8:30 AM – 9:00 AM | Connection Time

Doors open. Coffee flows. Conversations start.

9:00 AM – 9:15 AM | Opening Remarks

Welcome from the ICON President.

9:15 AM – 10:15 AM | Keynote: Finding Focus in a Shifting Market

How can you navigate the uncertainty and complexity of the current VUCA world and find potential for growth, innovation, and value creation? Join us for this inspiring and insightful keynote session, where our speaker will share their perspective on the emerging global trends and their impact on the professional services sector. They will offer practical advice and examples on how to adapt your strategy, culture and skills to a more uncertain environment and leverage your strengths and capabilities to meet the changing needs and expectations of your clients.

• Identifying and anticipating the changing market landscape.
• Adapting to global market trends and understanding their impact on clients and professional services.
• Navigating uncertainty and adjusting strategies in response to economic and other changes.

10:15 AM – 10:45 AM | Tea. Talk. Tactics.

Morning tea and networking.

10:45 AM – 11:45 AM | Session 1:  The Great Debate: That tomorrow’s marketing dream team will be a robot, a chatbot, and a toaster - leaving humans free to focus on more important things, like lunch proudly sponsored by Squiz

Ready for a lively break from the usual panel? Join us for The Great Debate, where top marketing minds - and maybe a few machines - go head-to-head on the future of marketing teams. Will AI take over, or do humans still have the edge? Expect fresh research, quick-fire arguments, and plenty of laughs as two teams battle it out for your vote. You’ll get to weigh in live and help decide who wins! This will be a fast-paced, interactive session that promises insight, entertainment, and a chance to see if robots really are coming for your lunch break.

Louise Cummins, Co-Founder, Australian Centre for AI Marketing (ACAM)

Rory Grant, Chief Growth Officer, Squiz

Debate Moderator

11:45 AM – 12:30 PM | Session 2: B2B CX Programs that Deliver: Driving Revenue, Retention and Growth through Client Experience

In today's volatile and uncertain business landscape, maintaining and developing your key accounts and client relationships is more important than ever. But how do you adapt your account management strategy and skills to meet the evolving needs and expectations of your clients, partners, and stakeholders? How do you create value, trust and loyalty in a competitive and dynamic market? How do you identify new opportunities for growth?

In this panel discussion, you will learn how to:

• Assess the current state and potential of your key accounts and relationships, using a simple and effective framework
• Align your account management objectives and actions with your clients' goals and challenges, using a consultative and solution-oriented approach
• Nurture and expand your key accounts and relationships, using a proactive and creative approach

By the end of this session, you will have a clear and actionable plan to manage and grow your key accounts in a rapidly changing environment, and a set of tools and tips to help you implement it successfully.

Antonia Calvo – Director & Principal Consultant, ACT XM B.A. (Hons), M.A., 

Antonia brings over 20 years of experience supporting organisations across the public and private sectors with the design and delivery of customer, employee, and brand experience programs. She is a recognised expert in experience management strategy, research design, and advanced data analysis, with expertise in the implementation and optimisation of the Qualtrics XM Platform.

Antonia adopts a holistic, outcome-focused approach to Experience Management, integrating best-practice methodologies in quantitative and qualitative research, human-centred design, and strategic advisory. She is skilled in aligning experience programs with organisational goals, driving measurable improvements in customer satisfaction, employee engagement, and service delivery outcomes.

Antonia has led over 400 successful engagements across a range of industries including government, education, financial services, healthcare, telecommunications, and professional services. She is also responsible for Act XM’s quality assurance and client delivery frameworks, ensuring consistency, rigour, and alignment with both ISO and government compliance standards.

Gavin Christie, Ex-Deloitte

Gavin Christie is a senior leader in client strategy and growth, with deep expertise in building and leading client experience programs that deliver measurable impact. Until recently, he was Director of Client Strategy and Transformation at Deloitte, where he oversaw national client experience initiatives including Market & Client Insights, client strategy and planning for the firm’s top 250 clients, and client-centred cultural programs. These initiatives were critical in driving Deloitte’s growth over the past decade and translating client expectations into actionable insights that improved retention, unlocked growth opportunities, and fostered a client-centric culture.

Gavin has spent most of his career in professional services, spanning legal, engineering, and consulting. He was also the Principal Economic Policy Advisor to the Treasurer of Queensland, bringing a unique perspective on how economic and social policy drivers influence markets. With over 25 years’ experience, Gavin offers a pragmatic perspective on how client experience can shape strategy, influence outcomes, and prove its value at the highest levels of leadership.

Midday Program

12:30 PM – 1:30 PM | Bites & Banter Break

Lunch and casual networking.

1:30 PM – 2:15 PM | Session 3: Pass the Mic – Real Stories. Real Wins. Real Misses.

Small group curated discussions, real-world BDMC stories. No slides, just peer-led conversation and lightbulb moments

2:15 PM – 3:00 PM | Session 4: Making Innovation Real – Culture That Drives Change

How do you build a firm that’s wired for innovation? Explore the practical levers for shaping culture, enabling collaboration, and creating lasting impact.

James Fielding
Partner, Camojee

James was recognised as ‘One to Watch in Sales Enablement’ in 2023. He’s known for bringing sales and marketing together – which is enabled through improvements to talent, processes, resources, and insights. He’s established a global proposals team (Linklaters), led a pioneering rebrand (King & Wood Mallesons), reshaped sales culture (Grant Thornton), led growth strategy (Findex), and much more. 

Katie Bennett-Stenton
Partner, Camojee

Katie Bennett-Stenton is the 2025 Certified Practising Marketer of the Year and a sought-after consultant and fractional CMO. With over 25 years’ experience spanning Deloitte, ANZ, and leadership roles across fintech, professional services, and purpose-led organisations, she helps ambitious companies think audaciously and go to market with impact.

Known as the “secret weapon” for founders, CEOs and teams, Katie combines commercial rigour with bold strategy, fearless questions, and creative clarity. She has delivered marketing, communications and culture strategies across three continents that not only shift perception but also unlock profitable growth.

Beyond client work, Katie has been recognised nationally for her contributions to mental health advocacy and serves on the Board of IABC Victoria. Wherever she works, she brings her signature “secret sauce” to help leaders position with precision, communicate with impact, and build cultures that stick.

Afternoon Program

3:00 PM – 3:30 PM | Refresh & Recharge

Afternoon tea and final networking boost.

3:30 PM – 4:15 PM | Session 5: Pricing for Impact: Providing Value and Ensuring Sustainability

How can firms price their services based on value rather than the billable hour, attract and retain clients and be commercially successfully? In a market that is constantly changing due to factors such as the use of Gen AI, client preferences and competitive pressures, alternatives to the billable hour are being considered by a growing number of firms. Hive Legal has over a decade of experience in value pricing.

In this session, we will hear about Hive’s pricing journey and explore some of the approaches and processes they have designed and iterated over that time including:

• Understanding the concept of value based pricing
• the benefits of value based pricing versus time based pricing – for your clients, your firm and your team
• Communicating and demonstrating the value and benefits of your services to clients, and building long-term relationships based on trust and satisfaction
• Some of the processes and systems you will need to successfully implement value based pricing.

The session will provide participants with some useful frameworks and tips to apply to their own pricing approaches.

Melissa Lyon, Executive Director & Experience Designer, Hive Legal

Melissa is a Legal Design Thinker committed to assisting her clients and team develop human centred approaches to ways of working and the delivery of legal services.  To do this, she draws on many years of experience in legal practice and legal practice management in Top Tier and progressive firms. Melissa is a now the Executive Director & Experience Designer of Hive Legal, a progressive law firm which has inspired the legal ecosystem by introducing design thinking frameworks, value pricing and truly flexible work practices. Working in this innovative environment has enabled Melissa to develop a design thinking framework based on the power of purpose (HiveThink^P). She is a skilled facilitator and assists clients and her team to develop and implement human centred projects through interactive workshops and design sprints. 

Melissa is committed to sharing her experiences and insights with the legal ecosystem, especially those who are new to it, and helping them to thrive and have fulfilling careers. She is also a strong advocate for those with skills other than legal and the vital roles that they play in the delivery of legal services. She is recognised as an outstanding female leader in the Elite Women List (Australasian Lawyer), is a member of the Centre for Legal innovation’s Advisory Board, was a Distinguished Fellow of the Centre for Legal Innovation 2019/20 and has also been recognised as Innovator of the Year 2020 and Business Development Professional of the Year 2017 ( Australian Law Awards).

4:15 PM – 5:00 PM | Session 6: Evidence of Influence – Making BDMC Results Impossible to Ignore

Learn how to prove, present and elevate the impact of your work.

• Effective KPIs
• Telling your story with data
• Visualising ROI for internal influence

Richard Scott - Director, Brand, Clients and Markets, Collins Bigger Paisley

With 25 years business development and marketing experience, Richard has lead teams and programs across the full scale of professional services firms. This includes as Head of BD & Marketing - Markets at Deloitte and in his current role as Director of Brand, Clients & Markets at national law firm Colin Biggers & Paisley.  Richard is passionate about working with firms to build their brand, their pipeline and retain quality clients. Outside of his day job Richard spends time as Board Director (and Vice President) of Tennis Victoria, and time at the beach with his family and on the tennis court.

5:00 PM – 5:15 PM | Closing Remarks

Key takeaways and thank you from the ICON President.

Evening Program

5:30 PM – 7:30 PM | Unwind. Connect. No Slides Required.

Canapés and networking drinks to close out the day at Platform 28, 82 Village St, Docklands VIC 3008