Will Sydney's unique new event connect and inspire your team?

If you’re looking for inspiration for your next team experience, you can probably stop here.

What would you get if you mashed together inspirational TED-style Talks with live music, stand-up comedy, immersive physical experiences and international DJs??

The answer is Human Kind, an innovative addition to the global events calendar, taking place at Sydney’s Luna Park this March.

If you’re wondering what your business’s next team building experience might be, this eclectic blend of thought-provoking stories and workshops, musical performances and laughter could be just the thing. And hey, it beats another afternoon trying to get out of an Escape Room.

Making the connection

Whether your team is office-based, or works remotely and doesn’t get a lot of face-to-face time, an event that brings you all together in one unique location, to take part in something completely different to usual, is a powerful way to strengthen professional and personal relationships, and to reignite the team’s spark.

Have you ever sat through an industry conference clock-watching as you count down the hours until the delegate drinks reception? Human Kind isn’t that. The key to staying engaged is a program that rewards our multiple human cravings: to laugh, move, relax, have our curiosity piqued, be excited, learn something new - and to share these experiences with others.

It can be hard to find events that people of all ages and backgrounds in your team can enjoy together, but by virtue of its diverse line-up, Human Kind can do exactly that. It’s a multi-strand event with something for everyone, so you can share something genuinely different and meaningful with all of your team.

What’s so special about shared experiences?

A 2022 study published in Psychological Science (*Boothby et al), found that sharing an event or occasion with others makes us get more out of that experience. Think of some of your most powerful memories and odds are, you weren’t alone. It wasn’t just an amazing festival because the bands and DJs were on their game, it’s because you were part of something communal. When we share experiences, we feel a sense of unity and belonging, which can lead to increased trust, empathy and sense of purpose.

Making the memory is one thing, but it’s in the reliving of that memory that its power grows. No doubt your group of closest friends has shared memories of occasions from years or decades past that get regular airings whenever you’re together, reuniting you as you’re transported back to a time and place.

This kind of bonding experience is hugely valuable for workplaces as well. If your team spends most of its time in the same environment, performing the same tasks, it’s important to sometimes break that routine. The occasional work drinks or 10 pin bowling is one way of doing this, but it’s 2023 and there are better options out there.

Why Human Kind?

Human Kind is the vision of John Winning , CEO of Winning Group (which incorporates Appliances Online and Winning Appliances). The event, however, has nothing to do with washers, dryers or any other appliances for that matter. So, what was his trigger to create something like this?

Sitting in the lounge at Winning’s HQ in Sydney’s Redfern, John explains his motivation;

“The message at the heart of the event is ‘For our collective future’. What does that mean? Well, it’s part of our ongoing strategy of ‘delivering inspiration’ which is a tenet of our business. Inspiring people to think differently and do differently.”

“After everything we’ve gone through in the past few years, as a collective species, it’s about trying to get people together to have some fun, feed our curiosity and be inspired to live our lives a little differently. If just one message or lesson resonates deeply with us, and changes the way we do something for the better, it can make a real difference: when we make positive changes to our behaviours, those around us notice and some will follow our lead. It’s a ripple effect, and it's how meaningful, people-led change happens in society.”

With this socially conscious ethos front and centre, Human Kind is a not-for-profit event, with proceeds going to AIME (Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience). Founded in 2005 by Jack Manning-Bancroft, who will be speaking at the event, AIME is a mentoring program that helps Indigenous students gain the confidence and self-belief to stay the course and graduate high school, and then connects them with further education and employment opportunities.

What’s on the program?

Putting on any event is no small potatoes, so how has John found the process? He concurs that yes, it’s taken an immense amount of hard work, but that the result of this is a program that puts the event on the map as one of the greatest experiences for combined learning, inspiration and stimulation, not only in Australia, but on the planet.

OK, so about that line-up. If there’s another event in Australia where you can have an ice bath experience with legendary Ice Man Wim Hof , learn how to identify opportunity, find out what it takes to fly to Mars, and cry with laughter at Jim Jeffries and Becky Lucas before raising the roof to some stellar DJs, we’ve not heard of it.

As John explains, with more than 60 presenters and performers from wildly different arenas, this isn’t an event that can be easily pigeonholed.

“In terms of speakers, we’ve got some of the world’s best talent in their respective fields. We’ve got Matt Mullenweg , who’s the founder and CEO of Wordpress, one of the biggest technology companies in the world. And then, on a completely different tack, we’ve got Wim Hof, the Ice Man, who climbed Mount Everest in shorts and has broken all sorts of Guinness World Records, teaching the power of breath work and guiding ice bath experiences.”

“We’ve also got Mark Bouris AM from The Apprentice, Ronni Kahn AO from OzHarvest, Dr Dianne McGrath CSP CPM who’s literally booked a one-way ticket to Mars with SpaceEx, and we’ve got the All Blacks mental performance coach Nigel Beach talking about how to operate under pressure. Plus 30 or so more speakers with fascinating stories to tell.”

The event’s not just about the talks though: if it were, it’d be billed as a conference - and it’s a lot more than that. On the music front, for one, there are around 20 acts performing.

“We’ve got musicians, ranging from Guy Sebastian and Rochelle Jordan, to The Andrew Gurruwiwi Band” says John; “And then we’ve got international DJs including Seth Troxler, DJ Tennis, DJ Holographic and TIGA, and local legends like Lunar Disco.”

Having a laugh is also an important part of the event - perhaps not surprising considering that ‘You’ve got to be kidding!’ is one of the company values entrenched in the Winning Group’s DNA.

“We’ve got an incredible comedy line-up, headlined by Jim Jeffries, an Australian comedian now based in LA who’s done a bunch of Netflix specials and is currently rated in the top five touring stand-ups in the world. We’ve got Becky Lucas, who’s incredibly funny and is probably Australia’s number one female comedian. And we have a host of other American comedians that you’d recognise from Saturday Night Live skits and other TV shows.”

One of the key themes of the summit is that it doesn’t matter what walk of life you come from, or what role you’re doing - it’s about being visionary, curious, bold and good - that’s the common theme uniting the diverse elements of the event. John again;

“Human Kind is for everyone. We see a lot of value for companies in sending their staff to the event. To this end, we are personally supporting as many of our own Winning Group team as possible to attend as much of the event as they can. This truly is unlike anything else that exists, and we know that they’ll gain so much from the experience, in terms of fun, learning and being inspired to do great things in their futures.”

See you there

Bringing your team together to learn some valuable life and leadership lessons while sharing some laughs is a really effective way to reinforce your company culture and values. Human Kind will be completely different to anything you’ve attended before - certainly as a ‘work event’ - and sharing it with your team will create powerful memories, strengthen connections between you all, and ignite a passion to shape a better future.

Human Kind takes place at Sydney’s iconic Luna Park between 16-18 March 2023.

You can attend the entire three-day event, or select individual days, with tickets starting from $99.

Corporate bookings save 20% on tickets, with this saving increasing to 25% for 50+ tickets, and 30% for 100 tickets or more. Contact [email protected] to secure corporate rates for your team at the best experience you’ll share this year.

Check out the entire line-up and other details at humankind.sydney

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REFERENCE

*Boothby, E. J., Clark, M. S., & Bargh, J. A. (2014). Shared Experiences Are Amplified. Psychological Science, 25(12), 2209–2216. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797614551162