Wao Summit Event Programme
The Networking Breakfast
Start the day with great coffee, delicious kai and meaningful conversations with business leaders, entrepreneurs and change makers from across the region.
Great ideas often begin with great conversations.
Join fellow business owners, leaders, entrepreneurs and change makers for a relaxed networking breakfast before Better Business Day begins. Over great coffee and delicious kai, you'll have the opportunity to make new connections, reconnect with familiar faces and share ideas with others who are passionate about building resilient businesses and thriving communities.
Whether you're looking to expand your network, explore collaborations or simply enjoy thoughtful conversation with like minded people, this is the perfect way to start the day.
Come curious, and enjoy a half hour of connection before a day of inspiring workshops, speakers, practical insights and fresh thinking about the future of business.
Better Building Brekkie & Trade Show
Good ideas travel faster over breakfast. Connect with industry peers, explore trade stalls and start the day with conversations that build better.
Kick things off with a free brekkie from PlaceMakers Wānaka, then wander the trade stalls featuring businesses and organisations innovating and working towards a better building industry. Come along to chat with the stalls, catch up with new and familiar faces, and fuel up before the day's sessions begin.
TRADE STALLS
PlaceMakers Wānaka
Built for trade with NZ’s largest range, expert service, and tools that make business easier.
Pro Clima
For airtight, healthy buildings, with underlays, membranes, tapes, and sealants that keep homes dry, durable, and energy-efficient.
XLAM
Mass timber construction, with New Zealand-grown plantation pine and prefabricated panels.
StrawSIPs
High-performance straw-timber wall panels that cut heating costs, improve indoor air quality, and simplify construction.
New Zealand Institute of Architects
Advocacy, professional development, and awards that promote and celebrate outstanding architecture across Aotearoa's cities and natural environments.
Environmental Innovation Centre
Uniting innovation, research, and environmental solutions to lead the change for a sustainable tomorrow.
WAI Wānaka
Working with individuals, community groups, farmers, catchment groups, councils, schools and businesses to improve ecosystem health, reverse biodiversity loss and keep the water healthy.
+ more Stall Holders to be announced!
Better Building Networking Lunch
Keep the conversations going over a Dripping Bowl catered lunch. Refuel for the afternoon tour.
The Dripping Bowl is our local and highly-rated, health-focused eatery , renowned for its 100% whole-food, organic menu. Their signature offerings include nourishing Buddha bowls, vibrant smoothies and cold-pressed juices.
Feeding the Future
A thought-provoking panel exploring local to global strategies for food resilience, based on the Southern Lakes Kai Collective’s new roadmap for sustainable food futures.
Better Building Brekkie
Join us at the Queenstown Airport, Provenance Café for a free Better Builders Brekkie! We’ll hear from the Queenstown airport on some sustainability plans they have moving forward and from QLDC on what’s happening throughout the district in terms of reducing construction waste.
Journey to 2125
Equity at the Heart: Shaping a future for all as we look toward a thriving and regenerative future in 2125, one question sits at the core: how do we ensure that future is fair, inclusive, and just for everyone?