The archive
SOS26.
It’s so worth the friction!
Clare Pickens, CEO of Leo Australia, opened by making the case that the friction we are all racing to remove is the bit worth keeping. James Horne took the handbrake off and showed how he got Aston Martin from zero to two million. Christina Garnett explained why you cannot optimise your way to human. Marc Fennell sat down with Jenna Clarke for a Riverside Chat on what AI is quietly taking from us, and Rob Campbell closed day one with a reminder that creativity is not dead yet. Then Jess Zafarris sent everyone home with word magic and at least one word everybody had to look up.
Around the keynotes: Deep Dives and Breakout Sessions on GEO, Reddit, privacy law, burnout, celebrity IP, legacy media and the creator economy. Rub Shoulders tables with no speaker, no slides and nobody at the front, just the person who solved your problem eight months ago. Twenty seconds of anonymous truth in the Confession Booth by Sked Social. Hunt And Brew coffee flowing from 7.45am. Velvet sofas and a neon tunnel in the Lube Lounge. And because day two landed on International Dog Day, a crew of adoptable puppies from Dogs’ Refuge Home for the Barkout Session, a gold coin a pat, every cent to DRH. Channel 10 liked it enough to cross live for the weather.
Nearly 900 delegates. Nine years in and the point still stands: friction is not the obstacle, it is the work.
Year ten is 24 & 25 August 2027. You know where to find us.
On film
The recap film.
The speakers
Who spoke at SOS26.
Josh Bailey
CoCo
Deep Dive
Will Bal
Bonfire
Breakout Session
Ariel Bastian
Jackson Macdonald
Breakout Session
Justin Beavis
AFL - Australian Football League
Breakout Session
Lindsay Bennett
Ideally
Deep Dive
Lachlan Bradford
Sked Social
Deep Dive
Rob Campbell
Colenso
Keynote
Jenna Clarke
The Australian
Meg Coffey
Pete Curulli
Southern Cross Austereo
Deep Dive
Toby Dewar
Foxtel Media
Deep Dive
Tim Duggan
Deep Dive
Marc Fennell
Keynote
Robbie Figg
Christina Garnett
Keynote
James Horne
WLSD
Keynote
James Jeffs
Bankwest
Deep Dive
Larah Kennedy
Quiip
Deep Dive
Jamie Kho
Bankwest
Deep Dive
Geena Lamb
Adelaide University
Breakout Session
Matt Lawton
Five by Five
Deep Dive
Katherine Loughnan
Fox Sports Australia
Deep Dive
Saira Manns
PR & Social Media Specialist
Deep Dive
Kelly McParlane
Quiip
Deep Dive
Pamela Obeid
Amplify
Deep Dive
Julian Pace
Happiness Co
Deep Dive
Tess Palmyre
Brandable
Breakout Session
Karen Papalia
Foxtel Media
Deep Dive
Beau Pearson
Channel 10
Deep Dive
Clare Pickens
Leo Australia
Keynote
Will Schofield
BackChat Studios
Deep Dive
Jes Scholz
Deep Dive
Renée Shaw
tl;dv
Deep Dive
Ama Silva
Creator Flow
Breakout Session
David Stewart
Jackson Macdonald
Deep Dive
Gabby Torres-Soler
Sked Social
Deep Dive
Sophie Winter
Australian Wildlife Conservancy
Breakout Session
Lizzie Young
Commercial Radio & Audio (CRA)
Deep Dive
Jess Zafarris
Keynote
The program
Session by session.
Tuesday 25 August
9.40 to 10.20AM
10.30 to 11.10AM
11.20AM to 12PM
1.10 to 1.40PM
RVR3
Same problem, different company
1.50 to 2.20PM
2.30 to 3PM
RVR3
Same sector, different playbook
4 to 4.40PM
4.50 to 5.30PM
Wednesday 26 August
9 to 10AM
RVR2
Sport’s social future and the brands ready for it
Katherine Loughnan, Will Schofield, Karen Papalia, Toby Dewar
10.15 to 11.15AM
11.30AM to 12.30PM
RVR3
The Human Search Engine
1.30 to 2.30PM
RVR2
The stuff we can’t post on LinkedIn
Renée Shaw, Josh Bailey, Gabby Torres-Soler, Lachlan Bradford
2.45 to 3.45PM
4.20 to 5PM
Photos
Were you snapped at #StateofSocial26?
Photos by SoCo Studios. Video by Studio Orange.
Huge thanks to David May from PAV for his edit of footage captured by Studio Orange. A big thanks to Channel 10 Perth for their support of Dogs’ Refuge Home at SOS26.
Every edition
Every edition, one place.
State of Social ’27





















































































