Our next big event
NZSTA 2024 Symposium – Ngā Hononga
A noho experience
Date: 21 - 22 October 2024
Where: Te Wānanga o Raukawa, Ōtaki - Te Ara ā Tāwhaki (auditorium)
The symposium will use wānanga based learning experiences as well as provide learning opportunities that are evidence-based and relevant to clinical practice.
COST: NZSTA member $300, non-member $600, SLT student $100 (ticket prices include GST and full board)
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
- Be inspired by innovative clinical practice across a range of speech-language therapy practice
- Be immersed in a powhiri, noho and poroporaki, and learn the tikanga associated with these experiences
- Shape your professional identity by deepening your understanding of the origins of our association and speech-language therapy as a profession
- Learn waiata, how and when to use them in your workplace
- Attend to your broader hauora (health/wellbeing) with activities throughout the two days that respond to the four walls of Te Whare Tapa Wha.
WHAT CAN I EXPECT:
The symposium will open with a powhiri to welcome us and close with a poroporoaki. You will be supported by our kaumātua, Matua Rukingi, to understand and follow this space's tikanga (protocols). Please ensure your travel arrangements allow you to be on-site in Ōtaki by 9.30 am and that you can stay until at least 3.30 pm on Tuesday.
Throughout your time in Ōtaki, you will have the opportunity to be immersed in the wānanga environment, learn more about the whakapapa (history/origins) of our Association and our profession, listen to uplifting and inspiring speakers, as well as whakawhanaungatanga (building connections) with your fellow attendees as we share kai, kōrero, and space together.
Accommodation is on-site and will combine dorm-room-style single beds and noho marae style for those comfortable sleeping in a shared wharenui space. You are welcome to book accommodation off-site, but you are strongly encouraged to take up the opportunity to immerse yourself in this experience. Please bring your own towels and sleeping bag.
A draft programme will be published in mid-August, but this is an opportunity not to be missed.
Call for abstracts
In Māori, the concept of "connections" can be expressed through the term "Ngā Hononga." This phrase encompasses the idea of linking, joining, or bonding together. It resonates with the notion of establishing relationships, networking, and fostering connections, which aligns well with the context of a symposium focused on bringing people together.
We invite registered members to submit an abstract for consideration at the upcoming symposium:
The criteria for consideration:
- Must have a practical/clinical focus.
- Must reflect current evidence-based practice.
- Topics relating to tikanga (culture), te ara hou (innovation) or hāpori me te kotahitanga (communities and togetherness) will be welcomed.
There will be no streamed sessions, so all delegates will be invited to attend all sessions. Therefore, we encourage presenters to share work or research that is widely applicable across clinical areas and uses accessible language.
We will be welcoming presentations in many forms: single presenters, panel discussions, workshops, and stories.
The format of this year’s presentations will look a little different so that we can prioritise reflecting on the whakaaro of the speakers and collectively planning how new ideas can be implemented into practice. Our sessions will be action-focused. Please consider this when submitting your abstract.
Call for abstracts has now closed.
NZSTA 2025 Conference
Date: 10-12 September 2025
Location: Napier
Further information to follow soon.
The New Zealand Speech-language Therapists Association hosts a conference and a symposium in alternate years.
The 2022 symposium Titiro Whakamua – Looking to the Future was held in Christchurch at the Town Hall, 5 – 6 September.
We thank all those who attended, our trade exhibitors and all the people who assisted and volunteered to ensure this event was successful.
The 2020 and then 2021 conference, Aoraki Iho Ake – Grounded Aspiring Connected, was cancelled twice due to COVID-19.
The NZSTA pivoted the content into a couple of live webinars, and online pre-recorded oral presentations and the balance of workshops was successfully delivered as part of the 2022 symposium programme.
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