With the continuing boom of the business events sector in Australia, a new business event promises to shake things up by blending small business, creativity, and purpose for the first time.
The upcoming Ripple Festival will take place in a span of two days in November 2025 at Grazeland Melbourne, bringing together entrepreneurs, artists, and industry leaders for what it promises to be meaningful conversations without “outdated advice and overhyped fluff”.
Ripple Festival is the brainchild of Mia Fileman (Campaign Del Mar) and Fiona Johnston (Peach Business), two business strategists who are seeking to change the business events landscape.
“Ripple Festival was born out of frustration: the same speakers doing the rounds, sharing the same ideas at business events that follow the same tired format,” Fileman told ISB. “The best business events foster a sense of community, where no one feels alone when they arrive or when they leave. The worst business events bore us to tears and leave us feeling no more capable of running a profitable, purposeful small business.”
Tapping into a booming events sector
The festival seeks to tap the booming business events sector which has contributed over $21.6 billion in trip expenditures while also providing a boost to the music festival scene which has been facing mass cancellations as of late.
“Unlike other events that are all glitter and gimmicks, Ripple Festival is substance and spectacle,” Fileman said. “Ripple Festival is focused on honest conversations, real impact, and a sustainability-first approach. No helium balloons, no confetti cannons, no empty hype.”
Ripple festival is slated to have special sessions on LinkedIn and personal branding; AI and ethics; Content creation; Pricing, money management, and financial sustainability; Practical marketing via websites, analytics, Meta ads, SEO, and ethical marketing; and Behaviour change and burnout.
The festival will also feature an electing lineup of business and creative leaders, including:
- Lucy Thomas OAM & Rosie Thomas OAM – Tech founders and mental health advocates
- Dante St James – Digital strategist, LinkedIn and AI expert pushing the boundaries of automation
- Camey O’Keefe – Brand and creative strategist and Gruen panellist
- Odette Barry – PR expert and storytelling powerhouse
- Erin Morris – B Corp agency director and sustainability advocate
- Rhiannon Tracey – Disability inclusion advocate and entrepreneur
- Georgia Fields – Singer-songwriter and creative entrepreneur
- Maddie Connors – Artist and contemporary designer
The organisers stated that more performers, artists, and musicians will be announced in the lead-up to the festival.
“I’m sick of the same people on the speaker circuit,” said Ripple Festival co-founder Fiona Johnston. “We’ll have disabled and able-bodied people, neurodivergent and neurotypical people, people of colour, the LGBTQIA+ community, BIPOC, and plus-size people alongside slim people. We want everyone to leave feeling that they can do big, scary things to create impact and run a profitable small business.”
