The 15th annual WIRE event will be held at Royal Randwick Races, Kensington featuring inspiring local and international speakers. #REIWIRE

About

Women – and men – from across the country travel to attend the conference, which aims to engage, inspire and empower women to take their careers to the next level.

WIRE is known in the industry for its high-profile and expert speakers, with Leigh Sales, Louisette Geiss, Em Rusciano and Mia Freedman among the stand-outs from past years.

The Future Demands More

The Women in Real Estate conference (WIRE) is one of the real estate industry's key events for professional development.

As real estate looks ahead in this post-pandemic world, we know that we are not returning to the same industry we left when we went into lockdown.

It’s a new game, demanding new skills, new technology and a whole new outlook. In 2022, WIRE will explore the theme The Future Demands More.

9+ world class speakers
Most inspirational and motivational female empowerment event of the year
Earn 3 elective CPD hours (Applies to Class 1 & 2 Licence holders only)
Networking opportunities with the best in the business
Morning tea, lunch, drinks and canapes provided
Member and group discounts available

“It’ been fantastic just to have the opportunity after a year of lockdown in different ways to get out and reconnect with people, listen to speakers again and refocus. It’s great.

I chose to come to WIRE this year to re-group, for group bonding – we’ve come up as a team – 5 of us and we just came up and had some dinner last night and have come to the event today. It’s just been a really good way for us to step out and get your head space and step away from the coal front. We’ve had a really nice time just talking to each other and listening to some speakers. I really enjoyed Julie Masters, I love that idea of influence and connecting with the digital world and how you engage…” ”

Holly Komerovski, Home by Holly, Canberra

Details

When: 29 March 2022
Venue: Royal Randwick Racecourse, Kensington

CPD

The industry reforms introduced by NSW Fair Trading include changes to CPD requirements such as Compulsory and Elective Topics.

All licensed agents who are attending WIRE will satisfy their requirement to complete three hours of elective CPD topics in the NEW CPD year from 23 March 2022 to 22 March 2023.

Featured speakers

Lisa Wilkinson

Television presenter and journalist

An early ground-breaking publishing career has led to a stunning television success story for one of Australia’s most accomplished journalists. Lisa is one of Australia's most respected media identities; she co-hosts Channel 10’s news-current affairs and talk show The Project and is also the Executive Editor of Ten Daily.

For more than three decades, Lisa has blazed an unprecedented trail through the Australian media landscape, initially in publishing, then on radio and now in television and online. In every forum she has achieved extraordinary success and earned widespread respect.

So highly is Lisa regarded throughout the Australian media industry, that in the 2016 Australia Day Honours she was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her significant service to the print and broadcast media, as a journalist and presenter, and to a range of youth and women’s health groups.

Apart from her diverse media skills, Lisa is also known as a mentor to young women. Under her special brand of guidance and training, there are now 21 women and men around the world who have gone on to become successful magazine editors themselves. Nicole Kidman, Miranda Kerr and Megan Gale can also thank Lisa for her talent-spotting skills and guidance, as she helped them on their way early in their careers.

A member of The Walkley Advisory Board, which is responsible for judging the overall winners of the annual Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism, Lisa is a global ambassador of The Fred Hollows Foundation, as well as supporting numerous other charities including Barnardo’s, Breast Cancer Institute of Australia, National Breast Cancer Foundation, the Melanoma Institute, the Ingham Medical Research Institute, the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, the Sydney Children’s Hospital Randwick, Adopt Change, Jamie Oliver’s Ministry of Food, The Big Issue and the Butterfly Foundation.

Maz Farrelly

CEO Whisperer - Author - Speaker - MC - Trainer - Comms & Media Specialist at Absolutely Farrelly

Maz has spent thirty years at the cutting edge of the crazy world of TV and Movies, so the contacts in her smart phone read like the toilet queue at the Oscars. She has been to more showbiz parties than Kim Kardashian’s Spanx and down more red carpets than a Dyson vacuum. If you can stick a name plate on it and deliver it to huge applause, she’s won it – BAFTAs, Logies, ASTRAS, Royal Television Society Awards, UK Comedy Awards, Bronze Rose De Montreux for shows like The X Factor, The Celebrity Apprentice, Dancing With the Stars, Big Brother, The Farmer Wants A Wife, and she helped create Q&A for the ABC. Her content has been watched more than eight billion times worldwide and one event she produced created so much social traffic, it broke Twitter. Maz now uses her TV and film producing techniques and strategies to help businesses to grow and work forces to think differently. Expect great showbiz stories, great celebrity gossip and incredible forever skills.

Heidi Dening

Resilience keynote speaker and author

Heidi believes that education changes lives and when combining the insights she has learnt from surviving a paralysing illness, a gunpoint kidnapping, a life-threatening tsunami and petrol bombs, with her science-backed education, she has a unique ability to empower leaders and their teams to find the courage to work at their fullest potential, despite change, stress and uncertainty. She has dedicated her career to inspiring thousands of people globally with resilience, self- leadership and wellbeing programs from small children on remote pacific islands to professional teams across 19 different industries. She has recently been named ‘Best International Keynote Speaker’ in the Asia Pacific region at the Influential Businesswoman Awards, is a best-selling author and often appears in the media as an expert on resilience.

Leanne Pilkington

Real Estate Commentator, Immediate Past President REINSW and Chief Executive Officer, Laing + Simmons

Leanne has more than three decades’ experience in the real estate industry, encompassing residential, retail and commercial. She is the Chief Executive Officer of Laing + Simmons and a regular industry commentator and speaker. Addressing the gender imbalance, empowering women agents and pushing towards industry-wide professionalism are among her key passions.

John Minns

Property Services Commissioner

Great consumer experiences are the key to vibrant, successful industries. Success happens when professional people and positive energy unite around a common belief. Combining a track record of property industry leadership, transformation and reinvention; John’s goal is to work with government and the industry to deliver exceptional experiences for NSW property consumers and practitioners. He believes an industry that is innovative and future-focused, will be increasingly attractive to entrepreneurs, business leaders and high-performance agents. John comes to this eminent role with more than 30 years’ industry experience. He credits his success to working with like-minded partners, together building multi-award-winning businesses, and leading high performance through people, culture and ongoing reinvention.

Cathy Baker  

Principal, Belle Property

With multiple awards under her belt, and matched by a stellar reputation within the Real Estate industry and the wider community, Cathy is a market leader and Principal of Belle Property Central Coast. Cathy currently manages four businesses, is a sought-after Mentor and Business Coach and in true entrepreneurial style is always looking for something new to work on.  Top of mind for Cathy is her community, assisting people in need such as: the elderly, local children’s programs and of course, local businesspeople across the board. Cathy, with help from her team, has been instrumental in creating programs such as Killy Cares, art exhibitions, market days, local school functions and always employing the services of local businesses to ensure that the community at large are given a huge thank you for all the support they give Cathy and her team.  

Sonja Stewart

Chief Executive Officer of the Law Society of NSW

Sonja has extensive senior leadership experience across State and Commonwealth Governments, the legal profession, academia and the not-for-profit sector. Sonja has a wealth of experience leading policy and regulatory programs, well-honed strategic and stakeholder management skills and a deep knowledge of the regulatory framework, all of which is underpinned by a genuine commitment to a just and accessible legal system. Ms Stewart, herself a proud Yuin woman, is also the Chair of the Goodes O'Loughlin Foundation which aims to improve educational outcomes of Indigenous youth. She is also the Chair of Rugby Australia’s First Nations committee.

Cara Atchison

Director, 1st City Real Estate Group

Cara's passion for real estate was inspired by her father's property career in the 1980's. Following more than a decade in financial operations (MLC) and armed with an arsenal of client skills and troubleshooting know-how; Cara turned full circle to launch her own real estate endeavours. In 2009, open her own agency - 1st City Real Estate Group. A dozen years later, Cara oversees her operations and marketing team across multiple offices. You may also recognise Cara from her recent appearance on Australian Survivor Series 6, Brains V Brawn in Cloncurry. Skills that Cara has been carefully honing during her Real Estate career such as resilience, empathy, resourcefulness, negotiation skills, teamwork all of which were underpinned with integrity, enabled her to finish Survivor in the extremely impressive position of 4th place.

Tim McCallum

Ambassador and Director, Assistance Dogs Australia

Tim is a long term client of Assistance Dogs Australia, receiving his first physical assistance dog, Buster, in late 1999 after a diving accident left him a quadriplegic, with no use of his hands or fingers and the use of a wheelchair for mobility. He now has his 3rd assistance dog, as Roxy succeeded Buster, and now Casper serves as his faithful companion. Tim is an acclaimed singer and speaker known globally, with over 25 years’ experience on the stage. More importantly, his career has given him the opportunity to represent the disability community and showcase the talents of those who strive through adversity. His advocacy work and attitude to spreading a positive message about disability have earned him the following honours: Australian Humanitarian Award, Centenary Medal recipient, Young Australian of the Year finalist, and he is currently National Ambassador of Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Week and International Day for People With A Disability Ambassador.

Mary Lemonis

Chief People Officer at REA Group

Mary is responsible for the REA Group’s people strategy across its global network. She leads teams across business partnering, talent acquisition, remuneration, organisation development, internal communications, community partnerships and HR operations. Mary joined REA in March 2018, and with more than 25 years’ experience in HR, she is passionate about realising enterprise value and growth by creating an exceptional employee experience. Mary holds a Bachelor of Manufacturing Management from the University of Technology Sydney and is a founding member of the International Women’s Forum Australia.

“Best WIRE ever. I’ve been coming to the events since 2013 and this is by far the best. Amazing line of speakers and every single one I got something out of, so, thank you.”

Amanda Gould, HighSpec Properties Buyers’ Agents

Industry panel

Kylie Walsh

Director and Founder at REGROWTH

Recognised as one of the most influential women in property, business and leadership, expert Kylie Walsh is an awarded real estate professional, keynote speaker and business strategist. A true entrepreneur Kylie opened her first office at age 21 before continuing her success in corporate roles across major franchise groups, culminating as General Manager of DiJones real estate. In 2021, Kylie founded her business REGROWTH - a company with a multi-channel approach, operating with a focus on connectivity, sustainability and profitability for the real estate industry and empowering members of the industry to reach their full potential, achieve goals and be sustainable in both life and business. Kylie will be facilitating the panel at WIRE 2022.

Zara Seidler

Co-founder, The Daily Aus

Zara is the co-founder of The Daily Aus – Australia’s leading social-first news service offering young Australians a digestible and engaging way to access the news. Coming from a background in independent politics, Zara has worked as a political adviser to independent federal crossbencher Dr Karen Phelps and campaign manager for an independent Lord Mayoral campaign. She’s also worked at Sky News, Research Australia and did a research stint at Georgetown University. A regular commentator on television programs such as the ABC’s Q&A and The Drum, and Network 10’s The Project, Zara is passionate about media and political literacy in Australia, particularly amongst Millennials and Gen Z.

Mandi Ford

Business and Lifestyle Concierge and Founder of Essential Solutions

Mandi’s vision is to help clients ‘breathe’ by easing the pressure of everyday life and work via her Essential Solutions company - a whole-of-life and business management well-tech business. Collaborating and creating solutions for some of the biggest names and corporations in the Australasian market, Mandi’s fierce focus on service has taken Essential Solutions from a spare room small business to a global human-tech service provider, working with hundreds of suppliers and more than 100 clients around the world. In this panel discussion, Mandi will talk about taking service values to the next level; why knowing your own personal agency will secure repeat business, and how to create the exact solution your client needs every time.

Brendan Dixon

Managing Director of Pure Finance

Brendan brings over a decade of experience working in the banking and finance sectors (though, don’t hold that against him) and he is well known for his down-to-earth and approachable disposition in an industry that can sometimes feel a little...stuffy. He’s incredibly passionate about helping people make the most of their finances, as well as keeping the banks honest, and he is highly skilled in both these areas.

Proudly supporting

This year REINSW has partnered with Assistance Dogs Australia (ADA). ADA are more than just helping individuals; they make stronger communities.

ADA train and place unique dogs with Australians in unique situations. With 1 in 5 people living in Australia with a disability, founders, Hannie and Robert saw a need for specially trained four-legged friends.

Today, ADA has maintained its family values, with Hannie, Robert and their sons Andrew and Gavin, still passionately involved with the organisation. Their free-to-client assistance dogs provide independence, self-esteem, improved health and relationships to individuals and families — resulting in stronger and more successful communities. Learn more >> Assistance Dogs Australia (ADA)