2023 Keynotes (2025 Keynotes Updating Soon)

Friday 4.30pm: Wiremu Matthews, Tauranga, New Zealand
Kānuka Wellbeing and Leadership

Personal Bio: Wiremu and his wife Kristen have 6 children ranging from 18 down to 4 years old. Learning is a key value in the whānau, whether via formal education, our interactions with each other as a family, or within our teams at school, work, within marae or community. Another whānau value is wellbeing. Choosing to move beyond the western model of health, for over 20 years Wiremu has studied medicine, exercise, nutrition, psychoneuroimmunology, leadership, coaching, and behaviour design, all underpinned by te ao Māori principles and tikanga. At Kānuka Wellbeing and Leadership we incorporate all these into workshops and coaching, particularly with senior leaders.

Keynote Title: In what ways can I be a better kaitiaki of myself, so I can better lead others?
Too often we can get caught up in the busyness of looking after everyone else, that we miss out on restoring and rejuvenating ourselves. This kōrero will explore the 15:3:1 tool that came from personal experience with burnout. It will then look at how living values important to us enables and empowers us to lead, irrespective of title or role.
wellbeingandleadership.co.nz

Saturday 9am: Jase Te Patu, Wellington, New Zealand
M3 Mindfulness

Personal Bio: Jase Te Patu is a highly sought-after keynote speaker, thought leader and facilitator. His 30-plus years in the wellbeing industry make him the perfect person to empower people with simple and accessible wellbeing tools. He has garnered many awards for his work in the mental health space, is a popular Ted Talk Speaker, Edmund Hillary Fellow and Founder and CEO of M3 Mindfulness - a holistic Mindfulness-based resilience programme for teachers, students and whānau right throughout Aotearoa.

Keynote Title: Hauora - Being well so we can do well for others
Te Ao Māori has much to teach us about being well! Our hauora is approached through te whare tape whā or the four walls of our wellbeing. When we are good, then everything we do in our lives can be done with an overflowing cup, not an empty one. After this session, you will walk away with a small but potent toolkit to take better care of yourself, which will, in turn, impact all others around you.
www.jasetepatu.co.nz

Saturday 1pm: Rachel Maia, Whanganui, Aotearoa NZ

Personal Bio: Rachel Māia is a New Zealand Paraclimber, public figure, motivational keynote speaker and a single Mum to 3. She has two sons, Max (15) and Quillan (12) and a daughter, Charlotte (17). Charlotte is one of 30 people in the world known to have a rare chromosome special edition called Trip 12, filling family life with all sorts of colours.

Keynote Title: Becoming Māia
Rachel has loved rock climbing since she was a teen but at the age of 16 she had a climbing accident that changed the direction of her life. Nearly two decades later she set a New Zealand record by becoming the first ever para athlete to compete on the world stage in Sport Climbing, placing 4th in her first World Championships in 2018. Rachel has gone on to win New Zealand’s first ever medal in sport Climbing, claiming silver in the Salt Lake City World Cup in 2022, while juggling training through covid lockdowns, ongoing chronic pain, multiple surgeries, and parenting a super powered teenager. She shares her journey hoping to encourage others to create positive changes through adversity, showing people they can both chase and create sunshine no matter the circumstances. Weaving in her lived experiences of family life, disability and adventuring, she is raw, real and relatable with practical takeaways on mindsets for resilience, the importance of community and of being connected to the healing ways of the great outdoors.

Sunday 9am: Kimberley Crisp, Awatoto, Napier, Aotearoa NZ

Personal Bio: "May the beauty of what you love be what you do" - Rumi. A mantra Kimberley uses to guide all her work. Kimberley has a Bachelors in Education (ECE) and is co-founder and creator of The Nest Private Kindergarten. It was the ‘birth’ of this model that fast became the ‘teaching ground’ for not only her but hundreds of other professionals that would visit and see, feel and hear a different ’way of being’. Kimberley’s creativity didn’t stop at The Nest she always wanted to establish a model outside the system with NO strings so ‘The Haven’ was birthed into being and this is a Home Schooling hub where children between 5-13 years of age cross pollinate OUTSIDE. This IS by far the most SIMPLE... It is outside the system: OUTSIDE. Minimal resources all fit in one trolley and apart from each other and NATURE that is it! Kimberley has been to The Pikler Institute in Hungary multiple times to study and visited The Forest Kindergarten in Germany. Kimberley is the first to admit that where she gains her deepest insights are always when she is with the children. She dovetails working with the children at The Haven and delivering innovative Professional/ Personal Development around NZ.

Keynote Title: Keep it simple Sweetheart
It is in illusion we get confusion. When it all comes down to it most humans want very similar things…the SIMPLE things. Children are the best example of this and when we … the adults work out ‘what’s our business and what’s their business? It really is SIMPLE.
This question confirms it is the child we must take our signals from NOT a book or a computer program. We need to simply KNOW the biology so our environments mirror the blueprint needed. Feeling safe and loved. Playing freely with ease and grace. The best place for children to BE is roofed by the sky. Carpeted by the grass and centrally heated by the sun. So what’s happened??? The child has not changed (the biological imperatives) BUT the HOOD has changed for so many. Nature is our 2nd Nature and to be in and with Nature IS the best medicine for the body Soul and spirit. Kimberley will weave her experience and clever use of analogy to both inspire and affirm.
www.kimberleycrisp.com