Auckland | Claude Meetup
Claude Auckland Meetup, September
🗓 Wednesday 30 September 2026 · Doors 5:00pm, talks 5:45pm
Our September meetup brings together the people shaping how AI actually gets used in Aotearoa, from cloud infrastructure to the boardroom to the lecture theatre, plus the builders quietly shipping things on nights and weekends.
Come for the talks, stay for the kōrero. Free, open to everyone, no AI experience required. Drinks and food included.
Speakers
Matthew Haigh, Head of AI, AWS New Zealand
A view from the infrastructure layer: what AWS is seeing across NZ organisations moving from AI experiments to production, and where the real bottlenecks are.
Paul Pritchard, Group CEO, Overdose
The operator's perspective. Paul leads one of the region's largest digital commerce groups and will share what changes when AI stops being a side project and starts reshaping how an agency delivers.
Dr Mahsa Mohaghegh, Head of Computer & Information Sciences, AUT
Fresh from six years as Chair of the AI Forum NZ, Mahsa has been at the centre of the national conversation on AI policy, skills and education. She'll talk about where New Zealand actually stands, and what we need to get right next.
Adam Holt, Anthropic Community Ambassador
A 10 minute lightning talk on live artifacts: building interactive, shareable things with Claude in real time. Expect a live demo.
Show & Tell
Two community members sharing what they've made:
Claire Byrne on building Opspot, a discovery platform for op shops across NZ and Australia that shows what's in store right now. From idea to launch.
Klaus Bravenboer on something more personal: how Claude helped him through a genuinely difficult period in his life. A different kind of AI story, and one worth hearing.
Open Q&A, 20 minutes
We're finishing with a proper open floor. All of our speakers on stage, your questions driving it: strategy, tooling, policy, hiring, what's actually working and what isn't. No pre-vetted questions, no script. Come with something you've been wanting to ask.
Running order
5:00pm Doors, refreshments and networking
5:45pm Welcome
5:50pm Matthew Haigh, AWS New Zealand
6:10pm Paul Pritchard, Overdose
6:30pm Dr Mahsa Mohaghegh, AUT
6:40pm Adam Holt, lightning talk on live artifacts
6:50pm Show & Tell: Claire Byrne, Opspot
7:00pm Show & Tell: Klaus Brave
7:10pm Open Q&A with all speakers
7:30pm Wrap and networking