What is Agile on the Beach NZ?
Agile on the Beach New Zealand is a fresh event, supporting the discovery and evolution of our mindset and practices around lean, agile, and systems thinking.
We are not like other agile conferences you’ve been to.
First of all, we’re by the beach!
Secondly, we are for practitioners and by practitioners. That means our conference theme and topics are driven and delivered by you.
Lastly, we are for benefit, not for profit, we are here to build our community whether you’re new to this world or you’ve been around the block.
This means we strive to create spaces and events where the diversity in our whānau is celebrated
Founding story
The original Agile on the Beach started life in 2011 in Falmouth Cornwall (the South West of the UK). Its intent was (and still is) to encourage interest in an emerging software industry in one of Europe’s poorest socio-economic regions. It showcases local success stories alongside well-known speakers and thought-leaders. As you can imagine, combining that with a party on the beach (or more recently, on a boat), it was a success and now stands as the top Agile conference in the UK.
David Morris knew Allan Kelly, one of the co-founders of AOTB UK, and in 2014 started talking about bringing the concept to New Zealand. However, it wasn’t until he had recovered from his MBA — and joined forces with Colart Miles as co-founder — that it became a real possibility.
From strength to strength
The inaugural event was in Mount Maunganui, near Tauranga, in April 2019, and again in March 2020 — then we hopped to the South Island after COVID-19 to host it in Nelson in March 2023—and we are now gearing up for our next conference in 2026 in Taupō.
Over this time, we have reviewed and matured how we operate — we now have a Board of Trustees, adding Biunca Hooper, Ajay Blackshah, and Wayne Kingi alongside David Morris — and now Colart is our Community Ambassador.
Helpful related pages
- Terms of use — the implied terms you accept by using this website
- Code of Conduct – our expectations for a safe, inclusive event
- Privacy – how we handle your data
- Ticketing – your contract when buying a ticket
- Changes and Refunds – how upgrades, transfers, resale, and refunds work