Group photo of PagerDuty executives, moderators, and customer speakers, including Jeremy, Ross, Shilpha, Doug, Katherine, Rodrigo, Natalie, and Jeff.

On July 31st, 2024, Sydney played host to a landmark event in the realm of digital operations – PagerDuty on Tour. This event brought together industry leaders, technology innovators, and business executives for a day of insightful discussions, practical demonstrations, and valuable networking opportunities. Held at Beta Events in the heart of Sydney, the conference highlighted PagerDuty’s commitment to driving operational excellence and resilience in the APAC region.

Setting the Stage: An Overview

PagerDuty on Tour Sydney was meticulously designed to showcase the latest advancements in digital operations, with a special focus on automation, AI, and incident management. The event was an opportunity to deepen relationships with existing customers, engage with prospective clients, and demonstrate PagerDuty’s innovative solutions that are shaping the future of digital operations. 

Our Regional Vice President for Asia Pacific and Japan, Natalie Fair, opened and closed the main session, ensuring a resounding success and setting an enthusiastic tone for the entire day. The event concluded with a lively reception and great opportunities for networking, featuring entertainment by celebrity mentalist and host Anthony Laye. Anthony’s engaging performance and dynamic presence in bringing the entire event together as our celebrity host kept the energy high throughout the day.

Celebrity host Anthony Laye “shocking and awing” attendees in between speaking sessions.

Real Talk: Challenges, Solutions, and Breakthroughs

One of the standout aspects of PagerDuty on Tour Sydney was the “real talk” that permeated the sessions. Speakers openly discussed their challenges, struggles, solutions, and breakthroughs. This candid approach resonated deeply with attendees, who appreciated the authenticity and practicality of the discussions. The feedback we received indicated that attendees found real value in these sessions, gaining insights they could apply to both themselves and their own organisations.

Shilpha and Ross leading a session on unlocking efficiency through the modernisation of digital operations.

A Packed Agenda

The day began with a series of masterclasses aimed at providing hands-on learning experiences for attendees. Due to popular demand, attendees expressed a desire for more masterclasses and workshops in future events, highlighting the value they found in these interactive sessions.

Engaging masterclass in the morning before the main session, which received excellent feedback from attendees.

One of the highlights from our main session was the fireside chat featuring Rodrigo Castillo, Chief Technology Officer of Commonwealth Bank, and Jeremy Kmet, Senior Vice President of Global Field Operations at PagerDuty. Their discussion delved into the challenges and opportunities in modernising digital operations, providing attendees with valuable insights and pragmatic approaches to enhance operational efficiency.

Rodrigo and Jeremy’s mainstage fireside chat at PagerDuty on Tour, Sydney 2024, discussing key industry insights.

Inspirational Keynotes and Sessions

The event also featured a series of keynote sessions and panel discussions. Jeff Hausman, PagerDuty’s Chief Product Development Officer, delivered a compelling keynote on the latest innovations in the PagerDuty Operations Cloud, highlighting how these advancements are transforming the digital operations landscape. He also shared the latest updates with PagerDuty Advance, generative AI capabilities embedded across the PagerDuty Operations Cloud platform.

Jeff Hausman delivers keynote on on the latest innovations in the PagerDuty Operations Cloud.

Attendees were inspired by an insightful session led by acclaimed sailor and motivational speaker Jessica Watson OAM, the youngest person to sail solo and unassisted around the world at the age of 16. This was followed by a fireside chat with Katherine Calvert, PagerDuty’s Chief Marketing Officer. Jessica’s incredible journey and achievements provided a motivational backdrop for discussions on resilience, innovation, and leadership.

Katherine Calvert and Jessica Watson’s fireside chat, discussing resilience and inspiration.

Engaging Customer and Partner Panels

Customer success stories and partner insights were a significant part of the event. Leaders from various companies, including Rodrigo Castillo (CTO of Commonwealth Bank), Dave Lemphers (CTO of Easygo, Kick.com & Stake.com), Doug English (Co-founder & CTO of Culture Amp), Shilpha Vijay Anand (Head of Engineering at Webjet), Louise Stigwood (Director, Enterprise ANZ at Amazon Web Services), and Luke Higgins (Managing Director at Accenture), shared their experiences with PagerDuty’s solutions. These sessions offered real-world examples of how organisations are leveraging automation and AI to drive business growth and operational efficiency.

Panel session with Louise, Doug, and Dave, moderated by Natalie, discussing mitigating risk through incident management transformation.

Addressing Recent Outages and Our Leadership in Operational Resilience

Throughout the event, there was considerable discussion on the recent global IT outage, providing an opportunity for our executives and speakers to address the challenges transparently. These discussions underscored PagerDuty’s role as the industry leader in operational resilience, highlighting how our platform effectively mitigated the impacts of the outage and demonstrated our commitment to maintaining the highest standards of service and reliability. This transparency was greatly appreciated by attendees and reinforced our position as the gold standard in incident management and digital operations resilience.

A Remarkable Experience

PagerDuty on Tour Sydney was more than just an event; it was a celebration of excellence and innovation in digital operations. We played host to more than 100 organisations across 15 industries. Every aspect of the event, from the masterclasses to the keynote sessions, from the entertainment to the meticulous organisation, was praised by the attendees. The location, the food, entertainment, engagement and the overall execution were lauded as exceptional or “the best conference we’ve ever been to!”. 

Jeff energising the crowd during the big PS5 giveaway, as attendees eagerly throw their hands up for the winner!

The mysterious exclusive invite only executive event was described as a once-in-a-lifetime experience, providing a unique opportunity for deep and meaningful conversations with industry leaders under Chatham House Rules. The feedback we received was a testament to the hard work and dedication of everyone involved in making this event a success. One of our customer executives mentioned that the dinner felt more like an enjoyable gathering with friends rather than a typical industry event and another mentioned what a unique experience it was, which speaks volumes about the atmosphere and engagement we achieved.

Looking Forward

The success of PagerDuty on Tour Sydney sets the stage for continued growth and engagement in the APAC region. As we move forward, we remain committed to helping organisations achieve their operational goals and drive business growth through innovative solutions and strong partnerships. People often say their events are great, but this one truly was something special. Thank you to everyone who contributed to making this event a success. We look forward to seeing you at our future events as we continue to lead the way in digital operations innovation.