Producing Purpose with Wildwon

Arts & Events - by Open Journal

Courtesy of Wildwon

Concerned with environmental issues and social justice, Sally Hill co-founded Wildwon, a business that produces highly interactive, experiential events to advocate social impact.

Having worked for GetUp, and held roles in corporate social responsibility in London, Sally became fascinated by different ways of doing business. Observing company behaviour compound social issues, rather than working to solve them, lead to a value alignment with the B Corporation, a model of business that achieves positive social outcomes and financial returns simultaneously.

Returning to Sydney, a chance meeting with Yvonne Lee grew into a business partnership that identified local issues and produced community events. It was a good testing ground to build strategic objectives around events, be they behaviour changes or growth in wider awareness and support.

The City of Sydney and the British Council took notice and soon enough Wildwon developed into its own. Business processes came together as did the strategies to build the optimal intersection of digital and real world experience. Sally and Yvonne’s strong background in digital design developed a seamless approach to event lead up, the day itself and the aftermath thereafter that best harnessed participant’s enthusiasm into solid outcomes.

Wildwon’s events are driven by a community need and the desire to solve a problem, promoting and pushing issues into public consciousness.

Wildwon’s team retreat 2015. Courtesy of Wildwon

Focused on the impact they can make, the small team is highly flexible, working out of a shared creative space in Sydney. Adamant about being purpose led, facilitating learning, constantly innovating, the aim is to develop Wildwon into a world leader in experiential events.

Wildwon’s strength is delivering holistic user journeys via digital touch points with organisations and their causes. Applying the passion and creativity of their team to guide the purpose led business community.

The Centre for Australian Progress approached Wildwon to produce Progress. Signed up for a 10-year tenure, Wildwon is facilitating the Centre’s movement from ‘a passion for advocacy’ to ‘a culture of excellence.’

It’s a process that is central to Wildwon’s service: a passion must be matched with professional execution in order to achieve desired outcomes.

Sally and Yvonne. Courtesy of Wildwon

The approach was a proven success in 2015’s Progress conference in Melbourne, which attracted 1100 attendees and 150 speakers presenting across every issue from human rights, the environment, women and the indigenous community. Supported by a professional team of producers, AV and technical support and a small army of volunteers, the event was on an enormous scale but a clear achievement with overwhelmingly positive reviews.

Purpose is next on the horizon. A Wildwon initiative, the Sydney event will focus on businesses that position positive social outcomes at their core. By focusing on businesses that are leading in the field, the event will provide a platform for best practice, as well as an opportunity for Wildwon to contribute back to the B Corp community.

Progress Melbourne 2015. Courtesy of Wildwon

Engaging groups such as Conscious capital and the future business council, the event’s speakers will be sustainably minded, highly innovative and future ready.

“Companies that succeed in the future will be those who are purpose led,” said Sally, “companies that add value and solve problems will be the ones that survive. Future challenges are so immense and there is huge potential for those who can provide those solutions.”

It ties into a piece of work Wildwon is doing with the Centre for Workplace Leadership who are finding more and more employees seeking meaning in their work with value led employers the most attractive to graduates and professional job-seekers. “A business can be purpose lead from the top but it must be matched from the bottom as well, it must be a satisfying place for employees.”

Lee Lin Chin at Progress Melbourne 2015. Courtesy of Wildwon

From the diverse array of successful projects already in Wildwon’s stable, Hill has witnessed the great amplifier effect of interactive education and the implications on the expert-student model of education. The events facilitate a rapid, self-directed style of learning where professionals with highly transferrable skills use the sessions as bridging courses to leap into new industries. The pace that people can learn is staggering.

“It’s often easy to be disheartened when working in social impact and sustainability by seeing so many funding cuts, but the exposure to passionate people and experiencing the amount of broader interest bolsters the community.”