The Kiwi tech community is tapping into the global online expo trend with New Zealand Tech Connect, scheduled for the end of March.

It’s a collaborative effort by Workhere New Zealand, Immigration New Zealnad, the New Zealand Technology Industry Association and the Kiwi Expatriate Association (Kea), organised by recruitment firm Haines Attract.

Haines Attract director Jonny Wyles says the online expo format is gaining in popularity in markets like the US, but the Kiwi event has a slightly different take.

“Essentially we’re running a video recorded webinar for approximately 45 minutes to introduce the tech sector and integrating this platform with Workhere, so that participants can easily check out the company profiles and jobs. So there is no great investment in to virtual booths and the like.”

Haines Attract partnered to run a similar, smaller scale event for the Stronger Canterbury Infrastructure Rebuild Team (SCIRT) last year and has applied the learnings to this event, Wyles says.

“One of the things that worked incredibly well with the SCIRT event was the conversion of viewers from the event platform to the Workhere website. Virtually everyone who watched the event live or watched the recorded event in the weeks following also clicked through to check out the company profiles and jobs.”

The tech sector and Immigration New Zealand also recently collaborated to showcase job opportunities at South by Southwest in Texas.

Tech Connect organisers will remarket the online expo to people who visit the Kiwi tech sector booth there. The online event will also feature a panel of New Zealand industry leaders promoting the sector’s stories, but its members are yet to be finalised.

The organisers are working with TOUCH/CAST to film and stream Tech Connect.

Wyles says software development, business analysis, testing and project management are among the in-demand roles.