Netflix co-founder Marc Randolph announced as first keynote

News that Marc Randolph is to headline the 2019 Asia Pacific Cities Summit (2019APCS) and Mayors’ Forum is a reminder to anyone in business of how quickly fortunes can change – and grow – with the right connections.

In 1997, the Silicon Valley entrepreneur co-founded a company that was to revolutionise the way many of us connect with our favourite movies and TV shows.

Within a year, Netflix had launched its first DVD rental and sales site, connecting film fans with new and recommended releases via the postal service (a practice that seems quaint in 2018, though it may come as news to some that the service still operates.)

The company enjoyed a rise of feature-length proportions, with figures evidencing connections with more than 130 million subscribers worldwide still fresh ahead of news of the founding CEO’s highly anticipated keynote speech at the twelfth instalment of the APCS.

There is a certain symmetry between the burgeoning successes of the brainchild conceived by Randolph and fellow co-founder Reed Hastings and that of the event which brings together the key decision makers of the Asia Pacific.

Launched in the still nascent dot com era of the mid-late 1990’s, both have prospered in establishing reputations of global significance.

In 1996, Brisbane City Council launched an ambitious event to convene civic and business leaders from across the Asia Pacific to build partnerships, exchange knowledge and hear from a variety of world-class international speakers.

Like Netflix, the idea proved a blockbuster.

Returning to its spiritual home for 2019 with the theme of Driving Cities through Business and Innovation, the biennial event alternates between Brisbane and guest host cities, with its last appearance on home soil in 2015 attracting more civic leaders than the World Cities Summit Mayors Forum held in New York.

This time around, more than 1000 civic and business leaders from more than 100 global cities are expected to jet into Brisbane, with insights on entrepreneurship, leadership and innovation for the taking and connections aplenty to be made.

Rarely – if ever – has there been a better time to do business in Brisbane; a city renowned for its start-up and innovation culture and one with an administration committed to building the local economy.

For local companies, the opportunity to meet with the key decision makers of the Asia Pacific and fast-track connections in a rapidly growing regional market is as real as the city’s 283 annual days of sunshine - a hot prospect not to be missed.

The recent opening of the call for event speakers represents a similarly seminal opportunity for Brisbane businesses wishing to make their mark on attending representatives from leading cities throughout the Asia Pacific region and beyond, with key decision makers and influencers set to be among an audience eager to foster ties with Australia’s New World City.  

The time is now.

Whether by taking part in the Meet@APCS Business Program, sponsoring or partnering to promote your company, or by showcasing your products and services at the event, opportunities for your business to reap the benefits of the Asia Pacific’s flagship connection-making event for commerce and civic governance are wide and varied.

Like the latest Netflix hit series, they’re not to be missed.

Hashtags: #2019APCS #bnebusiness 

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