Town Centre Meet Ups SOP

These were events we set up to hold in newly identified "Districts" along the Peninsula. Because the Peninsula is long and thin it is a challenge to be able to bring all businesses together - there's quite a distance between Red Beach and Gulf Harbour and a challenge to support all in similar ways.

We split the Peninsula up into 6 Districts being Gulf Harbour, Manly Village, Coast Plaza District, Karepiro District, New World Shopping District and Red Beach (incorporating Hilltop Shops). An event was held in each District (except Red Beach as there was a very poor response to event call out). We held a couple of events prior to Covid and then these were on hold for quite a long time.

At each event we invited along Hibiscus Coast Zero Waste who spoke briefly on climate action obligations for business as well as their City to Farm and Green Schemes supporting local and also Manly Fire Brigade who talked about safety and security tips for businesses. From both of these we subsequently have been working alongside Hibiscus Coast Zero Waste and local businesses on the Green Scheme project and also developed an online information page on our BW website of a collation of all the information imparted and discussed with Manly Fire Brigade.

Whist turn out was low at some events (biggest turn out at Paraoa Brewing for Coast Plaza District and Gulf Harbour both events had a good turn out) each event was very enlightening and two resulted in small local committees being set up (Manly Village and Karepiro District) and subsequently the Giant Family Fun Day events which it would be good to expand further and the District brochures for each of these two areas.

It may be an idea to again hold these town centre meet ups as they weren't difficult to organise and were a great opportunity for a touch point and the Business Manager to go in to every business in each district and leave information and ask questions and continue on the awareness campaign.

Event set up

• Choose venue and confirm
• Work out catering/drinks/etc (see below for some comments on past events)
• Set up an email campaign you will send ONLY to businesses within the specified area
• Invite any organisations you feel could be of interest/value to have a short talk (eg we got in Community Patrol at the Coast Plaza event as one of the major concerns in that area is crime and shoplifting)
• Create a flyer and print similar No of flyers to the No of businesses on your database for the area
• Walk the streets and visit the businesses, invite them to the event, leave a flyer and use this for any other touch points you wish
• Add event details in your newsletters
• Run your social media advertising campaign
• Confirm everything and send personalised email reminders to all businesses in that district a few days before the event

Day of the event

• Arrive early
• Set up flags, banners, seating, etc
• Confirm catering, drinks, etc
• Run the event
• Pack down

After the event

• Prepare your event report for the BW Executive meeting
• Organise any reimbursements required.
• Email a thank you to each of the business owners who attended
• Send a brief meeting report to all businesses in the district for their information and as another touch point

Templates and databases can be found in the Google Drive Past Events folder and many of the businesses in our online database have been tagged in their appropriate area (this does need to be checked though).

Past event information

Events have been held in -

• Gulf Harbour - 2 events - Cherry Cafe on 20 May 2021 and Mainsail on 29 March 2023
• Manly Village - 2 events - Cafe Manly on 11 March 2020 and India Village on 15 March 2023
• Coast Plaza - 7 June 2023
• Karepiro District - 21 June 2023
• New World Shopping District - 17 May 2023
• Red Beach - none but planned 26 April 2023 - Red Beach was only officially incorporated in the Whangaparaoa District in early 2023 as previously Silverdale "claimed" the area to be in their business district. Red Beach is in fact an independent district from "Silverdale" and "Whangaparaoa" with Whangaparaoa officially starting at Viponds Road.