Talking Change with Holly Ransom

Before hosting, we caught up with Holly to discuss her thoughts on Melbourne’s unique energy, the role of events in tackling big challenges, and what she hopes this evening will set in motion. 

You’ve worked with leaders all over the world. Why do you think Melbourne is such fertile ground for innovation, bold ideas and change-making? 

What strikes me about Melbourne is how it manages to be simultaneously global and deeply local. There's something about Melbourne's hospitality culture that makes it the perfect space for sparking conversations and creating collisions of unlike minds. 

One of my favourite things about Melbourne is the melting pot of people. While people often draw comparisons with European cities, I've always thought its heartbeat is closer to New York – people are pursuing such a multitude of pursuits, marching to the beat of quite different drums, and the city celebrates that. 

There's a freedom to express yourself, to take risks that comes with that diversity, and an inspiration that comes from bearing witness to so many others chasing different dreams. It's part of what made me fall madly in love with Melbourne and why I'm so grateful it's my Australian home. 

How can Melbourne strengthen its position as a global hub for climate action, social justice, and thought leadership and how can the upcoming event, An Evening with Jean Oelwang & Sharan Burrow, help get us there? 

Melbourne already has the ingredients – world-class universities, progressive policies, and engaged citizens. The next level comes from creating what I call "unlikely alliances" across sectors that don't typically collaborate. 

The challenge is that too many important conversations happen in silos. We need spaces where the tech innovators can engage with policy makers, where activists can collaborate with business leaders, and where academic insights can be translated into practical applications that communities can implement. 

An event like this creates precisely that kind of cross-pollination. When you bring together proven changemakers like Jean and Sharan with Melbourne's innovators and decision-makers, you're not just sharing ideas – you're creating the conditions for new partnerships and breakthrough solutions that none of them could achieve alone. 

We love having you at MCEC. What trends are you seeing in how events are evolving, and how can organisers use them to foster meaningful event experiences? 

Well, I love being at MCEC! The most significant shift I'm seeing is toward collaborative, immersive experiences rather than traditional "knowledge sharing" presentations. People want to be engaged. They want to walk away feeling like "I'm so glad I was in the room for that." 

There's now a greater emphasis on how you want people to feel at the end of an event and designing every aspect around that outcome. Priya Parker's work on the art of gathering has been so instructive here – it's about creating experiences where participants become active contributors rather than passive recipients. 

Separately, there's growing demand for applied insights. More and more, I'm brought into events worldwide to help simplify complexity, connect dots, and help people leave with practical takeaways they can implement. Events are moving beyond inspiration to transformation – helping people close that gap between knowing and doing. 

Looking ahead to 2035, what kind of Melbourne do you want to see, and how can events and collaborations help get us there? 

I want Melbourne to become the world's laboratory for solving wicked problems – where breakthrough solutions to climate change, inequality, and technological disruption are born and scaled globally. 

Picture AI researchers collaborating with ethics experts to navigate automation's impact on work, or urban planners working with Indigenous knowledge holders to create climate-resilient communities. With AI set to disrupt entire economic sectors, spaces for collaborative problem-solving will be more critical than ever. 

Events create collision moments, but they need to go beyond networking to provide both the inspiration and practical pathways for action. The most powerful gatherings combine the motivation people need to tackle big challenges with concrete next steps they can take immediately. 

You often talk about "restructuring complex problems so people can act." Can you unpack what that means, and share how event organisers might use this approach to inspire real-world change? 

One of the roles I play is breaking down big, complex topics into digestible, human-sized pieces that people believe they can influence. My passion is helping people – individually and collectively – close the 'knowing and doing gap.' 

There are two key pieces: first, making information relevant, relatable and digestible. People need to understand what this means for them and why it matters. Second, they need to understand how to try that idea on for size – the "now what." 

For event organisers, this shows up in everything from speaker selection to content design, but also in post-event support. Events are like drinking from an informational fire hose – we're asking audiences to return to busy lives and somehow translate inspiration into action. We can do more to bridge that gap with follow-up nudges that prompt micro actions for macro impact. 

How can connecting unlikely allies, as you've done throughout your career, accelerate the kind of climate and social justice outcomes that An Evening with Jean Oelwang & Sharan Burrow is championing? 

When we started Energy Disruptors – the award-winning event I co-founded in Canada – we began with a hypothesis that in the energy sector, as in most sectors, we were having conversations in silos versus across the whole value chain, and that ultimately progress required collaboration that could only begin if we started talking to one another. 

When we brought together oil and gas executives, renewable energy entrepreneurs, and environmental advocates, initial scepticism gave way to genuine collaboration as people realised they shared more common ground than they expected. The breakthrough came when participants stopped seeing each other as opponents and started recognising complementary expertise. 

The climate and social justice challenges we face are too complex for any single sector to solve alone. Events that deliberately cross traditional boundaries create opportunities for the kind of innovative partnerships that can drive real, scalable change. 

Women are leading some of the most impactful climate movements in the world. What do you see as the unique strengths and perspectives they bring to driving change? 

Research shows women often bring "systems thinking" to leadership – seeing interconnections and long-term consequences others miss. In climate action, this translates to understanding how environmental issues connect to social justice, economic inequality, and community resilience. 

Look at Christiana Figueres orchestrating the Paris Agreement through bridge-building across traditional divides, Vandana Shiva's work connecting biodiversity with social justice, or Wangari Maathai demonstrating how environmental restoration empowers communities – particularly women. 

Most powerfully, women in climate leadership often combine moral urgency with pragmatic solutions. They want concrete, measurable progress and hold systems accountable for results. That's not uniquely feminine – it's diverse leadership approaches that have been historically undervalued finally getting space to drive the change we desperately need. 

In an increasingly digital world, what do you think face-to-face events offer that can't be replicated online? 

I could talk about this all day – I'm so passionate about live events! But let me start by grounding us in the neuroscience: physical presence releases oxytocin in ways virtual interactions can't replicate, creating foundations for deep collaboration and trust. 

But there's also something beautifully human about breaking bread together that fosters connection at a deeper level. One benefit digital technology affords Australia is making knowledge more accessible – we suffer from the tyranny of distance, making it challenging to bring global contributors to our ideas exchange. 

The magic happens in those unplanned moments – corridor conversations, shared meals, the collective energy when hundreds of people experience breakthrough thinking together. Virtual can facilitate effective information sharing, but if we want to catalyse collaboration and deepen culture, we need to bring people together in person. 

How important are venues like ours in creating the space for ambitious ideas and real-world change? 

I don't think we talk enough about 'place and space' when it comes to change. There's substantial research showing how powerfully our environment shapes our thinking. 'How' and 'where' has a huge bearing on the quality of the 'what' we're discussing and the outcomes we achieve. 

Venues like MCEC understand you're not just providing space – you're creating conditions where transformative conversations happen. The physical environment signals to participants that what happens here matters and deserves their best thinking. 

The best venues become partners in creating experiences that drive real outcomes, thinking beyond logistics to consider how space, flow, and atmosphere can amplify breakthrough moments and collaborative action. 

From your own journey, what lessons can you share about breaking barriers and creating space for more women to lead in climate action? 

One crucial lesson is to actively create opportunities rather than waiting for invitations. Build your expertise, understand the landscape, and position yourself to lead on the issues you care about. When you consistently deliver value and demonstrate impact, you earn the platform to tackle bigger challenges. 

I've also learned that coalition-building is everything. The most effective advocates aren't lone voices but bridge-builders who can connect diverse stakeholders around shared goals. This means understanding different perspectives and finding common ground where progress becomes possible. 

Most importantly, use whatever platform you have to elevate other voices. The goal isn't just securing your own space at the table, but ensuring the table expands to include diverse perspectives that lead to better decisions for everyone's future. 

Who's inspiring your thinking and approach right now? 

One of the joys of my job is I'm fortunate enough to be working with incredible leaders, thinkers and world champions who continuously inspire me. When it comes to the topics we're discussing on October 2 – climate change and social justice – I'm particularly drawn to leaders who demonstrate that massive impact is possible. 

Paul Polman, former CEO of Unilever, revolutionised how we think about sustainable business by proving you can deliver strong returns while addressing global challenges like climate change and inequality. His decades-long thinking approach offers a powerful counter to quarterly capitalism. 

José Andrés at World Central Kitchen shows the courage to show up and do something monumentally difficult in dangerous scenarios, helping feed millions and connect communities in the process. His work demonstrates how to scale compassion through systematic innovation. 

And I have to mention Jane Tewson, Founder and CEO of Igniting Change, a long-time mentor of mine who's a partner in bringing this very event together. Jane's approach, which she terms “Meet the People, Feel the Issues”, and the incredible trail of impact she’s blazed show how connecting people across traditional boundaries creates systemic change focused on practical outcomes rather than just awareness-raising. 

Conversations like this are exactly why MCEC exists, to bring people together, ignite new ideas and create the kind of alliances that move the world forward. Hosting An Evening with Jean Oelwang & Sharan Burrow is part of our commitment to being a place for future-making events, where justice, climate and leadership are explored not just as ideas, but as catalysts for change. 

Book your seat today and be part of a future-making event.