As Aotearoa New Zealand continues to grow as a bicultural nation, the ability to communicate meaningfully and respectfully with Māori and Iwi stakeholders has never been more essential for communications professionals. 

This event brings together PR and communications practitioners to explore culturally grounded approaches to stakeholder engagement, moving beyond tokenism and toward genuine, trust-based relationships with Māori communities and Iwi organisations.

Central to this is an understanding of mātauranga Māori, the body of knowledge, values, and ways of knowing that are distinctly Māori.

What does it take to get your story picked up? Join us for a candid panel discussion with key editorial leaders from NZME, Stuff, TVNZ and RNZ to find out what they are really looking for. This is an opportunity to hear directly from the people making the decisions and gain practical insights to help strengthen your media strategy.

AI can become your PhD-level consultant for behaviour change—but only if you train with carefully crafted prompts. Whether you’re seeking reliable and robust research, crafting campaigns for behaviour change, or designing experiments to evaluate what works, this course shows you how to prompt AI like a behavioural designer and tackle your most pressing behaviour change challenges alongside you. In this practical course, you’ll train your favourite LLMs like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or Microsoft Copilot to act like a PhD-level behavioural designer. You’ll prompt AI to help you research, design, and test evidence-based strategies for behaviour change.

You were promoted because you’re a brilliant specialist. But technical credibility only opens the door, it won’t carry you through it. The next level is earned differently: through your leadership licence to operate.
From Specialist to Strategic Leader is a practical two-part online workshop for PR and communications professionals stepping up into wider responsibility. Across two interactive sessions you’ll define the leader you’re becoming, build resilience to hold pressure and leave with a focused 30-day plan to strengthen your confidence, influence and impact, without burning out or being pulled back into delivery.

Effective research, measurement and evaluation can help you make better strategic decisions and demonstrate the true value of your public relations and communication efforts.
This practical course is designed to help you build confidence in research, measurement and evaluation, whether you are starting from scratch, refreshing your knowledge, or looking to align your practice with current global standards.

If you are new to public relations, get ready to enter a profession undergoing a seismic shift.

The purpose of public relations remains the same - building and sustaining the relationships that organisations need to maintain their licence to operate. What has changed are the methods of practice. Artificial intelligence, new communication challenges and stakeholder expectations of transparency and accountability mean practitioners now need broader capabilities and stronger judgement than ever before.

Done well, internal comms is one of the most strategic levers an organisation has. It connects people to purpose, shapes culture, and helps employees connect to each other and understand how their work fits into the wider business. But too often it’s treated as a postal service – the person (or team, if you’re lucky) people call when they realise “we need to wrap some comms around that”! This course is designed for practitioners at any level who want to move beyond distribution and into a more strategic, people-centred practice.

This seminar explores why critical thinking is far more difficult than most people assume and why even experienced professionals often fall into hidden cognitive traps that affect judgement, strategy, and decision-making.

Drawing on more than 30 years of social science research and insights industry experience, Carl will reveal how people are naturally wired to defend their views rather than test them, how organisational cultures can unintentionally suppress questioning, and how cognitive biases quietly shape the way we interpret information.

In three years artificial intelligence has moved from useful tool to active presence in public relations and communication. It continues to shaped search, content, stakeholder engagement, internal communication, issues management, reputation, research and crisis response. It has also changed the risks practitioners must understand and advise on, from narrative attacks and synthetic content to governance, ethics, data protection and organisational accountability.

Mastering AI in PR is a highly practical, live online session designed to help practitioners strengthen their ability to apply AI, using the technology with greater purpose, confidence and control.

All organisations have a wealth of data to draw upon to create engaging content, but knowing where to start is a challenge. This interactive workshop has been designed for communications professionals who want to incorporate charts, graphs, and infographics into their content, but do not have a background in statistics. The workshop includes individual and breakout activities to immediately apply what you’ve learned.

As we shift into Generation AI, mastering public relations strategy and evaluation is crucial. Over four mornings, this online course explores the latest methodologies for crafting and assessing effective strategies. With generative AI models reshaping our professional landscape, acquiring these skills is not just beneficial, it is essential if we are to guide organisational leadership with expertise and insight. Designed to equip you with practical tools and approaches, you’ll learn how to determine public relations and communication outcomes, set measurable objectives, engage with key stakeholders and manage risks and issues effectively. We’ll guide you through the process of creating ethical strategies that align with your organisation’s purpose. You’ll master the art of evaluating your strategies, using data-driven metrics to enhance future planning and crisis management, deepening your understanding and vital for any practitioner looking to excel.