PIONEERING business leaders from around the world gathered at a Brighton conference for people who believe in better working in the 21st century.

Meaning 2014, curated by people and culture consultancy NixonMcInnes, sold a record number of tickets for the conference and filled the Corn Exchange. World-class speakers shared their business ideology, kicking off with Mark Stevenson’s take on accelerating technological advancements and the need for organisations to change and be more agile.

The founder of Positive Money, Ben Dyson, asked Meaning delegates to imagine what a modern and sustain- able financial system could look like.

His talk precedes this Thursday’s debate in Parliament on money cre- ation – the first in 170 years.

Founder of HacKIDemia, Stefania Druga, showed why the AfriMakers scheme has succeeded where larger, top-down community schemes in Africa have failed.

And Austin Powers actor Neil Mullarkey closed the conference with a taste of improvisation and its role in developing deeper trust and collabora- tion at work.

The event also offered visitors the chance to connect with like-minded people through interactive workshops based around the conference’s main themes.

It covered organisational design and structure, workplace democratisation, conscious business, 21st century leadership, the future of money, steady state economics and sus- tainability in business and technology.

Tom Nixon, NixonMcInnes founder and Meaning curator, said: “Meaning is a conference that’s dedicated to inspir- ing and connecting people around the core belief of better business.

“This year’s event sold a record num- ber of tickets, which is evidence of the growing movement.

“More people than ever are starting to recognise the need for better, mean- ingful business and purpose in the world.” Meaning will return to Brighton’s Corn Exchange on November 12 next year.

To keep up to date follow the storys- tream and to see clips from Tuesday’s event visit www.meaningconference.co.uk.