What’s happening in Tech Week 2024 in Canterbury?
We wanted to warmly invite our community to get involved in Canterbury Tech’s efforts for NZ Tech Week from May 20-26. We are renaming the tech week hub that we started last year and calling it Canterbury TechFest or just TechFest for short.
Tech Fest 2024
In 2023, Canterbury Tech tried something new for NZ Tech Week by hosting a central hub with the Canterbury community. We sourced content from lots of members, non-members and partners around the city. This year we are building on the success of last year (900+ attendees) and expect to double our attendance numbers this year based on current attendance levels to our other events.
This year’s format
Here’s how we will roll this year:
Location: Tūranga, Christchurch Central Library: 1st Floor (TSB & Activity Rooms)
What: Canterbury Tech Fest – a 5 day festival for Tech Week 2024
Dates: Monday 20th May – Friday 24th May
Theme: Tech for the World
Attendance: 1000 – 2000 people
Costs: Free for Canterbury Tech Members/ $35 + GST for non-members
Access the full event calendar of Tech Fest for free when you join our Canterbury Tech Membership.
More info on our membership can be found here.
Tech Fest – Proposed 5 day Outline
Each of the days of Canterbury TechFest has a theme – we will be looking for speakers, workshops and a Day sponsor. Which day appeals most to you?
Monday – The Future of Health and Wellness Day – What’s next for wellbeing, health and biosciences?
Tuesday – The Future of Big Ideas Day – Join the world of startups in Christchurch
Wednesday – Woven Cultures in Digitech – A day for school children. In collaboration with Te Ao Matihiko and Tangata Moana Trust and ChristchurchNZ
Thursday – The Future of Environment & Sustainability Day Including a hackathon
Friday – Using Tech in Your Business Day How to incorporate tech into your business, a day to look at opportunities to work smarter.
Proposed Day Structure
| Each day at the TechFest venue will run from 10am-5pm with the option to add on a Sponsored breakfast or evening networking events.
There are 4-5 core sessions each day with 1/2 hour networking after each session.
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| 8.30am – 9.30am | Workshop / Breakfast Event (Sponsored) |
| 10.00am – 11.00am | Session / Workshop |
| 11.30am – 12.30pm | Early Lunch – Keynote Speaker |
| 1.00pm – 2.00pm | Late Lunch – Keynote Speaker |
| 2.30pm – 3.30pm | Session / Workshop |
| 4.00pm – 5.00pm | Session / Workshop |
| 5.30pm – 7.30pm | Evening Event (Sponsored) |
Becoming a Speaker or Session Facilitator
We are looking for speakers and workshops that fit the themes of these days.
The sessions should be focussed on sharing knowledge and experience with the audience and is NOT a pitch or sales spot. By establishing trust with your audience you are more likely to make connections. You may have an ask at the end of your session eg. we are looking for ‘x’ contact us for more info…
Who is Tech Fest for?
The audience will be a mix of disciplines including business owners, software developers, engineers, scientists, inventors, students, doctors, environmentalists, recruiters and managers, so you are welcome to dive into technical topics but be prepared to explain some basic concepts first so as not to lose your non-technical audience.
Hourly Speaking Session Structure
Each hour speaking session will generally have this structure. Sessions should develop 20-25 minutes of material.
Slides should concentrate on images and avoid long bullet points or text of what the speaker will cover.
| MC Introduction, Mihi, Health and Safety | 5 minutes |
| MC updates | 5 minutes |
| Sponsor’s message | 3 minutes |
| Speaker / Panel | 20 – 25 minutes |
| MC Questions | 10 – 15 minutes |
| MC Wrap Up | 5 minutes |
| Networking | 30 minutes (Between Sessions) |
If you’d like to run a workshop think about:
- How long do you need?
- What actionable insights are the audience likely to get?
- What equipment will they need? What prior knowledge would they need?
- Can you provide them with a worksheet so they walk away with something tangible?
How to get involved in Tech Fest at Tūranga
Speakers / Session Facilitator – EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST NOW CLOSED.
- Thanks for your interest, however our expressions of interest are now closed.
- We are working through the applications and will be back in touch with everyone shortly.
- If you need to be in touch please email [email protected]
- We’ll be looking to finalise the programme by the end of March.
- If your event is accepted then we will allocate you a time slot and our Tech Fest team will add it to our marketing schedule. If you aren’t accepted you are still welcome to run your event at your own venue but will need to apply through the TechWeek website
- There is no charge for running your event at the Tech Fest venue. Canterbury Tech is a not-for-profit members organisation helping our tech community to connect and grow – if you can afford to contribute to the festival please do – every little bit helps.
Note: Canterbury Tech will run the ticketing, AV, venue management, sponsorship etc.
How to run your own event: Any other venue
You are welcome to hold events anywhere in Canterbury for the duration of Tech Week.
You can apply on the usual Tech Week website from 26th February 2024 by creating a login on the Tech Week website here. There is a koha that goes to NZ Tech for running your own event.
Sponsorship – Support the community
We also have Sponsorship opportunities for each day available if you’d like to find out more please download the Tech Fest Sponsorship prospectus or be in contact with Alex at [email protected]
These help us cover our event management costs and keep events low cost to the community.
- Supporting Partner (Whole Tech Fest)
- Day Sponsor (One day)
- Exhibitor (Yes, we have exhibition spaces!)
We’d love for you to be involved in Tech Fest and your support to collaborate on events and promote the sessions.
Get in touch today
