AI for Marketing – Christchurch

A hands-on half-day in Christchurch for anyone who has to market a business, even if marketing isn’t your job title.

The tools keep changing and reaching people is harder than it was. On top of that, more people now ask AI for a recommendation before they ever reach your website. Miss that, and you lose customers before they even know you exist. This half-day gives you a practical way in, with something to show for it by lunchtime.

Book your seat

Who it’s for

Business owners, marketing and comms people, and anyone in a Christchurch business who ends up doing the marketing: the posts, the newsletters, the website. You don’t need to have done AI for Business or any other workshop first. No AI experience needed either. If you’ve already had a play with ChatGPT or similar you’ll move a bit faster, but that’s all.

What we’ll cover

  • Optimise your content and website so AI search and recommendations pick you up
  • Build a reusable brand voice pack so everything you put out sounds like you
  • Set up a Custom GPT that drafts social posts, emails and articles in your tone and structure
  • Map how customers find and choose you, so your message fits each stage
  • Put together a content calendar with local visibility built in
  • Read AI dashboards that show what’s working and what to do next
  • Draft a simple chatbot that can answer customer questions and point them to a sale
  • Keep your business data safe while you do it

Details

Wednesday 14 October 2026, 1.30pm to 5:00pm. St Albans Community Centre, 1049 Colombo Street. $195 incl GST

You’ll leave able to use AI in your organisation, not just talk about it.

About the presenter

James Duggan is co-founder of KZN Digital in Christchurch and has more than 25 years in digital marketing.

KZN works with businesses across New Zealand and Australia to make their digital ecosystem work harder, and helps them put AI to work through consulting, training and automation.

His sessions are hands-on and built around the tasks people deal with every week.

About the AI Sandbox

The AI Sandbox is a not-for-profit community AI hub. In March 2024 it opened the world’s first walk-in AI space in Nelson: somewhere anyone can turn up, ask questions and get hands-on help with AI, free of charge. Since then it has worked face to face with more than 6,000 people and 250 organisations across the top of the South Island, through drop-in sessions, workshops and outreach, now we are expanding to Christchurch.