There is a CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK given below which needs to be marketed via a creative advertising campaign. Based on the situation of the CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK, a Rubick’s cube to be used as a visual element for the creative advertising campaign. Write an advertising creative concept linking the situation of the CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK and its theme “PERFECT STORM” and the adaptation of the Rubik’s cube as the creative advertising concept for the advertising campaign. Adapt the concept the shuffled Rubik’s cube as the current macro-economic challenges and the complicated process of solving the sides of the cube as strategies to mitigate the challenges. Connect the characteristics of the Rubik’s cube to the situation of the CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK and the 6 sides of the Rubik’s cube to the 6 IMPORTANT STRATEGIC TOPICS that will be focused as future strategic sessions. 

“NATIONAL CONFERENCE”
This is a national event organized by the CA Sri Lanka to address the current macro-economic challenges faced by Sri Lanka and to provide recommendations of possible strategies and solutions to mitigate the challenges.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF “NATIONAL CONFERENCE”
The main focus of the National Conference 2022 was the strategy of ‘transform’. Under this theme, we discussed Transformation at the Individual, Societal, Corporate and Country level. Last Year’s conference had many novel features as we did away with panel discussions and had more than one speaker per session and also included a Fireside Chat which was well received by the audience judging by the feedback received.

Unfortunately, nothing much has changed since the last conference in almost any area that were deliberated such as SOE transformation, Innovation, tapping into global value chains and economic reforms. We are still awaiting EFF from IMF as if that is going to solve all our woes. Except for IMF dictated price hikes in energy and steep increase in personal taxes which will have a severe impact on middle class and industries particularly the SMEs no progress has been made to think beyond the crisis. Of greater concern is the lack of empathy displayed by the political masters and moves to suppress democratic dissent rather than and honest dialogue with the population and efforts to rally them towards a bold vision for the country.

The biggest casualty in this scenario is our human resources particularly the youth who leave the country in large numbers as they see no hope. We have witnessed an unprecedented brain drain in the country.

Amidst this background , the Conference Technical Committee felt that we should think beyond this crisis and deliberate on the opportunities on the premise that we are in a ‘perfect storm’. The caveat in this analogy is that a Storm is a natural disaster whereas this storm is man-made.!

However, this storm will also pass but the length of time taken to arrive at a safer shore and reduce the things that we have to jettison will depend on the moves we make now. Sri Lanka needs to leap-frog, embrace technology and adopt lateral thinking rather linear thinking not only to get over the crisis but to prosper as a nation sustainably.

WHAT ARE THE OPPORTUNITIES?
The committee has broad consensus that we should have a greater focus on AI and digitalization in this year’s conference. Accordingly, the following session line up of 6 IMPORTANT STRATEGIC TOPICS. 

6 IMPORTANT STRATEGIC TOPICS
1.	Facing the storm with courage
2.	Leveraging AI and Digitalization to drive efficiency - AI & digitalization policy framework for the country / Tackling Fraud and Corruption through Digitalization
3.	Opportunities in selected industries - Opportunities to harness AI in the Agri industry and healthcare sector 
4.	Transform the Economy – Blue economy and green innovation
5.	Walking the Talk- Successful Start-up Stories – Success Stories
6.	Fireside Chat