The recent speed networking event at Maritime NZ was a huge hit!

Maritime NZ holds a pivotal role in New Zealand’s maritime sector, overseeing the development and enforcement of national safety regulations, licensing seafarers, and maintaining maritime safety infrastructure. Their responsibilities extend to providing a national search and rescue coordination service (RCCNZ), managing maritime incident response capabilities, and leading responses to significant maritime emergencies such as oil spills.

We invited members in Wellington, NZ, to join us for an informative session on the work of Maritime NZ, followed by a Speed Networking with emergency management and disaster resilience colleagues in February. Attendees hailed from the alphabet soup of EM and DR, with representatives from NEMA, MPI, MFAT, MBIE, MoE, WCC, WREMO, MNZ, NZRT, and more. It was an acronym extravaganza!

Amidst the hustle of demanding workdays, a few members found themselves hesitating about attending the event, internally debating if they had the energy. How many of us have felt that way before? However, from the moment participants arrived and felt the warmth of welcomes, to engaging in meaningful conversations with exceptional women over a glass of wine and nibbles, it was quickly realised attending was the right decision and brought with it inspiration and a renewed energy by offering insights into Maritime NZ’s work, talks from remarkable women, and invaluable one-on-one networking sessions, fostering meaningful connections.

Thanks to everyone who joined – the enthusiasm and positive energy made the evening truly exceptional and a massive shoutout to Maritime New Zealand for their hospitality and the dedicated staff who meticulously organised, coordinated, and facilitated the event. Maritimes commitment to empowering women in the workplace and the broader sector was evident throughout the night.

This event went so well not because of one individual but because of our collective network and the unique contributions each person brought to the table and sprouted from a simple conversation between two AWE members.

Wondering if your agency or organisation could host an event with some support from AWE? Feel free to drop us an email at info@awenetwork.org.au and we can connect you with your local AWE Chapter Lead and/or work with you to facilitate a virtual opportunity for our members.