | Non‑members: $50.00

ICON Hong Kong: Flourish & Celebrate: An End-of-Year Gathering (02 December 2026)

Wed, 02 Dec 2026 08:30:00 GMT

As another busy year draws to a close, it's time to pause, reconnect, and celebrate!

Join ICON Hong Kong on Wednesday, 2 December for an uplifting evening combining an interactive wellbeing workshop with festive drinks, canapés, and networking.

Led by Karen Seymour and Careen Chen from the World Flourishing Organisation, the workshop will explore what it means to flourish, both personally and professionally.

Drawing on the science of flourishing and insights into happiness and wellbeing in Hong Kong, the session will combine guided meditation, personal reflection, and interactive activities to help you discover simple ways to bring greater joy, resilience, and connection into everyday life.

Workshop highlights include:

The science of flourishing: Explore what contributes to happiness and wellbeing, and why it matters in our busy professional lives.
Personal reflection: Discover what helps you flourish through a guided meditation and the WFO Flourish Factor, a personal wellbeing check-in.
Meaningful connections: Share experiences and ideas through interactive activities and group discussions.
Practical takeaways: Identify one or two simple actions to bring greater meaning, resilience, and balance into everyday life.

Festive Drinks, Canapés & Networking

Following the workshop, unwind and celebrate the festive season with the ICON Hong Kong community. Enjoy drinks, a selection of canapés, and a live chocolate station while reconnecting with colleagues and making new connections.

Whether you're attending the workshop or joining us just for the evening celebrations, we look forward to welcoming you.

Speakers:

Karen Seymour, CEO and Co-Founder
World Flourishing Organisation

Karen is a purpose-driven leader with extensive experience across financial markets, supply chain, and social impact. Throughout her career, she has worked at the intersection of business, purpose, and people, helping organisations build cultures where individuals can thrive. As CEO and Co-Founder of the World Flourishing Organisation, Karen is passionate about advancing the global movement for human flourishing, using science-backed insights and practical strategies to help people and organisations reach their full potential.

Careen Chen, Chief Impact Officer

World Flourishing Organisation

Careen brings experience in strategy consulting and mental health, combining strategic thinking with a strong commitment to human wellbeing. As Chief Impact Officer at the World Flourishing Organisation, she focuses on translating the science of flourishing into meaningful, practical action. Careen is passionate about helping individuals and organisations create environments where people feel supported, connected, and empowered to thrive.

Event Details:

Date: Wednesday, 2 December 2026

Time:

4:30 pm: Registration

5:00 - 6:00 pm: Interactive Flourishing Workshop

6:00 - 8:00 pm: Festive Drinks, Canapés & Networking, including a live chocolate station

Location: Mayer Brown, 19/F, Prince's Building, 10 Chater Road, Central, Hong Kong

Price:

Ticket type	Members	Non-Members
Workshop + Festive Networking	Complimentary	AUD$55 ~HK$300
Festive Networking Only	Complimentary	AUD$35 ~HK$200

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