Big Ideas, Big Names: A Who’s Who of SXSW Sydney’s Impressive Talks Line-Up (So Far)

If there’s one conference you go to this year, make it SXSW Sydney. Australia’s version of the sprawling festival from Austin, Texas, offers a platform for big names and new faces from tech, gaming, music, film and more, so you can explore groundbreaking ideas, connect with top industry leaders and spark new collaborations across some 1600 events from October 13 to 19.

Whether you’re there to network or learn new things, one of the event’s biggest draws is its lineup of keynote and featured speakers. More than 1000 speakers are descending on Sydney from around the world, including some of the most influential names in their fields, making this a rare chance to hear cutting-edge insights and explore fresh ideas that could shape the future.

Keen to get amongst it all? Here are eight speakers you won't want to miss.

Paul Feig

It’s fair to say that Hollywood’s Paul Feig has some creative wisdom to share. One of SXSW Sydney’s keynote speakers, the writer and director is best known for his contributions to screen comedy, creating cult classic Freaks and Geeks – a watershed in American TV history, which helped launch the careers of a young James Franco, Busy Philipps, Seth Rogen, Jason Segel and more – and directing hit films like Bridesmaids and The Heat (all of which will be screening at SXSW Sydney as part of a special retrospective of Feig’s work). Budding creatives will find plenty to learn from Feig’s behind-the-curtain industry insights.

Meredith Whittaker

In a world dragged rapidly onward by technological advances, we turn to people like Meredith Whittaker to make sense of it all. Whittaker’s tech resume runs deep: she’s president of encrypted messaging service Signal, the former Minderoo Research Professor at NYU, co-founder of the AI Now Institute and spent more than a decade at Google (where she founded the Open Research Group), and she now advises national governments on hot button topics like AI, security and internet policy.

Lucy Guo

Future founders and anyone in the early stages of a startup will find Lucy Guo a particular highlight of SXSW Sydney. The trailblazing 30-year-old entrepreneur recently surpassed Taylor Swift as the world’s youngest self-made female billionaire. Her resume includes founding AI data annotation company Scale AI, venture fund Backend Capital (which, under her leadership, has invested in more than 100 engineering startups) and Passes, a platform to help entrepreneurs monetise their relationship to fans – like a cross between Onlyfans and Twitch. If startup success is in your future plans, Guo’s talk should be top of your to-do list.

Dr Marcus Collins

With Beyoncé, Apple and Nike among his clients, digital strategist Dr Marcus Collins knows culture inside and out.The former head of strategy at Wieden & Kennedy New York, Collins uses his skills and knowledge to tap into people’s emotions – not just their wallets. With a cool mix of academic insight and real-world execution, Collins excels at figuring what makes people tick – and better still, what makes them care. The cultural strategist has helped shape some of the most iconic campaigns of the past decade, and you can hear directly from him at SXSW Sydney.

Jen Malone

Nothing is more crucial to a film or TV show’s vibe than a well-chosen score or soundtrack – and, for a swathe of recent hits, that’s all thanks to Jen Malone. As one of Hollywood’s most in-demand music supervisors, Malone has brought a keen ear to screen hits like Euphoria, Mr and Mrs Smith, Atlanta and John Wick: Chapter 4, collecting a few Emmy nominations along the way. Expect Malone’s talk to touch on the intricacies of curating music for the screen and founding all-female music supervision company Black & White Music.

Tim Cadogan

Looking to make a real difference in the world? Start by listening to Tim Cadogan, CEO of crowdfunding platform Gofundme. For his SXSW Sydney talk, “What I Learnt About My Product When My Town Burnt Down” – Cadogan will explore how the recent Los Angeles wildfires brought the power of crowdfunding close to home, as well as investigating the ways tech can strengthen communities and support a sustainable future.

Lars Rasmussen

Future tech stars will want to hear from Lars Rasmussen, a man who has had a hand in some of the biggest tech companies of the past few decades. In 2004, Rasmussen and his brother Jens sold their mapping software to Google, helping to create and lead the now-ubiquitous wayfinder Google Maps. Rasmussen later took up a role as director of engineering at Facebook. These days, he runs Greek technology festival Panathēnea and is an angel investor, with notable investments like Canva, satellite company Astranis and medical-screening platform ResQ Biotech.

Simran Kaur

The future of business shouldn’t be exclusively male but, with less than two per cent of venture capital funding going to female founders, it’s a genuine concern. For Simran Kaur, founder of Friends That Invest, one way to solve the female funding gap is angel investing. With her talk “How We Fund More Female Founders: Angel Investing 101”, Kaur will dive into investment strategies and opportunities, and how to learn from mistakes. Anyone keen to invest in the future of women-led businesses ought to make a beeline for Kaur’s stage.

This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with SXSW Sydney. SXSW Sydney takes place from October 13–19. A Platinum Pass provides access to the full week of conference sessions, workshops, networking events, industry parties, festival showcases and more. With a Pro Pass, pick your primary focus festival —Tech & Innovation, Music, Games, or Screen — and get the whole Conference, plus primary access to your preferred festival. Alternatively, opt for a Conference Day Pass for a single-day option. Passes are on sale now.