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.

At a glance

ThemeFriction
SpeakersMeet them
ProgramTwo days
PhotosSee them
FilmWatch it
NewsRead
PhotographerSoCo Studios
EditionNinth

On film

The recap film.

The speakers

Who spoke at SOS26.

The program

Session by session.

Tuesday 25 August

9.40 to 10.20AM

Keynote

You aren’t going to be replaced by AI

Clare Pickens

10.30 to 11.10AM

International keynote · UK

Overtaking in the attention economy

James Horne

11.20AM to 12PM

International keynote · USA

You can’t optimise your way to human

Christina Garnett

1.10 to 1.40PM

RVR1

Creating meaning in an AI-optimised world

Sophie Winter

RVR2

The best answer wins

Will Bal

Presented by Bonfire

RVR3

Same problem, different company

1.50 to 2.20PM

RVR1

Pull the lever

Justin Beavis

RVR2

Privacy law just changed: what marketers need to know

Ariel Bastian

RVR3

Starting from zero: why we ditched 1 million followers

Geena Lamb

2.30 to 3PM

RVR1

In praise of bad footage

Ama Silva

RVR2

Get out of your algorithm

Tess Palmyre

RVR3

Same sector, different playbook

4 to 4.40PM

Keynote

Riverside chat, in conversation with Jenna Clarke

Marc Fennell

4.50 to 5.30PM

International keynote

Not dead yet

Rob Campbell

Wednesday 26 August

9 to 10AM

RVR1

Destination unknown

Saira Manns

RVR2

Sport’s social future and the brands ready for it

Katherine Loughnan, Will Schofield, Karen Papalia, Toby Dewar

RVR3

Businesses don’t burn out. People do.

Julian Pace

10.15 to 11.15AM

RVR1

Can your brand pass the Reddit test?

Larah Kennedy, Kelly McParlane

RVR2

The trust gap

Lizzie Young

RVR3

The creator economy

Pamela Obeid

11.30AM to 12.30PM

RVR1

Celebrity friction

David Stewart

RVR2

Better conflict for better work

Tim Duggan

RVR3

The Human Search Engine

1.30 to 2.30PM

RVR1

Don’t get mad, get even

Matt Lawton

RVR2

The stuff we can’t post on LinkedIn

Renée Shaw, Josh Bailey, Gabby Torres-Soler, Lachlan Bradford

RVR3

From bricks to browser

Jamie Kho, James Jeffs

2.45 to 3.45PM

RVR1

The new rules of communications

Lindsay Bennett

RVR2

Cold front: legacy media’s fight to stay relevant

Beau Pearson, Pete Curulli

RVR3

Mastering the other algorithm

Jes Scholz

4.20 to 5PM

International keynote

Word magic for social pros

Jess Zafarris

Photos

Were you snapped at #StateofSocial26?

Huge thanks to David May from PAV for his edit of footage captured by Studio Orange, and to SoCo Studios for the photography. A big thanks to Channel 10 Perth for their support of Dogs’ Refuge Home at SOS26.

Every edition

Every edition, one place.

Barry Winmar at SOS26

SOS26Friction

SOS25Refresh

SOS24Alchemy

SOS23Signals

State of Social '22

SOS22MVP

SOS21Chaos

SOS20Think. Imagine. Create.

SOS19Where to from here?

SOS18Influence. Behaviour. Innovation.

State of Social ’27

Be in the next one.