Growing our connection to industry and community

Partnering with professional associations that align with our kaupapa | purpose is an important way to grow our connection with industry and community. Listening to and learning from other professionals in the L&D space is how we know we’re getting it right!

Here are a few highlights and insights from recent partnership and community events.
 

New Zealand Association for Training and Development Networking Lunch

Meeting members from the New Zealand Association for Training and Development (NZATD) was a great chance for us to build new relationships and learn from some remarkable professionals involved in L&D across a variety of industries.

Some of the key topics we discussed:

• The absolute importance of the learner being at the heart of all we do.
• Industry-relevance is a must (not a nice add-on).
• How a negative experience with training (online or otherwise) can make an organisation reluctant to engage in that form of learning again.
• How do we communicate the importance of professional learning / instructional design when everyone thinks they can do it themselves? (Watch out for a blog post on this in the near future. 😉)
  

Project Management Institute of New Zealand 2025 Conference

Photo (L-R): Moira Fraser, Lulu Barry and Lisa Burdes promoting Tuihono UC | UC Online at the 2025 PMINZ Conference.

Our team were excited to sponsor an exhibit table at the recent Project Management Institute of New Zealand conference at the Aotea Centre in Auckland. Over 200 project management professionals, often leaders in their organisations and sectors, spent time letting us know about their experiences, opportunities, and challenges that exist in upskilling their teams. Luckily we had a lot to offer them!

From our two short courses for working professionals through to the upcoming Master's in Project Management (subject to CUAP and TEC approval) we can offer something for everyone. From those at the very beginning of their project management careers or working in adjacent roles but keen to learn more, all the way through to experienced and qualified leaders in the field who want to continue to upskill in the most flexible and industry-relevant way.

Key insights we gained:

• Even with a successful PMO in place, many large organisations are recognising a few crucial gaps that may require an external provider to fill. 
• Upskilling teams at scale is a tricky thing to master (imagine if you could offer a short course online to upskill large numbers over a short period of time! 😉).
• Flexible and accessible training is top of the list – upskilling while working is the most cost-effective and efficient option.
• A post-graduate qualification is very appealing to many leaders in the field.

Upcoming events

We love connecting with organisations to discuss training, development, and how we can support you. Come say hi at our next events to get some great insights (and quality swag!).

• HR + L&D Innovation & Tech Fest | 25 – 26 June, Auckland

• Super Local Conference | 16 – 17 July, Christchurch

• Canterbury Tech Summit | 9 Sept, Christchurch

Not attending any of these events, but keen to kōrero | chat? I'd love to buy you a coffee and talk about how we can support your team.