At the crossroads

Are you an event manager or a wedding planner? Well, good for you! because when you say the effect of pandemic is over on your business, you will be correct about the whole lot of your friends and family and nobody will contest it.

PC: Ministry of Memories

This pandemic, the lockdowns and the dull sentiment has hit us the worst along with hotels, hospitality, tourism and leisure. While I write this on 4^th May 2021 sitting in Surat (Gujarat, India), we are less than 24 hours from a new set of guidelines that will determine whether our next 60 days will be profitable or dud. In this dull market and free (though depressing) time, I want to suggest you guys do this like I and my team are doing. I will not bore you with any long lines after my bullet points, so good luck to all of us!

 

1. Upskilling - Invest in upgrading your skills and technical knowledge in whatever you think you are lagging. This is the best time to do so while you can upgrade and offer your clients something better when the market opens.
2. Connecting – Connect with the people in your life and in your company’s life – which means your family and your clients. As an event manager, you have always been running around – why not use the downtime in the best way and catch up with them! 
3. Self-caring – Did you get better and connect better? Very good! Also do not forget to be yourself and take care of your physical, emotional and spiritual self. Take your time out, relax, rejuvenate and get ready for the time to come.

And let there be LIGHT

The inroads of technology and its pace have been different in different sectors. I have been associated with 2 sectors where it’s been really slow. The first was construction sector in which I graduated; and the second being event management.

In the event management industry, the overt-covert tip-toe of technology has not been too evident. The lighting technology is the one I am focussing on today; and that too just 1 specific fixture – the par lights.

The black cylindrical can in which these lights used to be housed gave out a strong yellow light (like the big brother of incandescent lamp) and we event managers would give it different hues with cellophane paper masking.

The par (or as commonly called par-can) light has now found a replacement in digital par lights which have better performing. Instead of one right light, these have a number of small LED lamps that change colours. A flick of the button decides if the set designer wants a changing multicolour effect or in single colour. The colour selection depends on your taste and smartness – sometimes the result is tacky and sometimes fascinating. Despite the features and developments mentioned above, these LED par lights are amazingly energy efficient. While the par-cans would take up 1 KVA power, the LED based lights take up just 15% of it thereby reducing the requirement of the generators.

So despite the double amount we pay up in rental, the energy saved is more than 5 times. While writing this line I realize that it’s also helping the environment by producing much lesser heat and burning lesser diesel in the genset.

What is priceless, however, is to see the technological appreciation in my clients’ eyes when the technician presses the button to change the colour of the light :) 

The changing colours of a phera mandap lit by digital par lights

One of our first clientes I-Bank's one of the first propotional activities was on the jogging track.

The planning phase saw 4 of us trying to pin down on an activity that invilved father-child duo for this one.

As activity was chalked out to engage the customers wherein the customers will be contacted on the jogging track, with free fresh juice, & be asked to fill up a form with 5 similarities with his/ her father-child duo & pen down some advice that is being passed on from the Dad. They'll be intimated day 1; and photographed with dad/ child the other day (at the same venue). The prizes will be given alter and be handed over at their homes where sales pitch can be done.

The event was less than succesful; a lot of common, special factors contributed to it which I now like calling lessons. :)

1. A lot of activiteis, strongly including jogging track activity should not spill over on the 2nd day.
2. Especially when the 2nd day is a Sunday.
3. People jog lesser in vacations.
4. An upmarket area also generates strong pull when free juice (oranything) is around.
5. Making people thinkg & write a lot in out-bound activity is a bad idea.
6. Once the events start, regardless of their end results, the operations team gets revved up and gets energized. so it is important to nnot give too much spce between two.
7. Despite everything, do not expect NO response from any society & hang on. You might be in for some surprises at the last moment. An event is never a complete failure.

alpha

After many a deliberations, Red Carpet MICE Consultants is born. As my habit goes, the names were thought of, short-lists derived, opinions taken, the best one chosen.

That, however, didn;t save me from some desonance later. But it is born, finally. Rahul is back from Bangalore; and a more than good-looking office made.

I didn't expect the beginner's luck to brew it up so rigorous so soon. Guess it requires a lot more tadka of profesisonalism, creativity and aggression as I see it on this 12 June '09.

The good news is - I'm on it.