The Canva Sydney Summit was Epic

I landed back in Glasgow almost a month ago after a huge trip to Australia for Canva’s Sydney Summit. It was part of the new The Canva World Tour. These events have been happening everywhere through October and November with a mix of live and virtual sessions. Creativity on a global scale if you will!

Because the journey from Scotland to Sydney is no joke, I went out ten days early. I wanted time to explore. Time to reset. Time to make sure any hint of jetlag was long gone before the big week began. Best decision ever.

In this post, I’ll share a bit about the adventure for anyone who likes a behind the scenes glimpse. If you only want the Canva stuff, scroll down for five of my favourite Canva updates from the Summit.

Note this post contains affiliate links.

Canva Verified Experts – Unite Down Under

There are currently 46 Canva Verified Experts, I believe, and around 32 CVEs from 22 countried united for a week of Canva bonding.

We had a drinks party for opening night on the Monday. Tuesday we were treated to omelettes at Canva’s HQ – prepared especially for us.

After that we had a tour of the buildings. A fave part of mine was the Canva characiture wall with hand drawings for Canvaversaries.

My 12th Canvaversary is coming up soon, I wonder if I will get one. (I wish…)

Fabulous Fireside with Cliff

I’ve been lucky enough to cross paths with Canva co-founder Cliff Obrecht a few times now. The first time was in San Jose back in July 2014 at the BlogHer conference. Canva was nearly a year old. Then again in London a few years ago.

But Sydney was different. This time, a small group of us CVEs got to hear him speak directly to our wee posse, which felt pretty special.

He talked openly about Canva’s mission, where the platform is heading, the features they’re most excited about, and he took questions from our group. It was one of those rare moments where you’re reminded just how much heart sits behind the product we use every day.

And yes, we got photos. Well, sort of. Apparently I was one of the few who didn’t get the official shot (typical!), but thankfully my friend Ferdi from Turkey rescued the moment with some phone pics. Thanks Ferdi! Not glamorous…but definitely proof that I was there…

Meet the Fellow CVEs

We were asked to do 5 slides to introduce who we are to our fellow experts. That was an absolute highlight learning about where everyone lives, what they’re passionate about and their biggest achievements for 2025 was. Below are my five!

Truthfully, I struggled to come up with my “big win” for 2025, but eventually shared that I celebrated the 25th anniversary of my website soyouvebeendumped.com.

Pizza on Canva’s Roof

The day ended with the opportunity to make our own pizzas on Canva’s rooftop. We could roll out the dough, add the toppings and it was slid into a pizza oven and cooked for us there and then.

Even though I worked at a pizza parlour in high school in the ’80s, mine pretty much sucked.

Over the next few days, we had meetings with program leads, (a personal highlight!), sightseeing across Sydney and a meal out in a place that wasn’t to my sensitive disposition. I ended up paying for it later. But the piece de resistance was the Canva Summit.

Canva Summit – 30 October 2025

What can I say? It was the perfect way to round off a packed week. We were a bit tired from a full day of sightseeing, but completely wired to be in a room with nearly 3,000 Canva staff, teams, Canvanauts and everything in between.

And somehow we managed to snag seats in the first few rows, which meant we had a front-row view of all the action. How cool is that?

There were so many updates – the headline ones everyone was buzzing about, and then a whole bunch that were slipped in with a casual slide or passing mention. The kind that make you think, “Hang on…did they just announce that?!”

I thought I’d just limit this post to five of my favourites. Are you ready? Let’s go!

5 Canva Updates That I Was Most Excited About:

1. Canva Forms

This one’s a game-changer. Canva Forms takes your content – think websites, quizzes, polls, whatever you’re building – and makes it properly dynamic.

You can choose from loads of form types, and everything feeds straight into a connected Canva Sheet. No extra tools. No faff. Just clean, instant data.

I even made my own “Contact Thea” form today so people can finally reach me easily (long overdue!).

Still figuring out how to make my beloved Barlow font look a bit bolder in the form – Barlow Black technically works – but it felt a tad agressive.

I just want my simple Barlow Bold, thank you very much. Fingers crossed that tweak appears soon.

And after much persuasion by a certain Boy London, I now have the makings of a list for my Canva Insiders and here’s how you can join via my brand new Canva form, naturally!

Join my Canva Insiders Club here

2. Style Match

Next up: Style Match – one of the most fun updates of the whole Summit. It lets you instantly switch your element into a completely different artistic style, and there are loads to play with.

Here’s the full line-up (as far as I can tell!):

• Handmade styles: Scrapbook, Watercolour, Painterly, Cartoon, Etching, Doodle, Line Art, Sketch, Linocut
• Trendy styles: Chrome, Lo-Fi, Pixel Art, Risograph, Pop Art, Low Poly, Iridescent, Gold, Silver, Orange, Green, Pink
• Realistic styles: 3D Art, Clay, Plush, Marble

3. Copy Art Style

This feature is very similar to Style Match, and honestly, I love it for all the same reasons.

I’ve always been a fan of the old “Copy Style” button, but now it’s had a glow-up. You can choose between:

• Copy Art Style (Pro feature)

• Copy Basic Style

Both are brilliant for matching elements and keeping your visuals consistent across a design. Perfect for branding, social graphics, and especially things like T-shirt designs where consistency really matters.

Using it is simple:
Open your design, add your elements, click the one whose style you want to copy, then tap the wee roller icon at the top right. Choose your style option, click the next element — and boom, instant match.

And yes, Copy Art Style is a Canva Pro feature…but don’t panic.
I’ve got your back — you can try Canva Pro here.

4. Text Gradient

This one’s pretty self-explanatory, but worth celebrating: you can now create text gradients directly inside Canva’s editor — no need to jump into third-party apps unless you want to. Some of those apps are still fun to play with, but for simple, clean gradients, the built-in tool does the job beautifully.

Using it is a cinch:
On desktop, tap T to add text, choose your font, click the colour palette, then click it again to switch between solid and gradient. Add as many colours as you like — go subtle, go bold, or go full rainbow (perfect for a cheerful design moment or Pride themed graphics).

Honestly, this one’s just fun. Enjoy it!

5.Ask Canva AI – Design Suggestions and AI Element Editing

I’ve been having a lot of fun with this feature already, and I’ve seen some brilliant videos of it in action. You can now ask Canva’s AI to tweak specific elements in your design – make something more vibrant, adjust colours, refine shapes, you name it. It can even offer suggestions on how to improve the overall layout.

I’m testing it a bit more each day, seeing what it’s capable of. As with any AI tool, the magic is in how you ask. Prompting matters – the old “garbage in, garbage out” rule definitely applies here.

In my example, I asked it to make a light bulb more vibrant and, honestly, it did a pretty solid job.

Affinity Says What?

Meanwhile, in “plot twists nobody asked for,” Affinity decided to make their whole suite free. Forever. Sure. Casual.

It’s honestly a miracle any of us are keeping up. I haven’t explored it yet, but it’s firmly pencilled in for 2026 – probably with snacks..

That’s a Wrap

And that’s just scratching the surface. Droptober delivered dozens of new Canva updates – the brand-new video editor everyone’s buzzing about (I’m still getting my head around it!), heaps of new shapes, Record Your Own Voiceover, an overhauled Brand Kit that I’ve been loving demoing…you can even download Canva Code now. It was a lot.

This post covers just a few of my favourites, and yes, it took me weeks to pull together.

I’d love to know: which update are you most excited about?

About-Me…

Oh, and if you’re new here, hi, I’m Thea. Canva Verified Expert, trainer, retro-tech fangirl and long-time believer that design should feel fun, not like a slow, painful wobble through a maze of buttons.

I run Canva workshops, 1:1 sessions and VIP Days for anyone who wants to feel faster, clearer and a bit more “oh look, I actually made something nice!” in their everyday design life.

If you want to pick my brain, tidy up your Canva chaos or just get a bit of clarity for 2026, you can:

Contact me through my form 
Book a free 20-mon Clarity Call
Join my new Canva Insiders Club now!