Kawaiicon 2026 (billed as 'Kawaiicon 4') is a two-day computer security conference on 30-31 October 2026 at the Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington, run by the volunteer collective 'The Crue' - the continuation of the long-running NZ hacker conference Kiwicon.
Kawaiicon 2026, branded on its own site as "Kawaiicon 4", is a technical computer security conference taking place on Friday 30 and Saturday 31 October 2026 at the Michael Fowler Centre in Wellington. The official site (kawaiicon.org) is live and confirms the dates, venue and a two-day main programme preceded by pre-con activities.
The event is run by a volunteer organising collective that calls itself "The Crue". The organisers' FAQ describes them as "some of New Zealand's most experienced security industry professionals". Kawaiicon is the relaunched continuation of Kiwicon, the hacker and information-security conference founded in Wellington in 2007. Kiwicon ran for ten editions before pausing in 2017, and the event returned in a deliberately "less elaborate" form as Kawaiicon; the organisers' own FAQ answers the question "Is this Kiwicon?" with "Yes, just less elaborate."
The conference is aimed at technologists, information security professionals and digital creatives. The published programme centres on conference talks across the Friday and Saturday, with pre-con events on the preceding day, an informal networking track the organisers call "Hallway Con", and additional streams ticketed as Con, GGD and Kuracon. The site also lists a schedule, a livestream for remote attendees, and dedicated venue-access and childcare information.
The Michael Fowler Centre sits in central Wellington on Wakefield Street, beside Te Ngakau Civic Square and close to the bottom of Cuba Street, as the organisers note. As one of Wellington's principal concert and convention venues its main auditorium is a large tiered hall, so it comfortably accommodates a conference audience with room for the multiple concurrent streams Kawaiicon runs. Its central-city position means delegates are within walking distance of the Wellington waterfront, Lambton Quay and a dense cluster of CBD hotels, and it is served by the city's bus network with the main railway station a short distance north. The organisers publish specific venue-access and childcare guidance for attendees.
Kawaiicon is a nationally significant recurring technology event with a lineage stretching back to 2007 under the Kiwicon name, drawing a specialist information-security audience to Wellington. Its use of the Michael Fowler Centre places a sector conference in a flagship central-city venue, reinforcing Wellington's standing as a host city for New Zealand's technology-sector gatherings.
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