Association Update – June 2025

And just like that we’re in June and the NZ Sign Conference and Awards of Excellence are only days away! This year is really flying by fast, mentally I’m still in January though the dark evenings keep reminding me I am not. I am really looking forward to connecting with everybody at conference this year, it promises to be a great week of events, and extremely well attended with numbers reaching pre-Covid highs, and some sessions fully booked out. I am also looking forward to celebrating with the industry at the Sign Display Awards. I’ve been sneaking a look at the entries and can’t wait to watch the winners be presented with their medals. Due to a technical glitch with the awards platform last year, we’ve decided not to release the entries until after the awards evening. It will be well worth a look once they are live though, as there is some outstanding work on display.

Last week we got out and about in Auckland, representing the industry at a series of Career Expos and flying the Signee flag. We’d like to say a big thank you to those sign shops and suppliers who came and donated their time and supplies to help us with this venture. The students showed a real interest in sign making, with many of them putting their names forward to learn more about the Signee course. Now our challenge is finding work experience placements for all those who were interested – a chance for the industry to step forward and put their hands up to help educate the sign makers of tomorrow. If this is something you can help with, please do let us know!

The May intake for Master Sign Maker has now wrapped up and with that final flurry of applications we now have a great line-up of quality sign shops set to achieve the accreditation and receive their plaques at the upcoming awards ceremony. We hope that seeing these legends get recognised will be a driver for more sign shops to take on the challenge and work towards achieving the accreditation for themselves.

I also wanted to remind members to take advantage of the Taxi platform, for which NZSDA members get a discount. I know June is a hard month for every industry, and Taxi provides a way to access funds short-term without the risk and expense of lending from a bank. It really is an incredible system, and well worth just creating an account to have there in case it is needed during the harder months.

Keeping it short and sweet this month as I’m busy with all the pre-conference chaos!

Mā te kotahitanga e whai kaha ai tātou. Through unity we have strength.

Ngā mihi,

Mikayla Hopkins
NZSDA