You were probably there. And if you weren’t, your LinkedIn feed has almost certainly told you about it by now.
More than 400 people turned out at the University of Wollongong to hear Canva co-founder Melanie Perkins in conversation with Dr Karl Kruszelnicki.
The invitation gave no venue beyond UOW. On arrival, guests followed a trail of blue balloons to the Hope Theatre, where drinks were being served in the foyer. Canvanauts (Canva employees) handed out wristbands. Security checked them at the door.
“It’s a bit like an underground rave,” one attendee said.
For the city’s Canva devotees, it may have been the year’s biggest event.
Enthusiastic humble-brag social media posts hit the high notes: dream big, believe in your idea, keep going when people say no, and determination is a muscle.
But the evening was about more Canva love-fest. Perkins was in the area to support Wollongong Goals, a project with Wollongong City Council that asks people to name one goal they want to see achieved in their lifetime, for their city, for Australia, and for the world.
Canva’s origin story is familiar by now: the yearbook business, the printer in Perkins’ mother’s living room and the long run of investor rejections.
The Wollongong connection is less well known. Perkins told the UOW audience that Canva tested an early version of its software at the university before launch. The feedback helped convince the team they were ready.
More than a decade later, she has returned with another idea to test in Wollongong. Perkins said she had been thinking for 10 years about giving people a way to express their goals for the future.
Dr Karl asked why she had chosen Wollongong. The early Canva test was part of the answer. Perkins said the other was finding willing partners in Lord Mayor Tania Brown and Wollongong City Council.
“We were so lucky to really find kindred spirits with the Lord Mayor and the council,” she said.
“They [agreed to] take the risk, to be courageous, to hear from different ends of society that you don’t normally hear much from, and came on this journey with us without knowing where it’ll lead.”
More than 8,000 goals have already been submitted.
Perkins said it was clear that there was a desire for places to gather, footpaths and trees.
Perkins argued that putting those ambitions into words could show where residents want to take their city, and where council, community groups and businesses might have reason to work together.
“I think that the opportunity is that if we get collectively clear on the vision that we want, ideally we’re all so excited that we want to contribute to bring that into existence.
“So ideally it’s the council, ideally it’s community, ideally it’s schools and businesses helping to bring these goals into existence.”
Dr Karl pressed Perkins on what would happen after the goals were collected. She said Canva would work with the council on a report examining the submissions. She also suggested more could be coming.
“We are discussing a couple of interesting ideas, which I will not go into today,” she said, before adding: “Watch this space.”
You can submit your goal via wollongonggoals.org.