From one-off workshops to a programme businesses can plan around
The Chamber wants to move past foundational AI content into something genuinely usable - and the offering shouldn't depend on any one person being in the room. Four layers came out of the conversation. Delivery follows what unlocks the most first, not strictly this order.
The anchor
A quarterly in-person session, with dates known well aheadThe flagship. Once a quarter, in Rotorua, in person - because as everyone agreed, there's nothing quite like it. Announced far enough out that anticipation builds and every advisor conversation can point to what's coming.
The library
Curated online modules - a playlist, not a firehoseTailored video modules matched to each business, and even each person within a business - some foundational AI, some automation, all chosen for the tools and people they actually work with. Not generic content: a curated playlist built from an assessment of their needs.
The support
Help to implement what's just been learnedMelanie's key point: people will do the modules - it's the implementation that stalls. The offering needs a clear path from "I've learned it" to "it's running in my business", with Incredible's team available for that next phase.
The pipeline
The AI Pilot as the prelude, local stories as the proofMBIE has extended the AI Pilot with around 30 new opportunities. Pilot businesses get deep transformation work; their stories become the comms that pull the next cohort into the programme - Rotorua businesses, with the Chamber's own Rotorua provider.
The anchor and the calendar come first - the library and support model grow around them.
Priorities, in order
Ranked by impact against effort. Tap a card to expand. Nothing locked - this is ranked together.
The forward-view calendar
Known dates, announced early, three-plus times a yearThe pain
- The Chamber can't currently promise businesses when the next AI offering lands
- Ad-hoc workshops don't build anticipation or momentum
- Advisor conversations lose power without a pipeline to point to
What we'd commit
- A quarterly (or three-times-a-year) rhythm with dates set well ahead
- A teaser beforehand, the session itself, and defined support afterwards
- Clear signalling of who fronts each session
The curated module library
Tailored online learning - the playlist, not the firehoseThe pain
- Generic AI theory doesn't land - businesses need tangible, targeted content
- One-size-fits-all misses that different people in the same business need different things
- In-person one-to-some sessions are great but don't leverage
What we'd build
- A library of short video modules - foundational AI, automation, tool-specific pieces
- A curation step: assess each business's needs and assemble their playlist
- Per-person paths within a business - not everyone reviews the same items
The implementation support model
From "I've learned it" to "it's running in my business"The pain
- Online learning is easy to consume and easy to shelve - implementation is where it stalls
- Without a support path, the library risks becoming another course people finish and forget
What we'd design
- A defined "after the module" path - office hours, follow-up sessions, or hands-on builds
- Honest sizing against Incredible's delivery capacity as the team grows
- Priced and packaged so it's easy for a business to say yes to
The cohort structure
Borrowing the Business Academy's proven shapeThe opportunity
- The Rotorua Business Academy just launched: a six-month programme of half-day workshops, one-on-one coaching, post-assessments and an alumni community
- Stephen's Masterclass series proved the rhythm: six weeks, an hour a week, homework in between
- A cohort keeps people accountable in a way one-off sessions can't
What we'd explore
- An AI stream shaped like the Academy: workshops + coaching + assessment + alumni
- Blending the module library into the between-session homework
- Alumni catch-ups as the ongoing community layer
On the radar, not yet
Ideas raised on the call, parked for nowParked ideas
- A one-to-many online format at scale - the model proving out elsewhere in NZ, with a possible partnership being explored
- A localised trainer fronting Rotorua sessions - Incredible is developing a Wellington-based deliverer, paired with founder-level business credibility
- A repeatable curriculum that travels - the same programme running in Sydney and Melbourne without depending on any one person flying in
Why parked
- The Rotorua calendar and offer shape come first - these scale what works, they don't define it
- Trainer readiness and partnership terms both need time to mature
Pain against ease of delivery
The calendar sits top-right: it's the Chamber's most explicit ask and it costs planning, not building. The library and support model matter just as much but take real build and real capacity - they follow once the rhythm is set.
The people, and what changes
Today the AI offering leans on Matt being in the room - and Matt is now based in North America. A structured programme changes what sits at the centre. Toggle to see the shift.
From an advisor conversation to a local champion - the journey we're designing
Meet the business
MalcolmThe RBP advisor assesses capability gaps in businesses across the Rotorua market.
Point to the pipeline
ChamberWith known dates, every conversation can say what's coming - September, December, next quarter.
Enter the programme
BusinessVia an AI Pilot spot, a quarterly session, or a future cohort intake.
Learn
IncredibleThe in-person anchor plus a curated module playlist matched to their tools and people.
Implement
IncredibleDefined support to put the learning to work - the phase Melanie flagged as make-or-break.
Champion
Chamber commsLocal success stories wrapped in comms, pulling the next businesses in.
The people
Melanie
Rotorua Business ChamberLeading the Chamber's push from foundational AI content into a usable, plannable offering - and clear that anticipation, forward planning and implementation support are what make it work.
Malcolm
RBP Network Advisor, RotoruaDelivered the advisor role in another region for a year; now bringing that experience home to the Rotorua market. Out meeting businesses, assessing capability gaps, and connecting them to providers - the front door of the pipeline.
Matt
Incredible - the Rotorua faceNow based in North America but remaining the Chamber's Rotorua person and the attraction - designing the programme, showing what's possible, and back in person when it counts.
Stephen
Incredible - workshops & key accountsAlready flying around the country for key accounts and loves workshop delivery - the natural front for the quarterly in-person anchor. Ran the six-week Masterclass series the cohort model borrows from.
Wellington trainer
Incredible - localised delivery (name to confirm)Technically brilliant and already running workshops, solo and alongside Stephen. Being developed as the localised deliverer - paired with founder-level business credibility for the audiences that need it.
Rotorua businesses
The pipelineTwo already in the AI Pilot, with UpFlow, Cheal, BSK Engineering and Index Engineering keen for the next intake - hungry to invest, needing someone to show them what's possible.
The pieces, and how they fit
This isn't a build from nothing - the funding, the formats and the pipeline already exist. The job is assembling them into one programme.
The prize: pilot as prelude
MBIE has extended the AI Pilot with around 30 new opportunities - and Rotorua has businesses queuing. Pair those spots with a known programme calendar and every pilot becomes the opening chapter of a longer capability journey, not a one-off project.
MBIE AI Pilot (RBP)
Extended again, opening roughly 30 new opportunities nationwide. Demand may exceed supply - Melanie is getting the national uptake picture from Ross. Pilot businesses report the strongest results when work starts from tangible pain: admin overload, invoices not going out, nobody knowing where things are.
The feeder everything else builds onRotorua Business Academy
Just launched: a six-month programme - six half-day workshops, three one-on-one coaching sessions, post-assessments, then alumni status with ongoing catch-ups.
The template an AI stream could mirrorMasterclass series
Stephen's format: six weeks, one hour a week, with homework between sessions so learning compounds instead of evaporating.
The cadence for the cohort layerOnline module library
The Spotify model: a library of short, practical videos - foundational AI, automation, tool-specific - curated into a playlist per business, and per person within it.
The build at the heart of Priority 2The Rotorua businesses
Lee Brothers and a second business already in pilot work (name to confirm for comms). UpFlow, Cheal, BSK Engineering and Index Engineering all keen - shown a taste of what's possible and asking whether there's still pilot space.
First candidates for the new pilot intakeLocal success stories
Melanie sees a real marketing opportunity: Rotorua businesses, transformed by the Chamber's own Rotorua provider. Story-first comms that make the programme feel local and proven.
Feeds step 06 of the journeyOpen questions
A handful of answers turn this from a good conversation into a programme. We work through these together.
Programme shape
Delivery
The library
Pilot & comms
Working assumptions
These shape the plan. The first is the one that changes how we think about timing.
Anticipation beats immediacy
The offering doesn't need to launch now - it needs to be knowable now. Dates first, content second: once the calendar exists, every advisor conversation gains a pipeline to point to, and the build happens behind a horizon everyone can see.
Matt stays the Rotorua face
Other deliverers are welcome - Melanie was explicit - as long as it's clearly signalled who's fronting. Matt remains the attraction and the Chamber's person, wherever he's based.
In-person still matters
Both sides agreed there's nothing quite like being in the room. The quarterly anchor stays physical; the leverage comes from what wraps around it.
The pilot extension is real and near
MBIE has opened roughly 30 new opportunities. Exact numbers, timing and Rotorua's share to be confirmed via Ross's national update.
Stephen can front the anchor sessions
He's already flying for key accounts and loves workshop delivery - but the quarterly commitment needs to survive contact with his calendar.
The Wellington trainer is ready to localise
Already delivering workshops solo and with Stephen; being developed further. Readiness to front Rotorua on his own - and the credibility pairing around him - to be worked through.
Incredible's capacity is the honest constraint
A small delivery team with a booming build pipeline and hiring underway. The support model in Priority 3 must be designed to what the team can genuinely sustain - overpromising here breaks the whole offer.