One Mahurangi – Forward thinking in ‘22

As 2021 fades into the background, I have a question to ask: Are you looking forward to 2022? The reason I ask is because a few people I have spoken to have said they are not sure if it is worth planning ahead, because if it is going to be a year like the last two, then they will have to cancel everything again.

I can understand this feeling to some extent, but as the old saying goes, “If you are standing still, you are going backwards.” While you are not planning and promoting, and your competitors are, then you are going backwards.

Last year, we had to cancel the Kowhai Festival, the Santa Parade, and a number of other events, but we kept planning for them up until the last moment. We continued to plan for the Mahurangi Winter Festival of Lights, and we managed to hold that event and have thousands of people in town for it.

We weren’t able to host a Santa Parade in 2021, but what we did was put Santa in his sleigh with Mrs Claus and a chubby Elf throwing lollies from the back. We took them around the neighbourhood streets of Warkworth, Snells Beach, Matakana and Point Wells. This year’s Christmas, even if we are lucky enough to host a Santa Parade, we will take Santa around the towns again. It proved to be popular so we look forward to building on the success of this and will have Santa route maps published ahead of time this year.

This year the Kowhai Festival, Santa Parade, Winter Festival committees and the One Mahurangi team will be starting to meet and plan with the view that we will have a full calendar of events taking place throughout the year for the community.

What do you have planned for this year? Do you have a plan B in case what you have planned can’t happen on that date? Can it happen on another date?

I know how difficult it can be if you are planning around a product or new service launch, but now is the time to start putting in place plans to keep that momentum going, even if you have to cancel. Start looking at what teasers you can put out on social media or in your newsletters to keep your customers connected to your plans.

Many local businesses have adopted or progressed their online presence during this pandemic, and I would encourage you to keep this business model developing should another lockdown be sprung on us again.

As we head into 2022, the question remains: Will you plan with cautious optimism or will you sit and wait, and as they say, “Fail to plan, plan to fail”?