Screen-print illustration of Gore’s giant brown trout statue on its stone plinth on dry ground, with the Hokonui Hills and Mataura plains behind. — Illustration generated with AI.

46.10° S, 168.94° E. Gore District, Southland (Murihiku)

Microsoft Copilot training in Gore

Gore town combines visitor attractions, local retail and a nearby red-meat site. Microsoft 365 Copilot can help a team record which approved file backs each public answer or internal handover.^2,3,6,7

Enquire Read the local brief

50.1% of Gore’s employed residents are in desk-based roles.

	A	B	C	D
1	Role type	Gore	NZ	Diff (pts)
2	Desk-based	50.1%	63.6%	−13.5
3	People-facing	8.7%	9.0%	−0.3
4	Hands-on	41.3%	27.4%	+13.9
5	Employed residents	4,275	2,622,534

About 2,140 people in desk-based roles. 2023 Census, counted where people live.

Rows 2 to 4: ANZSCO major groups 1, 2, 5, 6 / 4 / 3, 7, 8. Stats NZ 2023 Census, employed residents. Proxy per ILO 2025; not a forecast.

Residents: 8,1802023 Census
Business locations: 1,116Feb 2025, +5.1% since 2020
Employees (jobs here): 4,360at local businesses, Feb 2025
Self-employed or employers: 12.5%of employed residents, NZ 16.2%
Drive to Invercargill: 57 min66 km by road

What AI means for work in Gore

5 findings from Stats NZ data for Gore, and what each means for Microsoft Copilot training.

Workforce by occupation group, Gore against New Zealand

50.1% of employed residents in Gore work in desk-based roles, against 63.6% across New Zealand. The difference is mostly labourers: 16.2% of employed residents here, against 9.0% nationally. Size the licences to the desk-based roles rather than headcount. A pilot with office, scheduling and management staff shows value before you pay for everyone.

Employed residents by occupation group, Gore and New Zealand, 2023 Census
Occupation group	People	Gore	NZ
Managers	642	15.0%	18.3%
Professionals	705	16.5%	26.8%
Technicians and trades workers	741	17.3%	12.5%
Community and personal service workers	372	8.7%	9.0%
Clerical and administrative workers	411	9.6%	10.8%
Sales workers	384	9.0%	7.8%
Machinery operators and drivers	330	7.7%	5.9%
Labourers	693	16.2%	9.0%

Desk-based = ANZSCO major groups 1, 2, 5 and 6 (managers, professionals, clerical and administrative, sales): roles where AI assistance is most applicable. Broad proxy informed by ILO 2025; not measured adoption or an employment forecast. People-facing = major group 4. Hands-on = major groups 3, 7 and 8.

Source: Stats NZ, 2023 Census, usually resident employed people; ILO, Generative AI and jobs: a refined global index of occupational exposure (2025).

Other services: 6.9% of local jobs, 2.0× the national share

Top employer: retail, 805 jobs (18.4%). Heat cells mark industries over-represented against New Zealand. Plan Copilot use cases by department in the largest employers first.

Share of paid jobs by industry, Gore and New Zealand, February 2025
Industry	Jobs	Share	NZ	×
Retail	805	18.4%	9.3%	2.0×
Health and social care	615	14.0%	12.0%	1.2×
Farming, forestry, fishing	400	9.1%	4.8%	1.9×
Manufacturing	391	8.9%	9.4%	0.9×
Hospitality	338	7.7%	7.2%	1.1×
Construction	309	7.1%	8.2%	0.9×
Other services	302	6.9%	3.5%	2.0×
Education	246	5.6%	8.5%	0.7×
Wholesale	230	5.3%	5.0%	1.1×
Professional services	196	4.5%	8.3%	0.5×

Share of paid employees at business locations in the area, by ANZSIC06 industry division. × is the local share divided by the national share.

Source: Stats NZ, Business Demography Statistics, February 2020 and 2025.

Business locations +5.1% and employees −5.4%, 2020 to 2025

Paid employees 4,610 (2020) to 4,360 (2025), −5.4% against +5.0% nationally. Business locations 1,062 to 1,116. Largest job gain: health and social care (+95). Largest loss: education (−95).

Business locations: 1,0621,116 in 2025, from 2020; +5.1% NZ +9.6%
Employees (jobs here): 4,6104,360 in 2025, from 2020; −5.4% NZ +5.0%

Change in employees by industry in Gore, February 2020 to February 2025
Industry	2020	2025	Change
Health and social care	520	615	+95
Manufacturing	347	391	+44
Farming, forestry, fishing	380	400	+20
Education	341	246	−95
Transport and warehousing	220	135	−85
Hospitality	422	338	−84

Geographic units (business locations) and paid employees, February of each year. Small counts are randomly rounded by Stats NZ, so small changes can be noise.

Source: Stats NZ, Business Demography Statistics, February 2020 and 2025.

Remote readiness: work at home and household internet

On-site sessions, at your workplace, usually suit teams here better than remote ones. We come to you.

9.1%

Mainly worked from home, census day 2023

New Zealand 17.7%

85.3%

Households with internet access

New Zealand 90.5%

Main means of travel to work on census day, and access to the internet in occupied private dwellings.

Source: Stats NZ, 2023 Census, usually resident employed people.

Self-employed and employers: 12.5% (New Zealand 16.2%)

Most workers here are employees of organisations, the setting where Microsoft 365 Copilot rollouts are planned centrally, with licences, policy and champions.

12.5%

self-employed or employers

New Zealand 16.2%

Employed residents whose status in employment is employer, or self-employed without employees.

Source: Stats NZ, 2023 Census, usually resident employed people.

Copilot for Gore’s largest employers

A Word visitor sheet may draw on several organisations. The worksheet should name the file owner and the person who confirms current details before an Outlook reply leaves the office.^2,7

Visitor services

Turn sample Teams event notes into a Word visitor checklist, with each venue detail assigned to its owner.^2,6,7,8

Red-meat processing

Check a fictional Excel arrival log for missing references, then prepare a review list for the plant team.^3,4

About Gore

Gore is an inland Southland town with a country-music identity, an arts and heritage precinct, and visitor services that promote local food and artisan products. Silver Fern Farms currently lists its Waitane site on Saleyard Road near Gore, while the town also has a clear visitor-economy connection through the Eastern Southland Gallery, Hokonui Moonshine Museum and Tussock Country festival. The festival's 2025 post-event account reported a $2.52 million contribution to the Eastern Southland economy; separate council employment and GDP figures are district-wide and dated, rather than a current town-only industry profile. Gore has hireable meeting rooms, business support through Great South and Southland Business Chamber networks, and SIT's Eastern Southland campus.^1,2,3,8,9,10

Microsoft Copilot ideas grounded in Gore

Retail trade and rural business services

Compare visitor-week sales with regular weeks
A Gore retailer can ask Copilot in Excel to compare its existing, well-labelled daily sales table across an event period and ordinary weeks, then produce a chart for a staff discussion. The owner checks dates and category definitions before using the comparison to plan stock.^8,30

Why here: Tussock Country's 2025 report connects a Gore festival with local visitor spending and business activity, offering a specific seasonal context for shops and hospitality operators.
- Copilot in Excel: Analyze Data and natural-language queries
Spot gaps in local-product replenishment
A shop that sells regional products can use Copilot in Excel to group its stock and reorder records by supplier and item, then flag categories with missing or unusual entries for review. Staff confirm each flagged line against the source records before placing orders.^2,30

Why here: Gore Visitor Centre says it sells local Southland food and artisan products, so regional-product stock management is a grounded example for town retailers.
- Copilot in Excel: workbook questions, summaries and charts
Summarise service enquiry categories
A rural-service office can ask Copilot in Excel to summarise a structured enquiries register by topic and response status and create a simple chart for its team meeting. The business removes customer identifiers and checks the categories before it changes its response process.^2,9,30

Why here: Gore's role in Eastern Southland and the council monitor's district-wide retail and wholesale context make small-business service workflows locally relevant without asserting a town employment count.
- Copilot in Excel: natural-language analysis of tabular data

Red-meat supply and processing

Review livestock booking and arrival patterns
A processing-site planner can use Copilot in Excel to summarise a permission-cleared table of booked and actual arrivals by day and supplier category. The planner checks source entries and operational constraints before changing a schedule.^3,4,30

Why here: Silver Fern Farms lists its Waitane site at Gore and its supply chain connects meat processing with livestock producers, making arrival planning relevant to a local red-meat operation.
- Copilot in Excel: Analyze Data and natural-language workbook questions
Compare plant downtime categories
An engineering or operations team can ask Copilot in Excel to chart downtime hours by cause and month from its existing structured maintenance log. The team verifies the categories and source records before using the chart to prioritise investigation.^3,30

Why here: Gore's Waitane site is listed by a national red-meat processor; downtime analysis is a practical example for a local processing team, not a claim about its current performance.
- Copilot in Excel: tabular trend summaries and charts
Track training sign-offs by work area
A training coordinator can use Copilot in Excel to summarise a de-identified training matrix by module and completion status and identify records requiring follow-up. Supervisors confirm each result against the controlled training record before assigning refresher work.^4,5,30

Why here: The company lists a Waitane operation in Gore and describes careers across processing, logistics and trades, giving the exercise a local manufacturing-workforce setting.
- Copilot in Excel: natural-language questions and data summaries

What Gore does

Retail trade and rural business services. Gore serves as a retail and service centre for Eastern Southland. The Gore Visitor Centre sells products from Southland food producers and artisans; the council's December 2024 economic monitor reports that retail and wholesale activity weakened across Gore District, which is district-level evidence rather than a town-only industry count.^2,9
Red-meat supply and processing. Silver Fern Farms lists a Waitane site on Saleyard Road, Charlton, Gore. The company describes its wider business as a red-meat processor; the page confirms the Gore location but does not state local employee numbers or the site's current production volume.^3,4,5 Named in public sources: Silver Fern Farms, Waitane Site³.
Heritage tourism, events and visitor services. Gore's heritage precinct includes the Eastern Southland Gallery, the Old Hokonui Moonshine Museum and Distillery, and the council visitor centre. Tussock Country's 2025 post-festival release reports 72 events over ten days and a $2.52 million contribution to the Eastern Southland economy; a council monitor reports that tourism made up nearly 6% of Gore District jobs as of 2023, a district-wide and older estimate.^2,6,7,8,9

Organisations are named for local context only. No relationship with them is implied.

Training venues in and near Gore

Most training happens at your own workplace. For a public workshop day or an off-site session, these places hire out rooms.

Gore Town & Country Club, Boardroom¹⁶

20 people, largest layout

The venue lists occupancy 20 for the Boardroom; confirm desired setup when booking.
- Projector
- Projector screen
- Whiteboards
- Tables and chairs
2 Bury Street, Gore
Gore Kids Hub, Parents Centre¹⁸

60 people, largest layout

Seats 60 in conference style; the venue asks hirers to request the room and confirm the booking.
- Projector
- Full kitchen
13 Wayland Street, Gore
Gore and Districts Memorial RSA, boardroom¹⁷

Meeting room

Seats 14-16; projector, screen, whiteboard, free Wi-Fi, air conditioning and a breakout room are listed.

12 Bowler Avenue, Gore
Gore A&P Showgrounds, Hokonui Pavilion²⁰

Community hall

Full-court-size pavilion; no seated capacity is stated. Hire page lists lighting, heating, toilets, kitchen, display boards, trestle tables and chairs.

9 Bury Street, Gore

From the venues’ own public listings. No booking or relationship is implied.

In the local business news

26 Jun 2025
Festival Tops $2.5M for Gore in Fourth Festival Year New Zealand Country Music Festival Trust / Tussock Country
Tussock Country's organiser reported a $2.52 million contribution to the Eastern Southland economy from its 2025 Gore festival, with more attendances and visitor spending. This is the organiser's post-event account and is a useful local example of events linking hospitality, retail and visitor services.
16 Jul 2026
$13.6m industrial hub project revealed Otago Daily Times
An Otago Daily Times report updated in July 2026 described a planned industrial subdivision north of Gore and said partner negotiations with potential businesses were under way. It is nearby district context; the page does not confirm that construction has started or that tenants have signed.
3 Apr 2025
Meat works sold after liquidation Otago Daily Times
The report says a Gore meat-processing site operated by Blue Sky Meats (Gore) and Black Origin Meat Processors had been sold after the companies entered liquidation; it reports the site had shut in December 2024. The current owner's operation or reuse of the site is unverified.
1 Jul 2025
Gore & Tamworth, Growing Together in Business Southland Business Chamber
Southland Business Chamber's newsletter records a Gore District Council-hosted luncheon with Chamber support, bringing Gore businesses together with Tamworth representatives. It is a recent example of local business networking and sister-city connections.

Around Gore

Main Street in Gore by Krzysztof Golik, CC BY-SA 4.0.

About 56 km in a straight line to Invercargill, the nearest large centre. Dots are towns covered on this site.

Gore District and Microsoft Copilot training across Southland, or Invercargill. Distances are straight-line.

A town-focused exercise can move a permitted attraction note from SharePoint into a checked Outlook answer, recording each approval step.^2,7

Public Microsoft Copilot workshops near Gore

There is no public Copilot workshop near Gore on the calendar yet. Register interest below and we will tell you when one is scheduled. Organisations can book private training for their own staff at any time.

Tell me when there is a workshop near Gore

We will email you when a public workshop is scheduled nearby. No other mailing.