It was a week of inspiration, celebration and looking to the future, as more than 200 people from across Australia’s media and arts landscape met on the Gold Coast for CONNECT24.
Kicking off on Tuesday, September 24 with the star-studded Excellence in Media Awards, we celebrated the very best in Christian media and arts content creation - and honoured artists, leaders and pioneers Debbie Bye, Andrew Fraser, Mal Fletcher and Colin Buchanan with CMAA Legacy Awards.
Tarryn Stokes and Svrcina brought next-level entertainment making this event truly a night to remember.
Conference proper, on Wednesday and Thursday September 25-26, included a host of stellar guest speakers – including:
- Noddy Sharma, founder of Abel Movement
- Petra Bagust, New Zealand TV & radio personality
- Des Ong, Managing Director of Future Leadership Group
- Chris Marsh, creative audio producer for Hamish & Andy
- Bridey Drake, social media influencer and entrepreneur
- And charity CEOS Clare Steele, Sharon Callister, and Melissa Lipsett
We joined in inspiring worship segments led by Svrcina and Tarryn Stokes, and absorbed the wisdom of an incredible collection of minds through numerous panels, on topics such as
- Connecting with a Next Generation Audience
- The Tools of Engagement
- The Art of the Interview
- Promotional Success Stories
- Fundraising
- Faith, Fear and the Future
And we listened to expertise from keynote speakers on topics such as Emotional Intelligence for Leaders, Burnout prevention, the Fluencies of the Future, Visual Storytelling, and the Secret Sauces of Audio Success – as well as Lunch ‘n’ Learn sessions on workplace wellbeing, legal issues, and financial health.
We also had a chance to hear about some inspiring and world-changing initiatives happening across the media and Christian ministry, including
- The Global Day of Prayer for the Media
- The Jesus Film – introducing the iconic film to a new generation
- The Hopeful, a film tracing the foundation of the Seventh Day Adventist church
- The Nexus Leadership Development program
- The Community Media SROI Research Project
- Roadmap 2030
This year for the first time, we also hosted a group of 40 young people, teachers and parents, for the inaugural 'MADE: Music and Artist Development Experience' - featuring Chico Johnson, Tarryn Stokes and Svrcina, Bridey Drake, and music industry experts on the Wednesday afternoon of the conference. It was a wonderful opportunity to see young aspiring artists inspired and informed for the next steps towards seeing their dreams come to fruition.
If you couldn’t make it to CONNECT this year and are wishing you could have been there… now is your chance to save at least 40% on registrations for CONNECT25.
The 2025 conference will again be at the QT Hotel, from September 2-4, 2025, and Presale Registrations are now open.