Aurora Chasing around and above New Zealand – Auckland – 27 February 2019

What

Presented by Café Scientifique
Speaker – Dr Ian Griffin, Otago Museum

The Aurora Australis or southern lights are one of the most beautiful phenomena in nature. Ian Griffin moved to Dunedin five years ago. A few weeks after he arrived he realised it was possible to view and photograph displays of the southern lights just five minutes from his new home on the Otago Peninsula. Upon making this discovery Ian has become a self-confessed aurora addict, spending hundreds of nights under clear Otago skies recording auroral displays. Ian’s passion for the aurora has led to several unusual adventures, including hiring two airliners. In this talk Ian will speak about the scientific origins of the aurora, and show how these amazing natural lights have fascinated humans since they first arrived in Aotearoa,

An astronomer by training, Ian is currently Director of the Otago Museum in Dunedin. He has held senior roles in Museums, planetariums and cultural organisations in Europe, the USA and New Zealand.

When and Where

6:30pm Wednesday 27 February 2019

Horse and Trap Pub
3 Enfield St
Mt Eden
Auckland

How Much

Free

More

Tweet by Ian Griffin advertising the talk

Koordinates 2019 Roadshow – Hamilton – 5 March 2019

What

Koordinates is going on the road! We’re travelling Aotearoa New Zealand to host events, meet data users, and demo-ing the Koordinates platform

This year, our theme is ‘The Next Ten Years of Geospatial Data,’ with a special focus on better open data, smoother data supply chains, and simpler data collaboration.

This theme dovetails with some of the work we’re doing here at Koordinates. Our platform is already a key resource for Aotearoa New Zealand’s data users. Our customers include some of the most successful data projects in the world, including the LINZ Data Service and the InternetNZ Broadband Map.

Now, we’re expanding our product to solve some of the most intractable problems in geospatial data management, distribution, and collaboration.

Come along for a lively discussion, detailed demonstration, and quick Q&A with the Koordinates team—and stick around afterwards for drinks and nibbles.


When and Where

Tuesday, 5 March 2019
4:00 pm – 5:00 pm NZDT

Wintec House, Wintec,
Angelsea Street,
Hamilton 3024

How Much

Free. Reserve seat here.

More

Organised by Koordinates. Twitter @koordinates and facebook.
Announcing the Koordinates 2019 Roadshow.
Eventbrite event.

Board Games by the Bay – Christchurch – 23 -24 March 2019

What

Board Games By The Bay (BGBTB) is a series of epic tabletop gaming events run each year in New Zealand. Since 2011, these weekend events have brought together the community to learn and play modern board, card and dice games in a friendly, social environment.

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. Numbers are growing with each event, and we’re expecting to fill our venues to the brim in 2018.  It’s always great to see so many old friends and newcomers, experienced gamers and families showing up, and we’re looking forward to seeing YOU this time around.

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.

Spot prizes to be won!
Food available for purchase.
Free parking on site.
Cash and Eftpos accepted at the venue (no credit cards, sorry).

When and Where

10am – 10pm Saturday 23 March 2019
10am – 6pm Sunday 24 March 2019

Christchurch Bridge Club
19 Nova Place
Christchurch Central
Christchurch

How Much

Pre-Registration Prices

One Day Pass $13
Weekend Pass $24
Annual Pass (all events in 2019) $68

Door Price

One Day Pass $15
Weekend Pass $30

More

Board Games by The Bay Website
Registration for the Match Christchurch Event

GeyserCon Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention – Rotorua – 31 May – 3 June 2019

What

GeyserCon 2019 is New Zealand’s 40th National Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention! We hope you’ll join us in Rotorua on Queen’s Birthday weekend (May 31st to June 3rd 2019) for awesome fandom discussions, panels and presentations, a huge bookstore open every day including Monday, a raffle with amazing prizes, the Young Writers’ Workshop, the Costume Masquerade competition, the prestigious Sir Julius Vogel Awards, and so much more!

Young Writers’ Day out – Friday

The Young NZ Writers’ Day Out (on Friday 31st May 2019) will have a full day of writing workshops aimed at intermediate and secondary school students. To warm up to the day we invite young NZ writers to enter into our 2019 annual writing competitions for intermediate and secondary students (opens 1st of February and closes midnight on 15th March – check our website out for more details). Finalists will be awarded prizes at the book launch at the end of the day.
For the first time there will even be a special writing event for our youngest writers in years 5 and 6 (only open to local Rotorua Primary schools) and PD opportunities for teachers who attend.

Main Program

3-5 Streams From Friday evening to Monday Morning.

Sample Events:

  • Radio-play STAR WRECK
  • International Guests: Laura VanArendonk Baugh, Alan Baxter, & Kaaron Warren
  • Sir Julius Vogel Award Presentations
  • Talks: History of SFF in NZ
  • Panel: High Fantasy Futures
  • GeyserCon Book Expo

When and Where

Holiday Inn
10 Tryon St
Whakarewarewa
Rotorua

Main Event
4pm Friday 31 May 2019
Noon Monday 3 June 2019

Young Writers’ Day Out
All Day Friday 31 May 2019

How Much

EarlyBird 3 until 28 February $60
Standard (Friday evening till Monday) $65
Friday Youth Workshop (under 18s) $20

Various other tickets options available.

More

Geysercon Website with Full programme and Registration
Young NZ Writers Website

Google Developer Group: Intro to Flutter – Auckland – 27 February 2019

What

GDG Auckland are kicking off the year with an intro to Flutter!

You’ve probably heard the hype about Google’s shiny new mobile development cross-platform toolkit. Come hear from Lance Johnstone, a software developer at Auror, about his experiences getting started with Flutter and how it compares to other cross-platform options.

Join us for some beer and pizza after the talk to connect and start the year on a good note!

This is Auckland’s Google Developer Group. We meet each month and discuss a variety of content including: Android, IO and other Google related technology

When and Where

6pm – 8:30pm
Wednesday 27 February 2019

Auror HQ
32 Nikau St
Eden Terrace
Auckland

How Much

Free

More

Intro to Flutter Meetup
Google Development Group Auckland

An Evening with Anthony Powell: Frozen South – Christchurch – 26 February 2019

What

Canterbury Astronomical Society and the University of Canterbury invite you to come and spend and evening with noted photographer Anthony Powell.

Anthony has just spent his tenth winter over in Antarctica. He worked for many years as a telecommunications engineer before becoming a full-time filmmaker and photographer.

He had to design and build a lot of his own camera equipment to withstand the harsh conditions of the deep Antarctic winters adn has made a number of highly acclaimed films of Antarctica. 

He made the international award-winning film “Antarctica: A Year on Ice” and has contributed footage to numerous films, TV shows, and exhibitions. These include National Geographic, Discovery, US Natural History Museum, and the Emmy Award winning BBC series Frozen Planet.

http://frozensouth.weebly.com/

When and Where

Tuesday, 19 February 2019
8pm – 9:30pm

C2 Lecture Theatre
University of Canterbury
20 Kirkwood Avenue
Christchurch

How Much

Admission by ticket only – Tickets are free for this event.

More

Registration and Tickets via Eventbrite
Frozen South Website


SuperDaughter Day – Auckland – 9 March 2019

What

SuperDaughter Day (SDD) is coming to Auckland! Join us as we explore the exciting world of STEM through a range of activities.

About SuperDaughter Day
SuperDaughter Day is an annual International Women’s Day Event hosted by WORK180. Since 2016, over 3000 girls aged 5-12 years old became superheroes along with the parents, exploring the exciting world of STEM (science, technology, engineering, maths).

The girls participated in a wide range of hands-on activities, including:

  • Magformers, Cubetto Robots and Ozobots
  • Interactive Bug Displays
  • Lego Mind Storms
  • Makey Makey
  • Visit from NAO the Humanoid Robot
  • Jewelbots and interactive unicorn horns

Apart from participating in engaging workshops, the girls also have an opportunity to meet inspiring female role models, enjoy cupcakes and receive a goodie bag to take home. The event is held in capital cities in Australia and New Zealand. We are 100% not-for-profit.

This event is for Girls aged 5-12

When and Where

9 March 2019
Session 1: 10am – 1pm
Session 2: 2pm – 5pm

Conference Centre
Spark City
167 Victoria Street West
Auckland CBD

How Much

$25 for girls (plus booking fee)
Adults come free (you MUST book an adult ticket with your girl’s ticket)

More

SuperDaughter Day Auckland Webpage
Booking via EventBrite

2019 New Zealand Rutherford Lecture Logic, Maths and Modern Society – Auckland – 26 March 2019

What

We are living in the most mathematical age of all time, because of computers.

The massive computational power at our disposal has driven innovation in all aspects of modern society such as science, medicine, and social development. Mobile phones, internet, GPS, online shopping, banking are commonplace examples, but there’s also medical imaging, data mining, even non-skid braking on vehicles – the impact of computing is extraordinary.

A main contributor to the evolution of computing power is a branch of mathematics called Logic. But what is Logic and how does this type of reasoning contribute to advancing technology?

Rod Downey, Professor of Mathematics and 2018 Rutherford Medal winner, chronicles the story of Logic, beginning with the ancient Greeks, then onwards to some of the deepest and most important issues of modern mathematics and computing – what can we compute and what can’t we compute and why? For instance, ‘NP-complete problems’ can be solved in theory, but are deemed intractable because we actually think solving them would take longer than the life of the universe. On the other hand, there is no (mathematical) proof of this belief – yet. As one of the seven Millennium Prize Problems set by the Clay Mathematics Institute, finding a proof, could earn you $US one million dollars. Rod has developed an approach that shows this intractability can be sidestepped in many practical problems. Does this have an effect on society? How close are we to understanding intractability in practice?

When and Where

6pm – 7pm
Tuesday, 26 March 2019

Centennial Theatre
Auckland Grammar School
55 Mountain View Round
Auckland Central

How Much

Free but register to guarantee seat

More

Information and Registration

Dungeons & Comedians: Crawl of the Wild – Christchurch – 22 February 2019

What

After a long rest, Dungeons & Comedians is back and better than ever. Dungeon Master Brendon Bennetts will lead our comedic adventurers out into the wilderness, where they must survive on their wits alone. So, probably someone is going to die.

In Dungeons & Comedians you will see comedians play D&D in front of a live audience. While each adventure is is connected to the others, you can enjoy each one on their own. You can listen to previous episodes on your podcast app by searching ‘Dungeons & Comedians’ or going to dungeonsandcomedians.com

When and Where

7:30pm – 9:30pm
Friday 22 February 2019

Orange Studios
1063 Ferry Road
Christchurch

How Much

Early bird tickets $15 until sold out
General Admission $20

More

Buy tickets via Eventbright
Dungeons and Comedians Website

PN Software Development Meetup: Five Minute Keynotes – Palmerston North – 28 February 2019

What

A series of rapid fire talks from different presenters on a variety of topics.

What The Palmerston North Software Meetup is about

A group for anyone interested in developing software/web stuff and (more or less) related tech.

We normally meet everything 4th Thursday of the Month

When and Where

5:30pm – 7:30pm
Thursday, 28 February 2019

Objective
114 The Square
Palmerston North

How Much

Free

More

Five Minute Keynotes
The Palmerston North Software Meetup