Tropic Tech & Innovation Network

09/09/2026

🤖 What AI agents are actually doing in customer support right now

Free evening talk at Tropic Tech, Thursday 17 September.

Richard from Sabel Customer Success implements AI support agents for real teams and watches what happens after go-live. One hour on what's working in live support queues, what's quietly falling over, and how to tell the two apart. Then open Q&A for as long as the questions keep coming.

Thinking about AI for your own support channel? Come with your situation and leave with a first move.

📅 Thu 17 Sept, 5pm
📍 Tropic Tech, 254 Mulgrave Rd, Cairns
🎫 Free, registration required

Save your seat 👉 https://www.tropictech.com.au/event-details/what-ai-agents-are-actually-doing-in-customer-support-right-now

An hour of what is genuinely working in live support queues, what is quietly falling over, and how to tell the two apart. Then open Q&A for as long as the questions keep coming.

08/09/2026

Last chance to grab your seat at Facilitation 101 this Thursday with Tara Diversi from Tropic Tech & Innovation Network.

You'll leave with practical tools: facilitating from the background, asking better questions, listening so people feel heard, and the preparation that makes facilitators seem spontaneous.

🗓 Thursday 10 September | 5pm for 5:15pm start – 6:30pm
📍 Jabiru Event Space @ Upstairs Tropic Tech
🎟 $35 — members, check the app for your discount.

Book now 👇

Get to outcomes, not just conversations — an introduction to facilitation skills with Tara Diversi.

07/09/2026

Your logo came out of Midjourney. Your website copy came out of ChatGPT. Your code has Copilot’s fingerprints all over it.

Who owns any of it?

Most businesses haven’t asked, and the answer tends to matter at exactly the wrong moment: when you’re licensing your work, selling the business, publishing research, or trying to stop someone else using what you made.

On Friday 18 September, Donna Pattane of DRIPL Legal is running a 90-minute workshop in Cairns on AI, copyright and your business. Donna is an IP lawyer and trademark attorney who has spent the past decade helping startups and scaleups protect their IP, including several years with AusIndustry as a Commercialisation and Growth Advisor. She works in plain English, not legalese.

You’ll leave knowing what copyright law says about AI-generated work, where your business is exposed, and what to fix first.

For small business owners, startups, researchers, and anyone with an idea they’d like to still own in five years.

📍 TTIN, 254–256 Mulgrave Road, Westcourt

🗓 Friday 18 September, 9:00–10:30am

🎟 $35 | Register: https://www.tropictech.com.au/event-details/you-prompted-it-but-do-you-own-it-ai-copyright-your-business

The logo came out of Midjourney. The website copy came out of ChatGPT. So who owns them?

03/09/2026

If your meetings end in conversations instead of decisions, Facilitation 101 with Tara Diversi is for you. One evening, practical skills you'll use the next morning.

🗓 Thursday 10 September | 5pm for 5:15pm start – 6:30pm
📍Upstairs @ Tropic Tech
🎟 $35 GA — members, check the app.

Spots are limited — don't leave it too late 👇

Get to outcomes, not just conversations — an introduction to facilitation skills with Tara Diversi.

31/08/2026

🤔 Ever left a meeting thinking, "That was an hour of talking — and we decided nothing"?

The difference between a conversation that goes in circles and one that gets somewhere is rarely the topic, the people, or the time available. It's facilitation.

On Thursday 10 September, join Tara Diversi for Facilitation 101 at the Tropic Tech & Innovation Network — an introduction to the skills that turn meetings, presentations and conversations into outcomes.

You'll get an introduction to:

🎯 Building the confidence to guide a room — without dominating it

🤫 Facilitating from the background, so the conversation stays theirs but the progress is yours

❓ Asking the right questions to move things forward

👂 Effective listening — hearing what's actually being said, and drawing out what isn't

📋 The extensive preparation behind facilitators who seem effortlessly spontaneous

"These are skills I've built and used across my work as a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP), psychologist, and as a Chair and board member — in boardrooms, workshops and stakeholder sessions where getting to a decision actually mattered."

This is a 101 — you won't walk out an expert, but you will walk out knowing what great facilitation looks like, which skills to build, and a few things you can start practising in your very next meeting.

📍 Tropic Tech & Innovation Network, 254–256 Mulgrave Road, Westcourt

🗓 Thursday 10 September

🕛 5:00pm for a 5:15pm start — wrapped up by 6:30pm

🎟 $35 GA — members, check the app.

Get to outcomes, not just conversations — an introduction to facilitation skills with Tara Diversi.

31/08/2026

🎮 Game Development with AI — this Thursday!

Tristan from Speakeasy is back at the September Dev Meetup to show us how AI is changing the way games get made.

Into games, AI, or cool tech? Join us after work — free entry, refreshments provided, great people.

📅 Thu 3 Sept, 5–7pm
📍 GBR Event Space, Tropic Tech, 254 Mulgrave Rd, Cairns

RSVP 👉 https://www.tropictech.com.au/event-details/tropic-tech-dev-meetup-2026-09-03-17-00

A monthly meetup for developers, programmers, engineers and other techy folk to network and learn from visiting speakers.

19/07/2026

☕ Startup Social Coffee Meetup — tomorrow!

Founders, small biz owners and anyone with an entrepreneurial streak: come start your Tuesday with good coffee and even better company.

🗓 Tue 21 July, 8–10am
📍 Downstairs at Tropic Tech, 254 Mulgrave Rd
(look for the GBR Event Space sign, next to the florist)

Free to attend — just RSVP so we know how many cups to pour. Bring what you're working on and swap ideas with people who get it. See you there! 👇

A monthly meetup for startup founders, small business owners and anyone with an entrepreneurial streak.

10/07/2026

💻 One of the best parts of building a local innovation ecosystem is creating opportunities for people to connect.

Last week's Tropic Tech Developer Meetup brought together software developers, founders, students and technology professionals from across Far North Queensland for another evening of networking, collaboration and knowledge sharing.

A huge thank you to Craig Lawton, Principal AI & Data Technologist at Amazon Web Services for joining us and sharing his experience with our community.

Our monthly Developer Meetups, delivered through the Launch Y(E)P Regional Enablers Program, are designed to bring together people who are passionate about technology, software development, AI and innovation.

Whether you're an experienced developer, a student, a founder, or simply curious about emerging technology, you're welcome.

📅 First Thursday of every month
🕔 5:00–7:00 PM
📍 Tropic Tech & Innovation Network

👉 Know someone who'd enjoy these conversations? Tag them below, share this post, or bring them along next month!

Together, we're building a stronger technology community in Far North Queensland. 💜

26/06/2026

🤖 AI is changing the way customers discover businesses—and the businesses that prepare now will be the ones found tomorrow.

A huge thank you to Ivana Galic for an engaging and practical AI Search Workshop at Tropic Tech, where local founders and business owners explored how platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity are reshaping online discovery.

We're proud to continue bringing our innovation community together to learn, connect and stay ahead of emerging technology.

Here's a quick recap of some of the key insights from the session. 🚀

23/06/2026

🚨 2 days to go!

Last chance to grab your seat at Get Found in ChatGPT, Perplexity & Gemini this Thursday with Ivana Galic.

AI search isn't coming — it's here. If your business isn't being recommended, your competitors are getting those customers instead. Walk out with a plan to fix it.

🗓 Thu 25 June 2026 | 10:00–11:30am
📍 Ulysses Event Space @ Tropic Tech
🎟 $35 — members, check the app for your exclusive discount code!

Book now 👇

Hands-on 90min workshop for founders and small business owners — find out how AI search sees your brand and leave with a plan to win the recommendations.