In just over a month, the show will take place for the first time at the New Zealand International Convention Centre (NZICC), which opened in central Auckland in February. This marks a significant change for the event in Auckland, as it has previously been held out at Auckland Showgrounds, which requires bus transport for the considerable contingent of hosted buyers.
Over 1,500 participants are expected at MEETINGS 2026, which will showcase 250 stands of New Zealand’s business events product. Ten first-time exhibitors will be on the show floor this year.
Altogether 600 buyers are expected to attend, including 100 Australian hosted buyers and 24 hosted buyers from further afield, who will travel from Southeast Asia, China, India and North America.
“We are thrilled to be bringing New Zealand’s premier business events trade show back to Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, and to be hosting it at the NZICC for an audience that is largely new to MEETINGS,” said Lisa Hopkins, chief executive of Business Events Industry Aotearoa (BEIA), New Zealand’s peak body for business events, which owns and operates MEETINGS.
Head of Auckland Convention Bureau, Ken Pereira, said MEETINGS 2026 came at a “pivotal time” for Auckland.
“We’re entering a new phase where we can confidently host larger, more complex events while still delivering the quality and experience we’re known for,” he said.
It is also a big moment for the convention centre to be hosting the largest gathering of its industry in New Zealand.
“After years in the making, welcoming our own industry, clients and friends to share our venue, purpose-built for connection, creativity and collaboration feels especially significant – and powerfully reinforces why NZICC was created in the first place,” said the convention centre’s general manager, Prue Daly.
MEETINGS will take place June 16 to 18 in Auckland.
