They showcased Te Matatini, via the internet, last weekend with pride.
Te Matatini 2013 was highly successful because Te Arawa knows what's at stake when you accept the role of host.
You will be on show too.
You have to know who you can count on and who will support you from the time you start the planning process. You have to have the right leaders to garner support, get the resources and be organised.
You also must be able to keep the people motivated and beside you, right through the two years of preparation required to stage such a huge event. Seemingly, Te Matatini 2013 is the largest gathering of Maori ever held in one place.
It showcased the best of Maori cultural performances from 41 groups throughout the country. Three returned home from Australia to take part. It was an enormous exercise in logistics.
Because Te Arawa are first class at carrying out the role and responsibilities that go with hosting such an auspicious event, I believe they should get the job every two years. Whether they would want to do it is another matter, of course.
Hosting Te Matatini gets shared with other iwi throughout the country. It doesn't have a permanent performance location. I think this needs to be considered. Te Matatini is now big business. It may not ever have been envisaged that it would grow to the extent it has.
Not all iwi have the necessary time, skills, manpower and financial resources to do it well. You can't have a festival of 20,000-plus people turning up on your doorstep and hoping everything will turn out all right on the day.
Hosting this amount of people takes years of practice, learning and experience to be able to successfully pull it off. And it must pay its way too.
This year's has already been suggested as the best and most professionally organised yet. No doubt during their debriefing over the next month, and I hope it won't happen for at least four weeks to get the best results, Te Arawa will see where they did exceptionally well and where they could have done some things differently.
The communications strategy with media, other than Maori TV, is one area I would suggest needs looking at. A thorough debrief by the organisers including feedback from a cross section of participating groups and members of the paying public will provide valuable learnings that will assist continuous improvement in many areas.
The next Te Matatini in 2015 is being held in Christchurch. I find this an impractical decision. Christchurch is gearing up to rebuild and this will be in full swing in 2015. That should be their focus.
I don't believe Te Matatini will get the numbers in Christchurch either. The teams yes, but not the numbers of supporters who would normally attend if held in the North Island. The travel costs will make it too expensive. Yet the supporters are what make Te Matatini so successful.
Without them, you will merely have teams performing, at their highest level, just for each other. Time to think strategically and see Te Matatini as the business it has grown to be. It now needs a permanent home. Rotorua, by that I mean Te Arawa, would be the most suitable location. They know what's at stake and they'll be so damn good at it.
