When we headed to Sydney for Fortuna One 2026, we knew we were going to hear from some big names. What we didn’t expect was just how strong the Newcastle connection would be.

Across the event we heard from an extraordinary mix of business, technology, health and performance leaders, including Tony Robbins, Steven Bartlett, Gary Brecka, Kayla Itsines and Google AI leader Natalie Piucco. We came home with pages of notes and plenty of ideas, particularly around AI, business systems, leadership, efficiency and the importance of building businesses that don’t rely entirely on one person.

But among all of that global experience, something much closer to home kept appearing: Newcastle.

From Newcastle to Fortuna One

Fortuna One founder Paul Siderovski spoke openly on stage about being “born and bred in Newcastle” and shared the journey from accountant and business owner to working alongside Tony Robbins and, ultimately, bringing Robbins back to Australia for Fortuna One.

His story was a fitting example of the event’s theme, Proximity Is Power. Paul spoke about the people, experiences and decisions that changed the direction of his own business and life, and how those connections eventually put him in a position to create an event of this scale.

For us, hearing Newcastle form part of that story was pretty special.

More Newcastle on the program

Paul wasn’t the only Newcastle connection.

And then there was Newcastle performer Laila Michelini. Laila was genuinely one of the standouts of the event. Performing in front of a huge audience alongside a program packed with international names is no small thing, and she absolutely held her own. Her performance had the confidence, energy and stage presence of someone completely at home in a room of that scale. It was another brilliant Newcastle moment, and one we were especially proud to see.

Three very different roles. One very familiar place.

A Newcastle connection worth celebratingCarrie Loughnan and Monica Toews Brown from Red Insight at Fortuna One 2026 in Sydney

Speaker Troy Harris also proudly identified himself as being from Newcastle during his session, even calling out the connection between himself and Paul from the stage.

Red Insight began in the Hunter and continues to work closely with businesses across Newcastle and the region, so it was pretty special to travel to Sydney for an event of this scale and see Newcastle represented so strongly.

We went to Fortuna One expecting to learn from some remarkable people. We certainly did.

We just didn’t expect one of our favourite takeaways to be how often Newcastle found its way onto the stage.

Three things we brought back to Red Insight

The Newcastle connection caught our attention, but the real value of attending was what we brought back with us. There were pages of notes, plenty of conversations afterwards and more than a few ideas we’re still thinking about, but three things stood out.

1. Start with the bottleneck, not the technology

One of the strongest messages came from Natalie Piucco’s session on practical AI for business: don’t start with the AI tool, start with the bottleneck. Look first at the repeated work, decisions and administration slowing the business down. Understand the process, then work out where technology can genuinely help.

That is particularly relevant for us as we continue improving the way Red Insight captures knowledge and manages its internal systems.

2. Build a business that doesn’t depend on one person

This came through in different ways across several sessions. Good systems should capture how work gets done, make knowledge accessible and allow a business to operate without everything sitting in one person’s head.

For a consulting business built around specialist knowledge and experience, that gave us plenty to think about.

3. Keep people where judgement matters

AI can remove repetitive work, help create first drafts and make some processes more efficient, but Natalie also emphasised the importance of keeping a human in the loop.

That resonated strongly with us. In WHS, technology can support the process, but experience, context and professional judgement still matter.

There were plenty more scribbled notes, highlighted pages and conversations on the way home, but those three ideas are already influencing some of the work happening behind the scenes at Red Insight.