Social Events!
INVOLVE Check out whats happening around and during INVOLVE! If there is something you would like to host, please get in touch with us!
Social Events Calendar
Connecting at Happy Hour!
Thursday 7th August, 2025
4.30pm-5.30pm
To round out our first day of celebrations, join Mininster for Youth James Meager in our exhibition space for kōrero and networking. Our Taiohi Traders’ stalls will be in full swing - so come and check out the youth marketplace!
Nibbles and non alcoholic drinks will be provided and a cash bar will be open for anyone who wants to buy a beverage!
Supported by Rerenga Awa | Canterbury Youth Workers Collective
Ōtautahi: Youth Loop & Hot Pools Party
Wednesday 6th August, 2025
12.30pm-10pm
$15-$50 per person
Jump in the van and join us for Ōtautahi: Youth Loop & Hot Pools Party — a one-day adventure through Christchurch, where you'll get an inside look at some of the coolest youth spaces in the city, meet inspiring people doing awesome mahi, and wrap it all up with a soak at He Puna Taimoana hot pools!
This is more than just a tour — it’s a chance to connect, explore, and celebrate youth spaces and kaupapa across Ōtautahi the day before INVOLVE.
Demystifying Deep Fakes and AI - 101 Training
Wednesday 6th August, 2025
11.30am-12.30pm
$15 per person
If you’re already in Ōtautahi (Christchurch) for INVOLVE, why not come along to our satellite training event on Deep Fakes & AI. Held at the iconic Tūranga on the 6th of August from 11:30am to 12:30pm.
Deep fake technology is easily accessible and in a lot of cases, completely free. Taking any image or video that exists, you can create video, imagery or audio of what sounds and looks like a real version of the original material.
Hosted by Ecpat ChildALERT
It’s Giving Youth Funding Symposium
Wednesday 6th August, 2025
10am-4pm
FREE - $150 per person
This symposium will bring together rangatahi, funders, and sector leaders to explore what impactful, youth-centred funding can look like in Aotearoa. It’s a space to share bold ideas, reflect on what’s working (and what’s not), and build genuine relationships across the motu. Together, we’ll unpack how decision-making power and resources can shift toward young people and their communities, and how the wider funding ecosystem can better support rangatahi wellbeing, leadership, and aspirations. Whether you’re a young person involved in funding, a funder supporting youth-focused initiatives, or someone championing systems change, this kaupapa is for you.
This event is made possible with generous support from the Clare Foundation and Te Rourou – One Aotearoa Foundation.
This event is made possible with generous support from the Clare Foundation and Te Rourou – One Aotearoa Foundation.
Positive Youth Development Aotearoa Training
Wednesday 6th August, 2025
9am-4pm
Highly interactive training held at Aldersgate, 309 Durham Street North, Christchurch. During the day you explore how the PYDA framework applies to your practice, specifically, and how to practically apply the framework to your organisation, your role, and the young people whose lives you touch. It's a fundamental training for everyone who works with, or for, young people; no matter whether they are long experienced or brand new. Everyone gets great value from it.
This training is fully subsidised and catered (usually up to $300 per person).
Hosted by the Youth Development Champions Project. This event is made possible with generous support from the Wayne Francis Charitable Trust
Pou Pasifika Networking Event
Thursday 7th August, 2025
5.30pm-7.30pm
This event at Milton Substation, is a gathering for Pasifika Youth Workers and Practitioners in Aotearoa to be in one space, reconnecting as a wider village. As the youth development sector prepares to meet in Ōtautahi, Christchurch, for the National Youth Development Conference - INVOLVE 2025, this is the perfect time for us to come together too. This gathering is for all Pasifika youth workers and practitioners, including Pasifika youth workers not attending Involve Conference 2025.
Whanaketanga i Aotearoa: Ngā Tahuhu Kōrero A History of Youth Work in Aotearoa by John Harrington
Thursday 7th August, 2025
5.30pm-7pm
You are warmly invited to the Ōtautahi launch of Whanaketanga i Aotearoa: Ngā Tahuhu Kōrero A History of Youth Work in Aotearoa by John Harrington at Te Pae Convention Centre. This book brings together many threads of the emergence of Youth Work in Aotearoa New Zealand into a rich tapestry of a profession rooted in the stories of its people. It takes us on a journey through the history of Youth Work from pre-European methods where Tangata Whenua developed young people, including rights of passage, through to 2025. The book is a mix of researched history and the author's own narrative.
This book has been funded by The Wayne Francis Charitable Trust and published by Ara Taiohi
Active Rec, Sport and Outdoors Breakfast!
Friday 8th August, 2025 at cafe Table of Monks
7.30am-8.30am
We warmly welcome all those who work in Active Recreation, sport, and the outdoors sector to join us for parakuihi on Friday, 8th August at 7:30am at Table at Monks. This whanaungatanga breakfast is a chance for us to come together, kōrero, and create meaningful hononga. It’s all about connecting with each other, sharing experiences, and strengthening our relationships to continue the amazing mahi we all do!
We will then walk to INVOLVE which is 650m away! See you all there!
