Events and meetups
Free, in-person evenings for students, graduates and early-career people building with AI. Short talks from people a few years ahead, then plenty of time to meet the room.
5 cities so far. Every event free.
We have run meetups, talks and pitch nights in Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Hamilton and Palmerston North. No ticket, no membership fee, and you do not need a computer science degree or a job in AI to walk in.
Meetups take registrations through Luma so we know how many people to expect. The conference has a waitlist rather than a ticket for now.
Young Kiwis in AI is back in Ōtautahi. A few short talks from people building with AI right now, then plenty of time to meet the room over pizza and drinks. $5 ticket, 50 spots.
Register on LumaOur first meetup in Te Whanganui-a-Tara. Short talks from people building with AI right now, then networking. Free to attend.
Register on LumaNew Zealand’s first national conference for young Kiwis in AI. A full day of keynotes, talks, panels, a young builders showcase, mentor tables and networking.
Join the waitlist
Auckland - hosted by Zuru
90 registered, 46 more on the waitlist, and a full room on the night
Four talks and networking for young AI builders across Tāmaki Makaurau at Zuru’s Auckland HQ.
Read the write-upPalmerston North - hosted by Nodero
Around 30 people
Short talks from young Kiwis doing interesting work in AI, then networking, for the Manawatū community.
Read the write-up
Dunedin - hosted by Flock Consulting
Around 20 people
An evening of talks and networking for the Ōtepoti community, hosted by Flock Consulting, including why nobody is an AI expert yet and what the NZ delegation saw in China.
Hamilton
Around 30 people, 50 registered
Our first Waikato meetup, co-hosted with The AI Collective: student and early-career talks on how AI is reshaping career paths, then networking.
Pick your city to see what has happened there and what is next.
No dates are set for these yet. Where we go next depends on how many people in a region put their hand up, so registering your interest genuinely decides it.
Tauranga
Bay of Plenty
Napier-Hastings
Hawke's Bay
New Plymouth
Taranaki
Nelson
Nelson-Tasman
The format
Meetups run on a weekday evening, usually from 5:30 PM so people can come straight from work or lectures. Arrive and grab food, two or three short talks, then a good chunk of time to actually meet people.
Talks are practical. Someone demoing what they shipped last month, and being honest about what broke, is worth more to this crowd than a survey of the literature. Pitch nights like the SaaSathon in Ōtautahi run to their own format, with teams presenting from a stage.
Who turns up
Mostly university students, self-taught developers, early-career professionals and founders building AI products. Plenty arrive knowing nobody and having never worked in AI. That is the normal case.
Speakers come from the same community: an AI engineer at Trade Me, an AI integration engineer at Zuru, a graduate AI engineer at RUSH, and the founders of GrowLab Technologies, BlueHorizon AI and Stitch Systems. A few years ahead, not a generation, which makes the advice usable.
“Ask people what they are building. It works far better than explaining yourself first.”
The only icebreaker you need
Your first one
Bring nothing but yourself. No laptop, no pitch, nobody keeping score of what you have built. Come early if you can: the fifteen minutes before the talks start is when it is easiest to meet people.
Every event runs under our code of conduct. If anything does not sit right, tell us and we will deal with it. More in the FAQ.
Events and registration links are shared in our Discord. Complete the join form and we will email you the next steps for joining. For the dated meetups above you can also register directly on Luma.
Missed one? The talks we record are written up on the blog.
New meetups are announced to members before they go anywhere else. Joining is free and takes a minute.
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