SERIOUS BUSINESS. A VERY DIFFERENT CONFERENCE.
Across the week there will be keynote conversations, technical and investment sessions, adviser panels and practical discussions built around constant business improvement.
But when the conference-room doors open, the program keeps going.
From sunrise on Passage Peak to an afternoon cooking showdown with Pete Evans, from ice baths and yoga to Sunset Social and Studio 54, Ascend26 is designed to create conversations and memories well beyond the stage.
BUSINESS SESSIONS THAT LEAD SOMEWHERE
The formal program combines keynote conversations with practical sessions from leading technical, investment and insurance experts, together with adviser panels exploring what is actually working inside advice businesses today.
The objective is not more information for information’s sake.
We have designed sessions to sharpen thinking, improve confidence and give delegates practical ideas they can take back into their businesses.
PRACTICAL SESSIONS. REAL BUSINESS PROBLEMS.
Our education partners bring some of the industry’s strongest technical expertise to Ascend26 — but the brief is deliberately different this year.
Every session needs to connect technical knowledge with the practical challenge of building a better advice business.
That means helping advisers think beyond the role of technician and increasingly as entrepreneurs, managers and leaders — building greater Pricing Confidence, creating stronger client relationships, improving capacity, generating more opportunity and building businesses with greater long-term Enterprise Value.
The objective is not simply to leave delegates better informed.
It is to leave them better equipped to make decisions, communicate their value and improve the businesses they are building.
MYSTERY BOX. HOT BBQs. 32 UNSUSPECTING ADVISERS. WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?
Pete Evans will not just be joining Hamish on stage.
Across one afternoon, eight teams of four advisers will be thrown into a live mystery-box cooking challenge, with Pete providing the expertise and Hamish providing… whatever Hamish provides.
Expect BBQs, spectacular local produce, competing flavour profiles, questionable culinary confidence, some serious judging and plenty of encouragement from everyone safely standing on the other side of the cooking stations.
We will be revealing more about how contestants are selected closer to the event.
For now, perhaps be careful what you volunteer for.
SUNSET SOCIAL
The week starts poolside.
Our Sunset Social welcome barbecue is deliberately relaxed — cold drinks, great food, music and the chance to reconnect with old friends and meet new ones before the business program gets underway.
Hamish will get proceedings started, with our special guests joining delegates for what should be the perfect first evening on Hamilton Island.
No ballroom. No lanyard-driven networking exercise.
Just a very good place to begin.
PASSAGE PEAK AT SUNRISE
For those willing to earn their breakfast, join us for a sunrise climb to one of Hamilton Island’s most spectacular vantage points.
And this year we have just the hike leader to set the pace.
Joel Selwood — the longest-serving captain in VFL/AFL history — will join delegates for the climb as part of his role as our unofficial captain of the conference.
The view at the top should make the early alarm worthwhile.
START COLD
There are easier ways to begin a conference morning. We just aren’t choosing one of them.
Morning ice baths return to Ascend26, with Joel Selwood and Hamish McLachlan joining delegates for the sessions.
Come willingly, get talked into it by someone else, or simply stand nearby holding a coffee and questioning everyone else’s judgement.
Either way, it should wake the place up.
A QUIETER START
Not every morning needs to involve a mountain or a tub full of ice.
Morning yoga provides a considerably more civilised way to reset before the day’s sessions begin — movement, breathing and a little quiet before the conference gets moving again.
All levels welcome.
GET OFF THE ISLAND — SLIGHTLY
Not every hour on Hamilton Island needs to be programmed.
Across the week there is deliberate space to explore the island at your own pace — the beaches, the walking trails, the marina, or simply a quiet spot with a view and nowhere to be.
Take it as you find it.
YOUR NIGHT. YOUR TABLE. YOUR CHOICE.
Not every evening needs a programmed function.
Across the week we will deliberately leave a couple of evenings free for delegates to create their own dine-around experiences — choose one of Hamilton Island’s restaurants, grab some colleagues or people you’ve just met and enjoy the evening at your own pace.
Some of the strongest relationships at Congress have always been built this way.
STUDIO 54 GALA. ONE VERY BIG FINAL NIGHT
We finish Ascend26 with our gala dinner and awards ceremony — and this year Hamilton Island is going Studio 54.
Think glamour, music, celebration, great food and a dance floor with no particularly sensible finishing time.
Hamish will host the evening, with Joel joining him for the awards presentation as we recognise some of the extraordinary people and businesses across the Wealth Adviser network.
Bring the sparkle. We will provide the rest.
