Month: May 2018

Christchurch Armageddon Expo 2018 – Christchurch – 2-4 June 2018

What

Queens Birthday Weekend, Horncastle Arena will become the destination for everything pop culture related from comics, animation TV and movie, cosplay and more! Celebrity guest lineup includes guests from Supergirl, Arrow, Merlin, Game of Thrones and more!

Full Celebrity Guest Lineup includes Star of Once Upon a Time and House, Jennifer Morrison, Supergirl’s Katie McGrath and Mehcad Brooks, Keiynan Lonsdale of The Flash and Love Simon, the leading ladies of Lucifer, Lesley-Ann Brandt and Lauren German and Game of Thrones fan favorite Daniel Portman.

Lois and Clark’s John Shea, David Nykl of Arrow and Stargate Atlantis will be joined by his Arrow co-star’s Echo Kellum and Paul Blackthorne as well as Garrett Wang of Star Trek: Voyager. Animation powerhouses Will Friedle (Batman Beyond, Kim Possible, Boy Meets World) and Brad Swaile (Death Note, Gundam Wing, X-Men Evolution) will also be in attendance with WWE Icon Hacksaw Jim Duggan! Fans will have the chance to get autographs and photos with guests and listen to panels with the stars all weekend long.

Armageddon Expo intends on being your destination for entertainment. With a massive range of exhibitors including local artists and creators, creative Institutions and your favourite gaming and pop culture suppliers such as Mighty Ape and Madman Entertainment who will have all the latest merchandise and collectibles.

Where and When

10am – 5pm
2-4 June (Queens Birthday Weekend)
Horncastle Arena, Jack Hinton Dve, Addington, Christchurch

How Much

  • General Admission – Adult: $15.00
  • General Admission – Child 5–12: $6.00
  • Early Access Pass: $25.00
  • Little Shaky VIP Pass: $199.00
  • Big Shaky Pass: $499.00
  • Ultra Pass: $999.00

More

Official Website
Facebook Page

 

Steampunk NZ Festival – Oamaru – 31 May – June 4 2018

What

The Premier and longest running Steampunk event of the Southern Hemisphere is based in the New Zealand Steampunk capital; Oamaru

The annual Steampunk NZ Festival is a four-day celebration with vaudeville, music, and markets, food, splendid teapot racing, airships, tea duelling, and much more madness. A highlight is the fashion show at the elegant Oamaru Opera House – “Moments in Time”, a series of short theatre pieces that tell of futures as they might have been. The weekend closes in style with a magnificent Gala Ball.

Arrive in costume, or just enjoy the fabulous clothes, hats, goggles, sci-fi accessories and inventions. Oamaru’s historic Victorian Precinct is the perfect backdrop for this quirky celebration, the longest-running Steampunk event in the Southern Hemisphere.

When and Where

Loan and Merc, 14 Harbour St, Oamaru, North Otago
Thusday 31st May – Sunday 3rd June

How Much

$279 for passport to all events
Various for individual events

More

Steampunknz.co.nz
Eventfinda Page

Wellycon – Wellington – 2-3 June 2018

What

Wellycon is a tabletop game convention held annually in Wellington, New Zealand.  It is the largest board gaming convention in New Zealand

Since 2008 people have been gathering in the nations capital to enjoy two days of fun board gaming with friends old and new. Growing from an initial group of 20 gamers over 10 years ago, we now welcome over 400 people to the main event each year. People of all ages convene to enjoy learning new games, participating in workshops, play-testing games from designers, challenging friends and newcomers to favourite games and competing in a variety of tournaments…

The event revolves around a library of board games, card-, dice-, tile-based and other games brought along by the attendees e.g. Settlers of Catan, Ticket to ride, mainly in the ‘modern’ board games genres – Eurogames and American-style board games. Participants select a game, find some people who would like to play and a suitable table and go to it. Wellycon volunteers assist those who are new to board games or have difficulty getting enough players together to start a game.  There are tournaments throughout the weekend and a game design competition where small groups create a game using a simple set of components.  In addition there is a section where attendees can try out games which are still under development – Game Designers Corner – and give feedback to the creators.

When and Where

2nd and 3rd June 2018 (Queens Birthday Weekend)
10:00 AM to 10:00 PM

Wellington Girls College
18 Pipitea St, Thorndon
Wellington, 6011 New Zealand

How Much

1 Day – $19
2 Days – $33
Late Night – $15

More

Website
Registration

 

Refactor North – Whangarei – 22 May 2018

What

Women in the technology industry are intelligent, passionate and knowledgeable. However, as a minority in both the sector and at tech-related events, the uneven ratio can make it difficult or unwelcoming for women.

We want to keep improving the New Zealand tech industry by inspiring women to not only stay in it but get to the top — running teams, in board positions, on the speaker line-ups at conferences, and as visible leaders to inspire an incoming generation of smart women.

Hear from inspiring women speakers four times a year.

We have an extraordinary line up as we welcome Dr Michelle Dickinson from Auckland, Marie Slako from Melbourne and Adeline Salked-Blears from Kaitaia.

When and Where

–
Mahi Tahi Room
The Orchard, Level One, 35 Walton St, Whangarei

 

How Much

Tickets $25 – open to all

More

Refactor’s Events Page

Tauranga Armageddon 2018 – Mt Maunganui – 26-27 May 2018

What

Following its successful debut in 2017, Armageddon Expo returns to Tauranga this May 26th and 27th bringing with it a weekend full of geeky greatness…

Packed with all the latest merch and gaming, cosplay and comic items and featuring an epic lineup of celebrity guests from Arrow, Supergirl, Smallville, Game of Thrones and more Tauranga Armageddon 2018 is going to be epic!

Armageddon Expo has announced a huge lineup of celebrity guests from the worlds of television, film and animation including; Supergirl’s, Katie McGrath, Lesley-Ann Brandt and Lauren German the leading ladies of Lucifer, Lois and Clark’s John Shea and Game of Thrones fan favorite Daniel Portman.

David Nykl of Arrow and Stargate Atlantis will be joined by his Arrow co-stars, Paul Blackthorne and Echo Kellum as well as Garrett Wang of Star Trek: Voyager. Animation powerhouses Will Friedle (Batman Beyond, Kim Possible, Boy Meets World) and Brad Swaile (Death Note, Gundam Wing, X-Men Evolution) will also be in attendance with WWE Icon Hacksaw Jim Duggan! Fans will have the chance to get autographs and photos with guests and listen to panels with the stars all weekend long.

Armageddon Expo has something for everyone. With a massive range of exhibitors including local artists and creators, creative Institutions and your favourite gaming and pop culture suppliers such as Mighty Ape, PB Tech and Madman Entertainment who will have all the latest merchandise, tech and collectibles.

When and Where

10am – 5pm
Saturday 26 May
Sunday 27 May

How Much

Adult – $15.00
Early Access Pass – $25
Child (5–12) – $10.00
Family pass (2 adults, up to 3 children) – $40.00
Special passes for $199, $499 and $999

More

Official Website
Facebook Page

Canterbury Regional Digital Forum – Christchurch – 7 June 2018

What

A great opportunity to meet colleagues in the GLAM, IT and Cultural Heritage sectors, share your ideas, ask questions about the digital work of museums, libraries, archives and galleries, and to find people trying to solve the same problems as you.

Most of the day will be in ‘unconference’ style, where we plan out sessions on the day. Bring your questions, suggestions, ideas for discussion topics and an open mind. We plan to start the afternoon with some very short presentations, so if you would like a two minute slot to present something, please let us know. This could be an update on a project, something interesting that you have spotted, an idea that you’d like to share. This is just an opportunity to speak briefly to everyone who is there on any subject of interest. If you have something you’d like to share, please tell us so that we can schedule it.

Anyone who works in the GLAM sector (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums), anyone who produces digital media projects for this sector (web developers, app makers etc) or anyone with an interest in these areas.

When and Where

Hao room
Te Hāpua: Halswell Centre
341 Halswell Rd
Halswell, Christchurch 8025

Thursday 7 June 2018
Starting at 9:30am, will finish before 3pm

How Much

Free but please register

More

Web page for the Canterbury Regional Digital Forum

 

Emerging Tech for Good: In Action – Wellington – 22 May 2018

What

Harnessing artificial intelligence, augmented reality, virtual reality, and smart speakers – these emerging technologies are said to be redefining industries and have the potential to change the world on a scale that has never been seen before. So how do we even begin to venture on these technologies and use them for good? We invite you to find out how, at Datacom’s Emerging Tech for Good Breakfast Event.

We are delighted to invite you to attend Datacom’s ‘Emerging Tech for Good’. An event that will see internationally and nationally renowned speakers discuss topics ranging from artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and smart speakers to sustainability.

Who are the speakers?

Speakers from both the international and national stage will cover a variety of topics, ranging from artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and smart speakers to sustainability with each speaker informing us on how emerging technologies are redefining industries and changing the world on a scale that has never seen before. Line-up as follows:

Savannah Peterson, a 2016 Forbes 30 Under 30 in Consumer Technology and the Founder of Savvy Millennial, will talk all things blockchain, humanoid robots and the digital asset revolution

Te Aroha Morehu, Innovation Officer and Tribal Digital Transformer, Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei will take us on a visual journey of how AR/VR has been embedded in to Maori education

Roxanne Salton, Head of digital strategy & delivery for Mercury, will discuss the sustainability of emerging technologies

James Wells, CIO, Vulcan steel, is here to talk playing it safe with the use of vision intelligence to ensure workplace safety. This is a project that was started at Datacomp in 2017.

When and Where

James Cook Hotel Grand Chancellor,
147 The Terrace, Wellington

Tuesday 22nd May 2018
7:30 AM – 10:00 Am.
Registration opens at 7:00 AM.

How Much

Free but spaces are limited.

More

More info at Eventbrite or TechWeek pages

 

Better Rules Hack – Wellington – 19 + 20 May 2018

What

A hackathon with the aim of exploring the ideas and practice of making legislation into machine consumable ‘digital rules’ that can be reused and integrated across domains for the benefit of businesses, individuals and communities. The aim is to understand the feasibility of providing government hosted machine consumable legislation as part of Government as a Platform. We want to understand how well aligned existing standards, languages, and toolsets are for across domain integration, and what the options are for how machine consumable legislation can be presented as authoritative open data. We also want to understand the value of machine consumable legislation to community and industry.

Hackathon participants will be required to build a working demonstrator that benefits their sector or community using digital rules from more than one source, for example, legislation from multiple agencies, or trade agreements, or any other form of rules from more than one source. Teams will need to show the value of digital rules, how they made the digital rules consumable by everyone, and share their lessons learnt.

As background, see the recent work from the Service Innovation Lab on Better Rules for Government.

Please make sure to read the hackthon’s Code of Conduct.

When and Where

Assurity Consulting,
Level 3, 95 Customhouse Quay,
Wellington

Saturday 19th May and Sunday 20th May, 2018
9am – 4pm each day.

How Much

Free. Please register via Eventbrite.

More

More information on the Better Rules Hack page including competitions.
If you have any questions please contact us via email betterrules@legalhackers.nz.

Auckland Writers Festival – Auckland 15-20 May 2018

What

Every year we stage over 200 public events, gathering together 230 of the world’s best writers and thinkers with over 73,000 festival goers, to celebrate the world of books and ideas.

For the past 18 years the Festival has enriched the culture of our city and established itself as a major Australasian festival, characterised not only by the calibre of our guest authors but also by the enthusiasm and engagement of our audience and the warmth and welcome provided by Auckland as our setting.

The Festival brings the very best local and international writers of contemporary fiction and non-fiction, scientists, economists, poets, journalists and public intellectuals together with audiences to explore ideas, share stories and experience brilliant conversations. We celebrate curiosity and a sense of intellectual adventure and our programme is driven by the desire to spark ideas, to get us talking and to give us a time and place to engage with the world.

When and Where

Mainly at the Aotea Centre
50 Mayoral Drive, Auckland CBD

but some events elsewhere

At all times of the day and evening

Schools Programme 15-17 May during the day

How Much

Prices vary

We offer over 30% of our programme to the public as free, un-ticketed events. Admission to Free Events is on a first come, first served basis. Bookings are not taken for these events.

More

Website
Main Programme Schedule
Schools Programme Schedule

 

 

Board Games by The Bay – Auckland – 19-20 May 2018

What

Join us for a day or two of board gaming fun!  Board Games By The Bay (BGBTB) is a series of epic board gaming events that have been running in New Zealand since 2011, currently with two annual events in Auckland (May and November) and one in Hamilton (August).

These events bring together enthusiasts and players new to the scene in a relaxed, fun environment. Participants enjoy catching up with old friends and making new ones, trying out different games or relaxing with familiar ones, and entering the free competitions.

There will be a library stocked with all kinds of games for you to try, and many people bring their own games and invite others to join them. You are most welcome to bring your own games along. We have a team of great volunteers (our friendly RedShirts) who are experts at teaching a wide variety of games to new players.

Where and When

Auckland Bridge Club,
273 Remuera Road, Remuera

10am to 10pm Saturday May 19th
10am to 6pm Sunday May 20th

How Much

$10 for One Day
$20 for 2 days ($15 of pre-registered)

More

Website for Boardgames by the Bay