The Future of People Summit, 19 & 20 May 2027

today May 19, 2027my_locationThe Maslow Hotel in Sandton


D H M S
Background

As organisations head into 2027, the ground beneath HR, Learning & Development, and Organisational Development continues to shift. Artificial intelligence has moved from experimental pilot to embedded decision-support tool. Skills, not job titles, are becoming the currency of internal mobility. Employees expect personalised growth, flexible reward, and workplaces that genuinely support their wellbeing — while executives expect people strategy to show a measurable return. Sitting still is no longer an option for HR, L&D, and OD professionals; the pace of disruption demands continuous adaptation, sharper data literacy, and renewed leadership capability.

This event has been designed to meet that moment. Across fourteen carefully sequenced sessions, it brings together the full spectrum of the people profession — talent strategy, learning innovation, and organisational design — into a single, integrated programme. Rather than treating HR, L&D, and OD as separate disciplines, the agenda is built around the reality that today’s biggest workforce challenges sit at their intersection: a skills-based hiring strategy is meaningless without a learning ecosystem to build those skills; a change management initiative fails without an OD-led culture of adaptability; and no AI tool delivers value without a workforce equipped and confident to use it.


Location

The Maslow Hotel
in Sandton, Johannesburg


Past Sponsors


Program
Select arrow_drop_down
08:25 remove 08:30
keyboard_arrow_down
Background

Welcome Speech & Event Opening

08:30 remove 09:15
keyboard_arrow_down
Background

Opening Keynote - AI-Augmented HR: From Automation to Strategic Decision-Making

How HR functions are moving past chatbots and applicant-tracking automation into AI-assisted workforce planning, predictive attrition modelling, and decision support — and what governance and ethics guardrails leaders need before they scale it.

09:15 remove 10:00
keyboard_arrow_down
Background

Panel Session - Skills-Based Organisations: Redesigning Work Beyond Job Titles

A practical look at shifting from rigid job architecture to skills-based talent models — how to build a skills taxonomy, deploy internal talent marketplaces, and use skills data to widen the hiring and mobility pool.

10:00 remove 10:30
keyboard_arrow_down
Background

Coffee/ Tea Break

10:30 remove 11:15
keyboard_arrow_down
Background

Panel Session - Succession Planning and Critical-Role Talent Pipelines

Moving succession planning from a once-a-year exercise to a continuous, data-informed process — identifying critical roles, building readiness pipelines, and reducing key-person risk across the business.

11:15 remove 12:00
keyboard_arrow_down
Background

Partner Session - Total Rewards Strategy for a Multi-Generational Workforce

How to design pay, benefits, and recognition strategies that flex across five generations in the workplace at once, balancing cost discipline with the personalised reward expectations of a modern workforce.

12:00 remove 13:00
keyboard_arrow_down
Background

Networking Lunch Break

13:00 remove 13:45
keyboard_arrow_down
Background

Panel Session - Learning Ecosystems: Personalised, On-Demand, and AI-Curated L&D

How L&D teams are replacing static training calendars with adaptive learning platforms that curate content to the individual, using AI to recommend the right learning at the point of need.

13:45 remove 14:30
keyboard_arrow_down
Background

Panel Session - Coaching Cultures: Embedding Coaching into Everyday Leadership

Practical frameworks for building a coaching mindset into line-manager behaviour — not as a specialist intervention, but as a daily leadership habit that drives performance and retention.

14:30 remove 15:15
keyboard_arrow_down
Background

Closing Keynote - Reimagining Leadership Development for Hybrid and Distributed Teams

What leadership development looks like when teams are spread across locations and time zones — building trust, visibility, and influence without relying on physical presence.

08:30 remove 09:15
keyboard_arrow_down
Background

Opening Keynote - Measuring What Matters: L&D Analytics and Business Impact

Moving beyond completion rates and satisfaction scores to metrics that link learning directly to performance, retention, and business outcomes — and how to report this convincingly to leadership.

09:15 remove 10:00
keyboard_arrow_down
Background

Panel Session - Building Change-Ready Cultures: OD in an Era of Continuous Disruption

How OD practitioners are helping organisations move from episodic "change projects" to a state of continuous adaptability — embedding change capability as a core organisational muscle.

10:00 remove 10:30
keyboard_arrow_down
Background

Coffee/ Tea Break

10:30 remove 11:15
keyboard_arrow_down
Background

Panel Session - Change Management Mastery: Leading People Through Transformation

Proven models and practical tools for sequencing communication, sponsorship, and reinforcement during major transformation — restructuring, M&A, technology rollouts, and culture shifts.

11:15 remove 12:00
keyboard_arrow_down
Background

Partner Session - Organisational Agility: Structuring for Speed and Resilience

Exploring flatter structures, cross-functional squads, and dynamic role design as organisations trade rigid hierarchies for structures that can respond faster to market shifts.

12:00 remove 13:00
keyboard_arrow_down
Background

Networking Lunch Break

13:00 remove 13:45
keyboard_arrow_down
Background

Panel Session - Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging: Moving from Policy to Practice

A candid look at where DEIB commitments have stalled, and how to embed inclusion into everyday systems — hiring, promotion, and team dynamics — rather than treating it as a standalone initiative.

13:45 remove 14:30
keyboard_arrow_down
Background

Panel Session - Employee Wellbeing as Organisational Strategy

Positioning wellbeing not as a perk but as a core driver of performance and retention — practical models for psychological safety, workload design, and manager capability in supporting wellbeing.

14:30 remove 15:15
keyboard_arrow_down
Background

Closing Keynote - The Future of Work: Redesigning Jobs, Roles, and the Employee Contract

A forward-looking close to the event — how AI, skills-based design, and shifting employee expectations are together reshaping what a "job" even means, and what the employer-employee contract looks like by 2030.


Details
Begin May 19, 2027 H 08:00
End May 20, 2027 H 16:00
Location The Maslow Hotel in Sandton
Address The Maslow Hotel Johannesburg, South Africa
Phone (+27) 011 046 5455

NEWSLETTER


    By subscribing to this newsletter, you agree to our Privacy Policy.