Engaging, Connecting and Co-creating at Navigating the Tough Times conference
By Karen Stockmann, Community Waikato Advisor
This November, people from across the for-purpose sector will come together at the Distinction Hotel in Hamilton for our two-day conference, Navigating the Tough Times: Connecting for a Sustainable Future. At the heart of this event is our guiding question: How do we respond to complexity with collaboration, care, and creativity to build a future that sustains us all?
If you’ve been to one of our previous conferences, you’ll recognise the participatory component. Open Space and interactive sessions aren’t just a format, they’re a reflection of what we know works. When people connect, share ideas, and learn from each other, it strengthens our sector, especially in tough times. These sessions create space for connection, cross-pollination, and sharing, helping us all navigate challenges together. They also provide a unique opportunity to make connections and initiate relationships with others in the sector, building networks of practice and support that can last far beyond the conference.
You’ll find sessions like World Café, where we explore key questions, share perspectives, and notice emerging themes. It’s a chance to hear different viewpoints, spark ideas, and uncover possibilities you might not have considered on your own. And then there’s our open space sessions, Speak Easy, a space where you choose the conversations that matter most to you. Bring your own questions, share a challenge, or jump into a group that sparks your interest. These sessions are all about connecting, learning from each other, and seeing things from a fresh perspective.
We’ve also built in activities like From Talking to Action and Navigating Forward, where creativity is at the heart of the process. Through interactive and creative activities, participants explore ideas, experiment with possibilities, and turn discussions into practical actions. These sessions help move conversation into action while encouraging imagination, playful thinking, and new ways of approaching challenges. You leave not just inspired, but with tangible ideas, creative approaches, and renewed energy to make a difference in your own mahi.
By participating in these sessions, people tend to leave feeling more connected, encouraged, and energised. You’ll pick up practical tools, fresh ways of thinking, and a better sense of what’s possible when we work together. Most importantly, you’ll see firsthand how collective insight and creative exploration can help us tackle complex challenges in ways we couldn’t do alone.
Open Space and participatory activities are woven throughout both days, giving time to pause, reflect, and connect. They’re at the heart of the conference’s theme, showing that when we respond to complexity with care, creativity, and collaboration, amazing things can happen.
This is what the conference is all about: coming together, sharing ideas, co-creating a future that sustains us all, and using creativity to imagine what’s possible. When we engage, connect, build networks, and take action together, we can explore possibilities that none of us could achieve on our own.
We still have a few spaces left for the conference, but not many. If you’d like to join us, now is the time to register and be part of the conversations, connections, creative ideas, and collaborations that will help shape a future that sustains us all.