Learn AI by doing

The morning workshop block of the EPIC AI Conference is designed for people who want practical experience, not just theory.

Across five fast, hands-on sessions, you’ll explore how AI can support communication, workflow design, nonprofit impact, and visual creation. This is a working session for professionals, founders, operators, and curious learners who want to try tools, test ideas, and leave with methods they can use straight away.

Hosted by the Christchurch AI Meetup Group as part of TechWeekNZ, the EPIC AI Conference brings together local and international practitioners for a compact, high-value morning of experimentation and applied learning. Whether you’re just getting started, or already using AI at work, these sessions will give you fresh ways to think about what the tools can do, where they fit, and how to use them more effectively.

AM Workshop lineup

8:00-9:00am - Coffee & Games

Get caffeinated, network with other attendees, play some AI games

9:00–9:30am — Caelan Huntress

Create Your Own AI Coach to Learn Anything

As LLMs become more conversational, asking better questions shapes your AI thinking partner around the goals you care about, and the way you learn best. Coaching is a meta-skill that unlocks any other skill. In this interactive workshop, you’ll learn practical techniques you can use immediately for learning, reflection, and growth.

9:30–10:00am — Siena Brody-Heine

Transform Meetings into Actionable Insights

Conversations are one of the most valuable and underused resources in any organisation. In this live demo, Hannah will record a role-played conversation inspired by audience topics, then show how AI can turn that raw material into useful outputs, insights, actions, and communications.

10:00–10:30am — Steve Fox

Mapping AI Opportunities in Your Organisation

This applied workshop introduces a practical framework for identifying where AI can create new value in your workflows, illustrated with real examples. Using a simple sliding scale from manual to fully automated, Steve will guide participants through breaking work into tasks, assessing where AI fits, identifying where human oversight still matters, and estimating the cost and opportunity impact of each change.

10:30–11:00am — Lois McClintock

AI for Good: Empowering Nonprofits

This session explores how nonprofits can use AI to increase impact, free up volunteer time, and improve operations without needing large budgets or complex systems. Lois will share practical examples from nonprofit work including strategy, social media, fundraising, and policy support.

11:00–11:30am — Dan Randow

Ideas Into Action: A Micro-Hackathon

Dan Randow closes the morning with a fast-moving micro-hackathon that turns the room's AI ideas into action in under thirty minutes. Participants pitch ideas, develop them in teams – and everyone walks into lunch with actionable inspiration.

Hosted and emceed by Caelan Huntress, founder of the AI Coaching Academy and organiser of the Christchurch AI Meetup Group, this morning session sets the tone for a day focused on learning, experimentation, and community.

Tickets are $10 each for Workshops, Speakers, and Panel. RSVP for those parts of the day you want to attend ($30 for the whole day), or only those events that interest you.

Also happening at the EPIC AI Conference

Build your own conference day with these other TechWeek26 events at EPIC and nearby:

AI Workshops AM — 9:00am–11:45am
Hands-on workshops designed to help you build practical AI skills, explore tools, and learn by doing.
RSVP AI Workshops AM (on this page!)
Coffee & Jam by Ministry of Awesome — 12:00pm–1:15pm
A relaxed networking session with founders, builders, and members of Christchurch’s innovation community.
RSVP Coffee & Jam
AI Speakers PM — 1:30pm–5:00pm
Talks and demos from speakers across business, research, startups, and the innovation ecosystem, sharing how AI is being applied in practice.
RSVP AI Speakers PM
Leadership in AI Panel — 5:30pm–7:00pm
A panel conversation exploring strategy, governance, adoption, and the leadership questions shaping AI’s role in everyday work and life.
RSVP Leadership in AI Panel

Networking with Christchurch’s innovation community

As part of TechWeekNZ, this Christchurch AI Conference highlights local capability, shared learning, and the expanding role of AI in shaping how we live and work in Aotearoa. Register early to receive speaker announcements and secure your place at EPIC Innovation.

Contact the host of EPIC AI Conference - AM Workshops