The 2014 Webstock conference was held at the St James Theatre, Wellington.

Google and Facebook have sent executives from the United States to join the audience of Webstock, Wellington's technology conference with a soul.

It may seem a case of "coals to Newcastle" but Webstock co-organiser Natasha Lampard argues the eclectic annual event, which is now in its ninth year, has attracted a breadth and quality of speakers that is rare internationally.

About 800 people will attend Webstock's workshops, which kicked off at the Michael Fowler Centre yesterday, and the conference proper which begins at the St James on Thursday.

The numbers are similar to previous years, but Lampard says there is a bigger international contingent this year and people have commented on the variety of accents.

Lampard says singling out speakers would be like "choosing a favourite child".

Speakers include Australian anthropologist Genevieve Bell, who is the director of user experience research at Intel, and sci-fi author and Boing Boing blog editor Cory Doctorow.

The New Zealand-born executive director of Singapore's ArtScience Museum, Honor Harger, will talk on culture and dark matter. The former chief technology officer of President Barack Obama's 2012 re-election campaign, Harper Reed, will discuss the magic and mystery of big data, and architect and "creative thinker" Nat Cheshire will talk about the "re-invention" of Auckland.

Start-up Alley, a BNZ-sponsored competition that gives eight budding entrepreneurs a shot at winning a $20,000 prize, will be held on Thursday evening.