Friday's Sohn Hearts & Minds conference is barely in the rear view mirror, but already Hobart's Federation Concert Hall is almost entirely booked solid for next year's event, taking place on November 13 for the first time on the Apple Isle. Which, at $3500 a ticket, shows how popular the thing's become.

The stock-picking conference has raised more than $10 million for medical research in its first four years, and was lured to Melbourne in 2018 with the inducement of a big cheque from Premier Investments billionaire Solomon Lew. Next year, it's Premier Will Hodgman, or more accurately, the Tasmanian taxpayer, in the benefactor's role.