The New Zealand Association of Optometrists holds its 96th Annual Conference at Huihui, Parliament in Wellington on 16-17 October 2026, a two-day CPD, networking and exhibition gathering for the optometry profession across Aotearoa.
The New Zealand Association of Optometrists (NZAO) will host its 96th Annual Conference at Huihui, Parliament, in central Wellington from Friday 16 to Saturday 17 October 2026. The organiser describes it as a key annual gathering for practitioners across Aotearoa, built around CPD presentations, workshops, sector insights and exhibition engagement. This year's theme is "Caring for sight, caring for self — thriving in a changing optometry landscape," framing sessions around wellbeing (hauora) and learning (ako) as the profession adapts to AI, expanding hospital and community roles, and shifting employment settings.
The conference is organised by the New Zealand Association of Optometrists, the professional body for optometrists in New Zealand. That this is the association's 96th annual conference points to a body with roots reaching back to around 1930, and the event is coordinated directly by the NZAO office through its member portal, per the organiser's site.
The audience is optometrists and industry partners from across New Zealand. The organiser lists keynote speaker Professor Lauren Ayton (BOptom PhD FAAO), a clinician-scientist recognised for work in retinal disease, low vision and vision restoration, including bionic-eye programmes. Surrounding the main scientific programme are an optional pre-conference First Aid Training session (Thursday 15 October, at Eye Institute Wellington), the NZAO Annual General Meeting on Saturday 17 October, the Alan Styles Memorial Debate closing the conference, and a 5km wellbeing run along the waterfront. Platinum partners named by the organiser include Alcon, Eye Institute, Eye Clinic, Eikance and Sun Pharma.
Huihui is the events and functions space at New Zealand's Parliament in Wellington's parliamentary precinct, at the northern end of the CBD near Lambton Quay and Wellington Railway Station, making it walkable from the central hotel district and well served by the city's bus and rail network. The organiser directs attendees to a dedicated accommodation page, and the Gala Dinner is set at Foxglove Restaurant on the Wellington waterfront, a short walk from the parliamentary precinct.
The conference is a recurring, association-driven fixture that brings a national professional community and its trade partners into central Wellington for two days each spring, combining CPD, an exhibition, an AGM and social functions across multiple city venues. Its use of Huihui at Parliament is a notable signal of the parliamentary precinct's role as a business-events host in the capital.
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