Have you ever been to a conference and felt like you were just going through the motions? Smiling and nodding at talking heads on stages – pushing yourself through gruelling networking activities and forgetting most of the content and the people you met as you walk out the door?
Those conferences do have a role.
But we wanted to create something different. Because creating change isn’t easy – and we know changemakers often experience burnout as they sticky tape together solutions for very broken systems. So, we wanted to create an experience that’s easy to attend, where the learning is presented in a variety of ways and where the networking is made comfortable.
Social Impact in the Regions isn’t a conference about grandstanding. It’s not about the next big announcement nor is it about being the best networker in the room.
Social Impact in the Regions is about real, grassroots regional Australian practitioners and providing pathways to enhance outcomes for their communities.
This year’s SIITR theme is inspired by the Nirvana song ‘Come as you are’:
- Day 1 – Come as you are: Understand the context we are working in, what is place, what does that mean to you and are you and is your community ready for what’s ahead?
- Day 2 – As you were: Consider the past years, where we’ve been, what we are carrying forward and what we might consider leaving behind.
- Day 3 – As you want your community to be. A day of planning and action. Design and leave with a plan you can put in place the minute your boots hit the ground in your town.
We’re designing SIITR as a transformational space where creativity meets systems change. Where neuroarts intersect with data. Where movement, music, and meals become part of the learning environment—not just intermissions between the ‘real work.’
Because here’s the truth: transformation doesn’t happen in dot points. It happens in moments. When a story hits you at the right angle. When you hear your own experience echoed in someone else’s voice. When you see a map of your region, and suddenly, your role in it becomes clearer.
This conference is as much about how people feel when they leave as it is about what they learn. That’s why we’re leaning into place-based experiences, slow conversations, and activities that make space for healing and connection. Because without safety, there is no learning. Without story, there is no strategy.
At SIITR 2025, you’ll meet people who get it—who understand the cost of caring and the power of continuing. You’ll engage in meaningful workshops, wander the streets of Grafton NSW with locals, participate in creative rituals, and hear from voices that don’t usually make it to the mic.
This is not a talkfest. It’s a gathering of people who believe that impact is personal, and that regional leadership doesn’t need to look like the city version with more utes.
So come as you are—rough edges, doubts, hope, and all. You won’t leave with a formula. But you might just leave with a spark. And if we’ve done our job right, you’ll carry that spark back into your community and do something remarkable with it.
