About #SIITR

About Social impact in the Regions

Social Impact in the Regions is held in small regional communities throughout Australia. Now in Year 3 which will be held in Grafton, NSW our first conference was in Coffs Harbour (2023) and Kempsey (2024).

Could your community be next? Get in touch to find out more.

The conference experience

Conference:

#SIITR isn’t like other conferences. We go out of our way to ensure you have an immersive, experiential journey (in other words, we don’t conference like other conferences).

Our aim is to enable regional people who are creating social change (no matter what language you use to describe that) have time and space to learn, connect and have some time out from day-to-day challenges.

Sounds good, convince me

One of our philosophies is with, not at. You’ll note the host community is heavily integrated throughout the event, there are lots of opportunities to connect with the speakers and we mix up the format through the event so you have a variety of ways to learn.

#SIITR Speakers

The topics and speakers for our keynotes, masterclasses and workshops are influenced by our alumni who have opportunities (from 2024 onwards) to connect with us throughout the year to design the program.

Keynotes: Each day commences from the main stage with a range of keynote presentations to set the daily theme and get you connecting. The keynotes are selected for their ability to give context to your work and to support #SIITR’s regional advocacy activities.

Masterclasses: Day 1 gives you access to a range of hands-on masterclasses. Each masterclass runs for 3.5 hours and offers access to a range of social impact professionals you wouldn’t ordinarily have the opportunity to bring into a room at the same time.

Workshops: On day 2 you have access to your selection of 12 workshops across two sessions. The workshops aren’t repeated. From 2025 they will be recorded for our #SIITR toolkit.

Living books: Sometimes you just need to sit down and have a good yarn with someone who has been there before you. In 2025 we will have a specially curated range of living books just for you.

#SIITR Social events

Not only do our social events give you a chance to connect with other delegates, they also support a range of local businesses, provide you with tasty food (we focus on local produce where we can), AND as an added bonus the events are designed to give your brain a zing of creativity as we use unusual places and incorporate local artists to create an event you will remember.

Our social events include a welcome event and gala dinner.

What to Expect

We have designed the event to ensure there is a variety of ways for you to connect with the conference content and delegates.

We know networking can be daunting for some and have done our best to ensure it’s easy to meet people. All you need to do is turn up ready to soak it all in and we’ll guide you through the rest. If you do have any comments or feedback we can implement in 2025 please reach out.

And there's more

Youth Stream

Every year Social Impact in the Regions has hosted a youth stream which has been expertly coordinated by Taz and Em from Futures Isles. In 2025 it’s going to be even more streamlined. If you are a young person who would like to get involved please get in touch.

Host community involvement

Ready Communities delivers a 24-month program in the host community commencing January prior to the conference and concluding the following year in November. The program identifies a range of opportunities for the host community to get involved, and then assists the coordination of activating a range of local social impact in initiatives in the following year. Visit Ready Communities to learn more.

#SIITR National Pitchfest

Also a SIITR mainstay our national pitchfest is going from strength to strength. Entries will open soon for the pitchfest.

#SIITR White paper

Advocating for the support and investment needs of regionally based social impact practitioners is one of our priorities. Each year Ready Communities produces a paper which incorporates important data and stories shared at SIITR. We also conduct an annual Social Impact in the Regions survey.