FOBA 2026: Two Weeks, Seven Cities, and a Theme the Community Built
Key Takeaways
- FOBA 2026 runs October 12 across two formats: one week online, one week in-person across Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney, Wellington, and Auckland
- This year's theme was crowdsourced from the community: Adapt, Align, and Accelerate—and AI isn't one of them deliberately
- The program goes well beyond AI: sessions on political quotient, performance under pressure, career reinvention, and what it means to own context in a fast-changing profession
- Early bird pricing runs through the end of July: group tickets are available for teams attending together
- Business Analysis Live will preview the event on July 29: catch the episode before registering to hear directly from the organizers and speakers
Every year, the Festival of Business Analysis picks a theme built from three words. This year, IIBA Australia did something a little different: instead of a planning committee handing down the theme, they crowdsourced it from the community. The result is Adapt, Align, and Accelerate—and for anyone keeping count, AI isn't one of the three.
That's not an oversight. It reveals what this year's program is built around.
IIBA Community Manager Susan Moore will sit down with FOBA's organizers and a handful of this year's speakers on an upcoming episode of Business Analysis Live! This conversation will give you a taste of what's waiting for you at FOBA.
Here's what's worth knowing before you decide whether to go.
A Festival AND a Conference
FOBA earned its name honestly. The first event was held at Luna Park in Sydney Harbour (an actual theme park), and the festival format has stuck ever since. This year runs in two distinct phases. The first week, starting Monday, October 12, is entirely online, which opens the program to anyone in the world. The second week goes in-person across seven cities: Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Sydney in Australia, plus Wellington and Auckland in New Zealand.
New this year, FOBA is expanding its Beam Out livestream, which lets local business analysis communities host their own watch parties tied into the main Sydney conference feed. Last year it reached Geelong and Hobart. This year, organizers are exploring extending it as far as Singapore.
A Lineup Built on Rigour
FOBA is known for its vetting process: full interviews and speech demos before anyone gets a slot. And this year's program includes some speakers you won’t want to miss.
Brisbane welcomes two-time Olympian and Commonwealth Games medalist Mel Marshall for a session on performance under pressure. Shane Hastie, CBAP #140 and a core contributor to the BABOK Guide, is delivering the closing keynote in five cities. The leadership track features Dr. Terry Roach and Damian Wilson on AI and business analysis work, alongside Filip Hendrickx, Jamie Champagne, and others across the online and in-person program.
Some topics can’t just be talked about—they need to be worked through. This year that’s organizational politics. Sharon Robson and Will McNellis of Core State Consulting will introduce you to the concept of a political quotient and why office politics are something worth understanding, not avoiding. Will's advice: leave the org chart at home, because the real map of power in an organization rarely matches it.
Vaughan Luckman of Luckman Beyond BA makes the case that business analysis professionals are the kings and queens of context, and they can't afford to wait for a seat at the table to be offered. Shane Hastie, drawing on Jeff Patton, puts it plainly: the job isn't to gather requirements. The job is to change the world. He’ll share that message in five custom-crafted closing keynotes.
Don't Wait on Tickets
Early bird pricing has been extended through the end of July, and group tickets are available for teams looking to attend together. Full agendas, speaker bios, and city-by-city schedules are live now at festivalofbusinessanalysis.org.
Want a preview before you register? The July 29 episode of Business Analysis Live! sits down with the FOBA organizers and several of this year's speakers. Catch it first, then go lock in your ticket before early bird pricing disappears.
About the Author
Tiffani Iacolino is a Senior Manager, Marketing at IIBA and has over 15 years of marketing experience across the legal, technology, telecommunications, publishing, media, and professional services industries. She’s passionate about delivering meaningful products and solutions to the business analysis community. Hailing from the Greater Toronto Area, she enjoys an amazing cup of coffee, running, and yoga—between chasing her two adorable children!
