A BUSINESS opportunities conference will be held in Midland to help attendants build industry connections and explore the new frontier of AI technologies in business on Monday, November 4.

Keynote speakers at the event will include Startup WA chairperson Charlie Gunningham and Friyay cofounder Gareth Rydon.

Mr Gunningham said he’s worked with start-up businesses for more than two decades and will speak about the lessons that businesses of any level can take away from start-ups.

“I’ve spent 25 years in the start-up ecosystem and have been a major investor as well as worked for federal and state government,” he said.

“I’ve also lectured in e-commerce, so I’ve seen the ecosystem from all sides.

“My talk will be about what can we learn from startups as business leaders and what can they teach us about business in general.

“One thing start-ups do is, because they don’t often have much money, they have to think smart and about how to maximise every ounce out of their dollars.

“Many startups aren’t even paying themselves a salary in the early months and years, so it’s about making that money really count.

“Another is (agility) and being able to have ideas in the morning that go live in the afternoon.

“I’ve worked for bigger companies and governments where it takes weeks if not months to incorporate a small change, but with start-ups it’s about learning to assemble the plane as you take off.

“It’s scary to do but it’s exciting as well.”

Mr Rydon, whose company provides AI solutions to empower businesses, said his presentation will focus on live demonstrations of how AI can be implemented by small businesses.

“The focus will be around practical applications in business and that’s the thing we try to work on,” he said.

“An example is the use of AI in meetings, and the biggest benefit our clients get straight away is using AI to augment how they meet and collab internally.

“Being able to use AI to take good quality notes, action things, and instead of having to spend two to three weeks writing the agenda and follow-up emails, businesses can now do that in two or three minutes after the meeting.

Mr Rydon said it was the first time new technology was in a space where small businesses could access its benefits as much as big corporations could.

“With the right use of these tools it’s a far bigger opportunity for smaller businesses who can now compete with these bigger businesses,” he said.

The program includes a series of panel discussions following each keynote speech, where industry representatives from varying fields will explore how new AI technologies can be relevant in different situations.

Breaking up the panel discussions will be half-hour tea breaks where attendants will have the opportunity network with industry experts and leaders.

The event will conclude with a question and answer segment.

The event is a collaboration between the Swan Chamber of Commerce and North Metropolitan TAFE.

Swan Chamber of Commerce president Mike Matich said the conference was also an opportunity to build relations between educators and industry figures to help better support students entering the workforce.

“It’s a great thing to be training the next generation of business leaders and workforce members in what’s actually relevant to them and welcoming in the new technologies that can streamline work processes for the future,” he said.

The event will be held at the North Metropolitan TAFE Midland campus and run from 8.30am to 12.30pm with tickets available here.