Five Inspirational Events You Can't Miss at REMIX Sydney Summit 2017

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It's time once more for REMIX Sydney Summit 2017, a global event bringing together some of the foremost thinkers on the intersection of culture, technology and entrepreneurship. Hosted in New York City, London and Sydney, the two-day Australian leg of the event runs from 7–8 December and features keynote speakers, panel discussions, masterclasses, debates and more.

The inspiring summit hosts more than 100 creative visionaries from many of the world's leading cultural institutions, innovative start-ups and media organisations. And you'll hear from the best of the best with Burning Man CEO Marian Goodell headlining the 2017 event. Leaders from trendsetters such as Disney, NASA, Lonely Planet, Samsung, National Geographic and many more will also be in attendance.

You'll be able to hear from us, too, when CP founder Rich Fogarty takes the stage to discuss Future Tourism. Fogarty and a panel of fellow tourism experts — including prominent speakers from Airbnb and the Sydney Opera House — will examine technology's impact on tourism (hello, Instagram), profile the modern traveller and discuss what the rising anti-tourist sentiment means for local businesses and cities.

To celebrate REMIX Sydney Summit 2017, we're giving away a two-day pass. To enter, head to our competition page. We're also offering a special discount for Concrete Playground readers – head to the REMIX website and enter 'concrete25' to save 25 percent on this year's event.

Below, we've picked out five of our favourite REMIX Summit events that'll inspire you to change the world for the better.

RE-INVENTING CULTURAL EXPERIENCES FOR A DIGITAL AGE

The theatre may be steeped in millennia worth of tradition, but organisations such as the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) are working on bringing the art form into the 21st century and beyond. Talking enhancing physical space with digital tech, inventive collaborations and how to attract new theatre lovers, RSC Director of Digital Development Sarah Ellis will take the main stage at REMIX.

As technology has become increasingly embedded in society, Ellis will discuss how the theatre company is working with technology leaders – namely The Imaginarium Studios and Intel – to interact with modern day audiences. One recent example is the RSC's 2016 production of The Tempest, where motion-capture technology – similar to that used in cinema – was used to project lifelike animated characters onto the stage that interacted in real time with the show's actors.

Main Stage: 9.45am Thursday, December 7 

INCUBATING IDEAS — NEW INFRASTRUCTURE FOR THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES

It's no secret that making it in the arts industry is difficult. This panel discussion looks at how cultural organisations can team up with technology companies to bring new life to age-old ideas. Considering co-working spaces, start-ups and business accelerators, the panellists will discuss how forming partnerships with technology companies can lead to groundbreaking models that promote investment in and support of the arts.

The expert speakers — including The Studio CEO Chantal Abouchar, founding curator of Vivid Ideas, Jess Scully and CEO of Create NSW Michael Brealey — will look at global examples of these partnerships. They'll discuss New Museum's innovative cultural incubator in NYC, The Fish Island Labs, at London's The Barbican, which help kickstart artists' careers using tech, and ACMI X, a creative co-working space in Melbourne.

Remix Academy: 10am Thursday, December 7 

LONELY PLANET: A TALE OF REINVENTION

Not too many under 30s can say they are the CEO of anything – let alone the world's largest travel book publisher – but that's exactly what Lonely Planet's Daniel Houghton is. Graduating from photojournalism at Western Kentucky University in only 2010, Houghton set up a small marketing agency while photographing weddings to pay the bills. When one of Houghton's video productions captured the eye of American billionaire and Lonely Planet owner, Brad Kelley – Houghton was hired as CEO and thrust into the cutthroat world of publishing.

With publishing being one of the more volatile industries in recent times, Houghton will discuss how the famous travel book publisher revamped itself on numerous platforms, using creative collaborations and evocative multimedia projects to relaunch itself to the forefront of the modern media landscape.

Main Stage: 10am Friday, December 8

NEW HORIZONS: TECHNOLOGY AND STORYTELLING

Storytelling has become much more than just books or films. Once fringe mediums, YouTube, video games, podcasts and virtual reality are now mainstream. As the confines of storytelling are rapidly changing and the opportunity to share work and find an audience are only becoming more accessible, this panel discussion considers what the emergence of these mediums means for traditional outlets and how technology of the future could impact creation and distribution.

The panel for this talk features Toby Coffey, Head of Digital Development for London's National Theatre, which launched an immersive Virtual Reality storytelling studio in 2016; Sarah Ellis, Director of Digital Development for the Royal Shakespeare Company, who have combined motion capture technology with theatre production; and musician Beatie Wolfe, who received widespread acclaim for her world's first '3D interactive album app'.

Remix Academy: 9.45am Friday, December 8 

Scott London

THE STORY OF BURNING MAN PHENOMENON

Burning Man is on the bucket list of most festival lovers – for good reason — because it's now a cultural phenomenon that's virtually peerless. What started out as just a dozen or so friends celebrating the summer solstice on San Francisco's Baker Beach in 1986 has transformed into a desert metropolis housing 70,000 pilgrims annually for a week-long hedonistic festival.

Marian Goodell, CEO of Burning Man, heads to REMIX Sydney Summit as the 2017 headline speaker. Here, she'll discuss the rise of Burning Man and her role overseeing the 70-plus year-round employees, getting the most from the festival's $30 million budget and producing the temporary 11-square-kilometre city. Marion first attended Burning Man in 1995 and became involved on the organisational side of things in 1997 – eventually being appointed CEO in 2014. Since then, she's expanded Burning Man's network to 250 representatives in 30 countries and has lead the effort to communicate the festival's ethos worldwide.

Main Stage:4.15pm Friday, December 8