DailyPost 221
ARE WE EVENT MANAGED?
We manage the events with a clear purpose in mind & the capability to achieve that purpose or do the events manage us, is the question. The money & effort is humungous, goes waste, with minuscule returns, when evaluated on any cost benefit analysis matrix. Events are turning out to be dinosaurs of a kind. From school annual day functions to inaugurations to launches to conferences, the flab which has got added to it, is detrimental to our efficiency & productivity, which is at the base of our existence.
The mileage which an event is meant create is generally missing, in an ecosystem where competition between events is a fact. The effort derails the productive time to be deployed for truly professional work. It also unfortunately creates a mindset, where success of events decides our success. Lots of NGOs survive only on the event mode. We have never heard of events of Sisters of Charity, their work has convinced us.
The event management companies fit into our urge of creating better & better events barely knowing the purpose. The gloss & and jazz are not able to translate into business. It has become an event to event life cycle. The annual calendar of events itself is huge. The compulsion of first hosting an event & then the scale & grandeur eats into reality of business & governance.
The transformation of seminars / conferences / workshops into events is a sad tale, which all of us aware. The inaugural & concluding functions steal the show without adding anything to content / documentation & impact and most attended. Maximum effort is put into the least productive component. The technical sessions are left to their fate. The location & comfort of the participants is the only critical.
The less said about the social functions the better it is. The big fat Indian wedding is case in point. It can lead to debt & heart burns. Same tale is of the smaller ones too.
ITS TIME WE MANAGE THE EVENTS OF LIFE & BUSINESS, THAN GET EVENT MANAGED.
Sanjay Sahay