Cvent and the New Zealand Events Association have expanded their technology partnership. The deal puts Cvent’s full event platform behind Eventing the Future 2026 in Auckland.
Cvent is the official registration partner for the two-day conference. It opens at the New Zealand International Convention Centre on Tuesday, 4 August, and runs through Wednesday, 5 August.
NZEA will use Cvent Registration, Attendee Hub, Appointments Premium and OnArrival Premium. These tools will cover the delegate journey from sign-up to event updates, meetings and on-site check-in.
In plain English, that should mean fewer queues and fewer lost details. It should also mean less frantic badge hunting while the opening speaker clears their throat.
A bigger stage for event technology
NZEA has used Cvent for smaller webinars and seminars. Using the full platform at Eventing the Future is a clear step up in scale.
It also lets the association practise what the industry preaches. Event technology should be useful, simple and almost unseen. Delegates should notice a smooth experience, not the machinery behind it.
About 400 event professionals are expected at NZICC. The program covers audience engagement, marketing, sponsorship, staff wellbeing, venues, data and artificial intelligence.
It also includes industry debate, networking and the NZEA Event Awards. In other words, there will be plenty to discuss before anyone reaches for a second coffee.
Cvent’s role extends beyond the annual conference. Its technology also supports registration for NZEA webinars during the year.
Live events gain fresh value
The partnership comes with the release of the New Zealand Event Industry Outlook 2026. Cvent and NZEA built the report from Censuswide research. The survey covered 100 senior New Zealand event planners, marketers and decision-makers.
The results show strong support for face-to-face business events. According to the report, 99 per cent of organisations rate live B2B event spending as a high or essential priority.
AI is already part of the toolkit. The research found 82 per cent use AI to plan, design, manage or market events. It also found 94 per cent have sustainability targets for events held in 2026.
The message is clear. Technology and human contact are not rivals.
AI can sort data, shape schedules and help target marketing. It still cannot read a room, build trust over coffee or rescue a networking chat that has wandered into the shrubbery.
“New Zealand’s business events sector enters 2026 with real confidence, and the data proves it,” said Jack Ukil, Country Head, Cvent Australia. “In a world where AI can generate almost anything, the value of showing up in person has never been higher. That’s the Presence Premium™ at work.”
Cvent uses “Presence Premium” to describe the rising value of in-person meetings. Digital content is now easier to make, but real attention is harder to win. That makes a well-run live event more useful, not less.
Seamless from screen to doorway
NZEA General Manager Elaine Linnell said the larger partnership would give the association more confidence in the quality of its conference.
“Cvent’s technology has become an essential part of how we deliver Eventing the Future, and this expanded partnership gives us real assurance of quality as we bring our flagship conference to life,” Linnell said.
Registration, Attendee Hub, and OnArrival Premium are designed to work as a single system. Delegate data can move between sign-up, messages, appointments and check-in.
That matters for busy event teams. They no longer need to patch together a small orchestra of unrelated systems and hope everyone is playing from the same score.
A single platform can cut manual work. It can also give organisers a clearer view of how delegates take part.
Event teams now face several demands at once. They must offer more personal experiences, prove value, meet sustainability goals and protect attendee data.
Software alone cannot make a conference memorable. Good speakers, sharp content and useful contacts still do the heavy lifting.
Yet poor technology can make an event memorable for entirely the wrong reasons. Smooth arrival, clear information and useful meetings are now basic needs, not fancy extras.
Eventing the Future 2026 takes place at NZICC in Auckland on 4–5 August. Registration, the full program and venue details are available through the official Eventing the Future website. Cvent’s event research and technology information are available through its 2026 Australia and New Zealand Event Industry Report.
By: Alison Jenkins – © 2026.
Read Time: 4 minutes.
Author Bio:
Alison Jenkins has lived most of her working life in the slipstream of aviation, where timetables matter, and people matter more. In airline sales, she built a reputation the old-fashioned way: by knowing her clients, her routes, and never missing the human detail.
Quick with a smile, quicker with a solution, she made deals with warmth and kept her edge intact.
Trade shows, FAMILS, airport lounges and hotel lobbies became her second address. And somewhere along the way, notebook in hand, she began writing the journeys rather than selling them. Her reports grew lively, observant, full of the small truths only travellers notice.
That was the moment it dawned on her: she wasn’t simply travelling. She belonged in its stories.
