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What NSW Small Business Month 2026 Offers Newcastle Owners, and How to Catch the Rest

NSW Small Business Month is a statewide program of free and low-cost events running through October, so the habits that pay off are checking the official finder more than once, filtering it down to your area and dates, taking one action from each session, and staying on the Commission's newsletter for the next round.

Check the event list more than once

374 results in the finder on 13 October 2026

Listings can change; this is what the finder showed when checked

Source: NSW Government

NSW Small Business Month is not a timetable you read once. When we checked on 13 October, the official event finder showed 374 results.

Collaboration Partner applications are now closed, but the listings themselves are still worth a second look.

Listings can change, so treat that number as a snapshot. The lesson holds anyway: a search you ran in the first week is not the list that exists now. The same will be true next October.

The Commission describes them as "free and low-cost NSW Small Business Month events". The hosts are the Small Business Commission, other government bodies, chambers of commerce, industry associations and private organisations. The NSW Government puts the total at "hundreds of events both virtually and in-person across the state". That figure is statewide. The Newcastle share is whatever your filters return.

Newcastle SEO's earlier guide covers how to choose events that fit your business. This piece covers the rest: using the finder well, getting something out of each session, and staying in the loop once October ends.

How to cut a statewide list down to a Newcastle week

Cutting a statewide list down to a Newcastle week. An outline of New South Wales dotted with event pins narrows through five filters set in order: 1, postcode or suburb. 2, distance: 0, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 300 km or no limit. 3, date: Today, Next 7 days, Next 30 days, custom range. 4, type: Online or In person. 5, category: 23 to choose from. From the type filter, an Online branch loops back around the distance filter: distance doesn't matter for an online session. At the bottom, a short list of pins around Newcastle and Lake Macquarie, with Sort: Soonest or Closest, and Grid or map view. 1 Postcode or suburb 2 Distance: 0, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 300 km or no limit 3 Date: Today, Next 7 days, Next 30 days, custom range 4 Type: Online or In person 5 Category: 23 to choose from Online:distancedoesn'tmatter NewcastleLakeMacquarie Sort: Soonest or ClosestGrid or map view Cutting a statewide list down to a Newcastle week. An outline of New South Wales dotted with event pins narrows through five filters set in order: 1, postcode or suburb. 2, distance: 0, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 300 km or no limit. 3, date: Today, Next 7 days, Next 30 days, custom range. 4, type: Online or In person. 5, category: 23 to choose from. From the type filter, an Online branch loops back around the distance filter: distance doesn't matter for an online session. At the bottom, a short list of pins around Newcastle and Lake Macquarie, with Sort: Soonest or Closest, and Grid or map view. 1 Postcode or suburb 2 Distance: 0, 5, 10, 25, 50,100, 300 km or no limit 3 Date: Today, Next 7 days,Next 30 days, custom range 4 Type: Online or In person 5 Category: 23 to choose from Online:distancedoesn'tmatter NewcastleLakeMacquarie Sort: Soonest or ClosestGrid or map view

Source: NSW Government

The finder has filters for location, distance, date, category and type. Set them in this order:

  1. Postcode or suburb. Use your own, or the suburb where you'd happily drive for a morning.
  2. Distance. The options are 0, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100 or 300 km, or no limit. Pick one wide enough to take in Lake Macquarie and the rest of the Hunter if you're willing to travel.
  3. Date. Choose Today, Next 7 days, Next 30 days or a custom range. If you're reading this before month's end, "Next 7 days" shows what is still ahead.
  4. Type. Choose online or in person. Distance doesn't matter for an online session, so it suits an owner who can't leave the shop.
  5. Category. There are 23 categories. Use one only if the list is still too long.

You can then sort by Soonest or Closest, and switch between grid and map view.

The finder is a directory. Each listing carries a short description and a link through to the event's own page, and that page is where you find the cost, times and registration. Check it before you put anything in the diary.

What is on offer, sorted by the three official themes

Theme Examples listed in the 2026 finder Examples from October 2025
Capability and skills Hiring and paying workers, ESG for small business, COSBOA workplace relations webinar, AI sessions Tax and cashflow, marketing, PR and cyber security seminar series; council AI session; visual merchandising workshop
Networking Lake Macquarie Business B2B Networking Expo (organiser's own listing) WEXPO, Western Sydney Expo; Ngara Dorries Day networking expo, Shoalhaven
Free services Check each listing for what is included "Shop local" social media campaign, Upper Hunter

Source: NSW Small Business Commission, NSW Government, Lake Macquarie Business

For 2026, hosts were asked to base events on one or more of three areas: capability and skills, networking, and free services. That gives you a simple way to sort a long list.

Recent sample listings included online sessions on hiring and paying workers, ESG for small business, a COSBOA workplace relations webinar, and AI sessions. All of those sit under skills, and all of them are online. For a busy owner, that is the cheapest kind of event to attend: an hour at your own desk with no travel.

Last year's program shows the wider range. In October 2025 it included a four-part seminar series on tax and cashflow, marketing, PR and cyber security, along with a council AI session, a visual merchandising workshop and a "shop local" social media campaign in the Upper Hunter. If you're planning ahead for next October, that list is the best preview you have of the kinds of events that run.

A Hunter example of a local partner event

A carpeted club function room on a weekday morning: round tables with white cloths and coffee cups, a few display tables along the wall, and large windows onto gum trees and lake water. A handful of people stand at a distance.
Illustration

Networking is where local hosts come in. In its own LinkedIn post, Lake Macquarie Business lists a Business to Business Networking Expo on Wednesday 21 October 2026 at Club Macquarie, 458 Lake Road, Argenton. Sessions run 7.30 to 10am and 4.30 to 7pm, and entry is free for non-exhibitors. The organiser says it is a Collaborating Partner in the Small Business Month calendar.

Depending on when you read this, the expo may already have run. Either way, it shows something useful: Hunter business groups put their own events into this calendar. So next October, search the finder from a Lake Macquarie or Hunter postcode as well as a Newcastle one. Confirm any event's details directly with its organiser.

Getting one action out of every session

A small shop counter after closing time: a laptop open on a video call, a notebook with a pen, a mug of tea and a charger in the wall power point, in late afternoon light.
Illustration

The common trap is registering for ten sessions and attending three. Pick one or two that answer a question you actually have this quarter.

Before the session, write that question down. During it, note anything you could do this month, not someday. Afterwards, choose one action and give it a date.

Treat an online webinar like a client appointment. Block the time and close the shop email. Owners who watch with one eye on the counter tend to take nothing away.

If your action turns out to be about how customers find you online, two of our guides take it further: what your customers actually search for and SEO tips in the order that matters.

Staying in the loop after October

Source: NSW Small Business Commission

The month ends on 31 October, but the program doesn't disappear. The Commission runs a Small Business Month e-newsletter you can subscribe to, and questions go to smallbusiness.month@smallbusiness.nsw.gov.au.

If your business would rather host an event than attend one, the Commission's Collaboration Partners page is where that program sits. This year's applications are closed.

One job from the same month: the card surcharge ban

Card surcharge wording: where to check

Allowed

Clearly disclosed public holiday or weekend surcharge, if it meets the relevant requirements

Don't

Mislead customers about the reason for a price change

Source: NSW Small Business Commission, Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman

October also brought a change to tidy up. From 1 October 2026, businesses can't surcharge eftpos, Mastercard, Visa or American Express payments. The Commission says surcharge wording should be removed from menus, websites, booking systems, invoices and signage. The national small business ombudsman confirms the ban "came into effect on 1 October 2026".

Not every surcharge has to go: a clearly disclosed public holiday or weekend surcharge can stay, provided it meets the relevant requirements.

If you change your prices instead, don't mislead customers about the reason.

Old wording hides on websites in a few predictable places: the footer, the booking or checkout page, a FAQ, and a PDF price list uploaded years ago. Search your own site for "surcharge" and check each result.

The month at a glance

These are the figures behind this piece, each with its source.

Your next step with Newcastle SEO

If the month left you with an action about your website, your Google Business Profile or how local customers find you, that is the conversation to have with Newcastle SEO. Tell us what you took away from the session and where you'd like to start, through our Talk to Us page. If you're wondering how long that kind of work takes to show, our guide to how long SEO takes gives an honest answer.

Sources

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