Programme and speakers Registration Location & Venue Accommodation Famil Options Partners
Programme and Speakers
| Tuesday 4 August 2026 | Pre Conference Famils | |
| Wednesday 5 August 2026 | Pre Conference Famils (morning) | |
| 11.00am – 12.50pm 1.00pm 4.45pm – 5.30pm 6.00pm |
Registration / Welcome lunch Opening – Minister Tourism Hon. Louise Upston ChristchurchNZ Hospitality at Te Pae Evening Dinner Event Riverside Markets |
|
| Thursday 6 August 2026 |
6.00pm |
Conference Day Two Topical Industry Business Sessions Industry Panels Key Note Speaker* Tourism Export Awards Dinner at One New Zealand Stadium (black tie / formal attire) |
| Friday 7 August 2026 | Post Conference Famils |
Click here for a detailed programme. Noting programme is subject to change.
Key Note Speaker**
Ant Williams – An expert in mental fitness & high performance leadership
A New Zealander, now based in Australia, Ant Williams is no ordinary speaker. He’s a world-record freediver who has held his breath for over 8 minutes, dived to 100m on a single breath, and swum 182m under solid ice in an unforgiving Arctic landscape. He doesn’t just talk about risk-taking and mental fitness, he lives it.
But here’s what makes Ant different: he wasn’t always a risk-taker. A former Sport Psychologist, Ant spent years coaching elite athletes – motoGP riders, big wave surfers, rock climbers – only to feel like a fraud. Everything he was teaching came from a textbook, not from actual experience.
So, he decided to take up a dangerous sport and discover whether risk-taking could be learned – and what advantage his mental fitness techniques would create.
Recently featured in an immersive film with Apple (2025), Ant’s keynotes combine gripping storytelling, powerful techniques from applied psychology, and interactive experiences to help audiences perform at their peak when it matters most.