Ixora at the BNI National Conference 2026

One day before my birthday, completely unplanned, I joined BNI.

BNI stands for Business Network International, the largest structured referral networking organisation in the world. With over 300,000 members worldwide, the connections are there if you put the work in.

I'd wanted to join since I started Ixora. I wanted to be in a room with other business owners and learn from them just by being there. That turned out to be true, and then some. The category I wanted wasn't available in Blenheim, so when I found out BNI also runs online, I looked into it.

I ended up joining Breaking Boundaries Online! It worked out better than the local option would have. The chapter isn't limited by geography, which suits my kind services far more.

Soon after joining, I found out about the national conference and booked in early, not knowing what to expect. I also signed up for the Mega Chapter meeting without really knowing what that was either. This is a photo from that meeting. I was super nervous but everyone was very welcoming. The energy was amazing!

Since joining BNI to the time when the conference happened in May I had the chance to get to know some of my chapter members a little bit. It was so much fun meeting them in person! We had social events, before, during, and after the conference. Suffice to say that I was completely wrecked by the end of it all, but with a full heart and a buzzing mind! I love that our conversations flowed naturally from business to life to ideas to everything else.

I wanted to write this up as soon as I got back, but I was waiting on the official photos. Not everyone from our chapter made it to the conference, but most of us did. This is us.

The next conference will be held in Wellington. I'm looking forward to it!