Wao Summit 2024 shorter and punchier
A freezing evening didn’t deter nearly a hundred locals from gathering at Rhyme x Reason Brewery in Wānaka on Wednesday night (30 July) to hear Wao Aotearoa director Monique Kelly launch this year’s summit.
This is the seventh year for the annual summit and while slightly shorter this year, the five days will feature 44 events and will, for the first time, replicate many of the events in Queenstown and Hawea.
Over the years, the Wao Summit has hosted thought leaders and changemakers from all over the world, based on the idea meaningful change starts with community. The individual gets disheartened, the large entity moves too slowly to be relied upon. Community scale is where it’s at.
It’s with this in mind that 'Better Together' has emerged as this year’s theme. The programme has been curated by Kelly, who says she’s excited about the swell of momentum in community action this year already.
"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," she says.
Each day of the summit will have a different theme, with a format that offers presentations and talks in the morning, workshops in the afternoon, followed by networking opportunities at the end of the day using the successful Green Drinks approach.
Kelly explains that, beyond the obvious, there are a host of reasons for collective action being the most effective - reasons like diversity of perspectives, resource pooling and policy influence. This, she says, has been at the heart of the programme design.
She’s looking forward to getting more businesses involved and activated this year, as they have huge potential to amplify community efforts. "It’s about working at scale. Politics flip flop. Businesses can play such a big role and provide consistency. Also, the directors are usually locals with families, who are really concerned about climate change, biodiversity loss or waste. They’re in touch with the reality of what’s happening and integrating this into their businesses."
This year’s summit will offer business owners a unique opportunity to revolutionise their approach and learn how to operate with greater purpose and sustainability. "It provides an opportunity to upskill and get support to do this. For instance, Tim Jones from BCorp will discuss what it actually means to do carbon accounting."
With the building sector being a major player in any climate action strategy, this will again be a big focus for the summit. The Better Building Day will offer a full day programme for builders, architects and other building industry professionals, focussing on innovative approaches to sustainable construction and design. The Better Building Day promises to be one of the go-to events in the South Island and aims to include The Master Builders into the planning.
"There'll be a lot of big picture thinking and workshops," Kelly says. "It will focus on how we’re actually building community infrastructure, designing out construction waste, energy efficient buildings, toxicity and climate-smart homes. We’ll explore different models and how they relate to our local communities."
The summit will also dive deep into food resilience and food security, youth-focussed action, local biodiversity champions and plenty more. As well as expert insights, it offers practical takeaways; actionable strategies which can be integrated immediately. It’s full of opportunities for personal and leadership development, and chances to connect with like-minded people.
The summit will be held from 29 October - 2 November across Wānaka, Queenstown, Luggate, Hawea and online. Summit Early Bird Passes are on sale now from www.wao.co.nz and available the 15 September.
