GEN NZ 2025 Unconference and Workshops

GEN NZ Unconference and Workshops are back again and it's all happening at AUT this year!

This unique opportunity to connect and reconnect will be held on Thursday 7 August (Workshops) and Friday 8 August (Unconference) at the AUT Conference Centre, 55 Wellesley Street East, Auckland in rooms WA224A+B, WG128 and WG129. 

Let's come together kanohi ki te kanohi / face to face and learn from each other about the art and science of entrepreneurship, and how to improve our entrepreneurial ecosystem. Join your ecosystem colleagues and new ones for a barely controlled explosion of entrepreneurial energy.

The Unconference on Friday 8 August brings together people from all over the country and the various niches in the entrepreneurial ecosystem to collaborate on how we can connect entrepreneurs to the resources and people they need to thrive, locally and globally. At an unconference, you set the agenda - and we’ll be soliciting ideas for sessions closer to the date. We’ll meet in small groups and discuss topics that are of interest on the day. Everyone can contribute to the conversation, and the main idea is to connect with like-minded people that you can work together with to achieve your common goals. The Unconference sessions will be facilitated, but there won’t be a single “presenter” as such in the sessions.

The Unconference will be preceded by a day of workshops on Thursday 7 August. The workshop sessions will be like more traditional conference workshops - lead by one or two people, with presentations, each with specific learning outcomes, and feeding into the Unconference sessions the following day.

Confirmed workshops include:

Tamara Buckland
The Goblin Market: A playful experiment in entrepreneurial leadership

Jenny Douché
How can government agencies provide better support to startups?

Michael Fielding
Turning Researchers into Entrepreneurs

Niamh Given
The Innovation Lens: Recognizing Ideas Worth Pursuing

Professor Ella Henry
Kaupapa Māori Entrepreneurship

Nathaniel Holmes
Think Like a Human: Creative Problem Solving

Dr Marissa Kaloga
Founders of the Future: A Creative Lab for Inclusive Entrepreneurship

Richard Liew
Strategic Storytelling: How high growth startups turn storytelling into commercial value

Colin Magee
Realising a return on your startup - for founders and investors

Chris O'Neill
Accelerating startup progress with AI

Debi Roder
What is Economic Development, and how can it work for startups?

Dan Thurston Crow
Motivation: What lies beneath?