Our guide to the UNLEASH Conference and Expo in London

This month, UNLEASH (formerly HR Tech World) returns to London for a two-day conference about the future of work and technology.

There’s a lot on offer, so we’ve put together this guide to everything you can see and do across the event.

All you need to know about UNLEASH

Let’s get the wheres, whys and how longs out of the way first.

UNLEASH will be taking place on the 20^th - 21^st March in London’s ExCel arena. There are a range of ticket types depending which functions of the conference you want to access, which can be purchased here.  

What does the ticket give you access to?

Full tickets give holders to two days worth of workshops, seminars, and speeches all centered around the theme of ‘the future of work’. There’s also regular product demos, an expo for HR tech vendors and a Startup Zone, where attendees can

Last year, over 60 nationalities were represented at the conference and over 50% of those attending held C-level positions, offering fantastic opportunities to network with global decision-makers - whether you’re an HR professional, a vendor representative, or a startup founder looking for potential clients and investors.  

Who’s speaking at UNLEASH?

UNLEASH currently has 120 speakers confirmed across 12 stages, so attendees will be spoilt for choice when it comes to thought leadership. The conference schedule has been published online, so you can start planning your activities in advance - with everything that’s on offer, you’ll probably need to.  

Unfortunately, we don’t have space to profle them all, so here are a few handpicked recommendations:  

• Jonas Kjellberg: How do you DISRUPT & Change the World of Work? Tech entrepreneur and investor extraordinaire Jonas Kjellberg will be sharing insights on how working patterns have changed. As co-creator of Skype, and the person who sold iCloud to Apple, there are few more qualified than him to talk about this topic. 
• Dennis R. Mortensen: Becoming Time Lords: The Future of Work with AI. The CEO and founder of x.ai presents a vision of how advancements in technology will affect our day-to-day lives. Will AI ultimately free up time so that people can spend more time doing what they love? 
• Bruce Daisley: The Science of Happier Work. Twitter's VP EMEA explores how the culture of 24-7 availability is becoming oppressive, and looks at the latest scientific research around stress-free working and happy, engaged workforces. 
• Jason Averbook: It’s Our Time - Are We Ready? We have the tech to transform how we work, and a workforce technologically-savvy enough to do so - the opportunity is now, argues thought leader, author and CEO Jason Averbrook. Expect thoughts on the cloud, evolving AI technologies and the digitization of work, and how to take advantage of them, in UNLEASH’s closing speech. 

What is the UNLEASH Startup Zone, and what’s going on there?

UNLEASH’s Startup Zone offers startup teams opportunities to pitch their product to investors, the media, and - importantly - potential buyers.

The Startup Zone also plays host to UNLEASH’s annual Startup Competition. Six shortlisted startups will deliver their pitches on their path to disrupt enterprise tech innovation in front of a panel of industry leaders and an audience of investors, business leaders, practitioners and buyers.

The competition has run since 2011, and since then over 90% of participating startups have succeeded and moved onto bigger and better things, it’s a great opportunity to take a peek at tomorrow’s superstars

This year’s finalists are as follows:

• Actiview: a mixed-reality assessment platform enabling to gauge the behavioral and cognitive profile of company’s talent in real-life simulations and predict his fit to the specific team and position in question
• Coorpacademy: an EdTech specialized in corporate digital learning and relies on a cutting-edge technological platform and design which converts any content into an engaging online learning experience
• Vault: a counter-harassment platform, built for the workplace, and powered by Blockchain technology.
• JobPal: builds chatbots that automate the communication between employers and candidates
• RoboRecruiter: uses messaging automation via a chatbot platform that can save recruiters time on the more repetitive and mundane aspects of the recruitment process
• JennaAi: an AI-driven SaaS solution that transforms the process of candidate screening.