The Wao Summit 2024 will offer attendees five days of inspiring workshops, masterclasses and kōrero, as well as a community festival.

Taking place from October 29-November 2 in both Wānaka and Queenstown, this year’s summit will centre around the theme of ‘Better Together’, Wao Aotearoa director Monique Kelly said.

“Better Together means we’re stepping up as a collective and putting resilience front and centre of the action, whether it be for climate, biodiversity, community, food or waste reduction.”

The programme will ‘deep dive’ into topics including food resilience and food security, youth-focussed action, local biodiversity champions and the role businesses and the building industry can play in a regenerative future.

Sessions will take place at a range of locations around the Upper Clutha. PHOTO: Supplied

Speaking at the Wao Summit 2024 launch event at Rhyme X Reason on July 30, Monique said the summit is “first and foremost set up to cross-pollinate ideas”.

“We're the kind of fire underneath people's bottoms, if you like, to get [people and businesses] going...” she said.

“And we do this by bringing into the community experts, speakers, [and] people who maybe have a little bit more knowledge, to add to [questions around] how do we design, how do we build, and how do we navigate.”

Like previous summits, the Wao Summit 2024 will feature “a lot of big picture thinking and workshops”, Monique said. PHOTO: Supplied

There will be 44 individual sessions across the five-day summit.

Events range from ‘Shifting Tides’, a lecture from Emeritus Professor Dr. Paul Spoonley on the change of demographics in New Zealand and the impact climate will have on where we live, to a ‘Climate Solutions Cafe’ designed to encourage open conversations about climate change.

There’s also ‘The Better Building Day’, with a full day programme for building industry professionals focusing on innovative approaches to sustainable construction and design, and ‘Building Community Resilience’, a workshop where locals can learn from the Sustainable Hawke's Bay team about their experiences and actions following Cyclone Gabrielle. 

Families may be interested in the ‘Festival of Nature’ - free for kids - which will feature live music, storytelling, films, interactive workshops and informative stands. 

View the full Wao Summit 2024 programme and book early bird tickets here.