Business Events in New Zealand have a great way of creating lasting legacies and social impact, and the team at Auckland Convention Bureau had just that opportunity when attending New Zealand's largest tradeshow for Business Events in Christchurch.

MEETINGS is New Zealand’s only national tradeshow for Business Events and over two days connects qualified buyers with exhibitors to create business leads and the opportunity to share knowledge with other industry professionals. ACB hosts the Auckland regional stand alongside other Business Event offerings from across Tāmaki Makaurau, such as SkyCity, Cordis, Auckland Conventions Venues and Events, Wēta Workshops Unleashed, Explore Group and many more.

Themeing and dressing a large tradeshow stand each year is challenging, however this year posed more challenges than ever before, with less space for activations along with the tradeshow being hosted outside of Auckland City for the first time in 8 years. Auckland Convention Bureau engaged with a professional event theming agency Kim Chan Events, and developed an exciting way of dressing the region with some long term positive benefits that reflected our values of sustainability and positive social impact.

Each plant displayed in the Auckland region was carefully selected for its ability to be reused and replanted. We then engaged with a variety of local community projects and charities to donate the native plants and edible trees to following the 2 day tradeshow.

All native plants were donated to the Tūī Corridor Project, by Christchurch Foundation initiative.

All edible plants and other varietals were donated to:

The Tūī Corridor project was launched in 2019, with a goal to establish a corridor of tūī friendly vegetation between the Port Hills and the central city of Christchurch. It is the first project under the ‘Stronger, Greener Christchurch’ programme to make greater Ōtautahi Christchurch a better place to live through renewable energy and sustainability initiatives.

Otakaro Orchard &  Community Garden is right in the centre of Christchurch’s Central Business District, it is incredibly beautiful and just opposite Te Pae Convention Centre, a great place for a lasting legacy from Tāmaki Makaurau. They have gardens in various stages of development, and bring in local schools to provide education and skills. They have saved some of the donated plants to be placed in front of the new community building when finished in late 2022.

The New Brighton community hub, as well as inspiring and educating people about growing their own healthy food, support our volunteers through life’s stresses and give them opportunities to make new social networks.

Various school and preschool groups participate in the activities at the gardens, and they run education on gardening, gardening art and also cooking with food from their gardens.

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