Conferences and Seminars

 I have by now attended countless conferences and seminars, and some were memorable. The first one was in the U.S., and the next two as well, while I was a Ph.D. student there. I even won a prize for one of my papers, at a Southeastern DSI conference. One was in Las Vegas, which became memorable due to the place!

At IIMK, IMT in India and also at PES, I organised conferences as well. One of our ideas to host one in Goa was a big hit. It was also a case conference, unlike most others which are research-paper based. The venue was an attraction for many participants, and I still get reminded of the Goa conferences by people I meet.

Among other international conferences I have been to, Tourism related ones in Colombo, Vietnam and Japan were the most interesting. I offered a course on Tourism Marketing during that time as well, at IIM Indore, for both Ph.D. students and MBA students (with a colleague, Jayasimha). The MBA course continues, I am told. 

Last week I attended a seminar at St. Xavier's University, in Kolkata on invitation. It was on Strategy, with the vision for India in 2047 as a theme. There was an interesting address by the Chairman of Coal India, Mr. Prasad, and a panel discussion with executives from industry.

Courses I Taught at Indore

 Academia has been intertwined with my life at least since 1986 from the "other side"- that of a teacher. That is when I started teaching as a Grad. Teaching Assistant at Clemson, teaching a Computer Applications course with a Lotus and dBase III and a Word look-alike each. Since then, I have taught O.R., B to B Marketing, Advertising, and a few other courses on and off (Communications too). But most consistently, Marketing Research has been a staple. I did not change its name either, though something like Analytics would be even more market-friendly, and it's fashionable to do analytics even if you don't know what it is.

At IIM Indore, I taught a few new courses too. But before that, at IMT Nagpur, I experimented with a Seminar on Thought Leadership. I gave topics involving people, books or ideas to groups of students, who then had to make a presentation. A critique by another student or two, and my thoughts finished it up. Very interesting, works well with about 10 groups of 3-4 students. I repeated this at Indore with sixty students, and a co-faculty.

Classes in progress- Mumbai and Indore. Above-Megha Bansal and Palash Surana work on an assignment in Digital Marketing, and below, Trinoyoni and Pooja Yadav, among others, watch a role play in Marketing Research.

Exec Program on Digital Marketing, with our edited book of Cases.

A golf class above, and an Exec Batch before graduation.

Another Exec Batch at Mumbai.

Alumni at home- theirs, (Shatakshi) above, and mine (Neha Adiga), below.

 

Digital Marketing was new, so I wrote a case assisted by Saumya, about IIM Indore's early attempts, and then collected a few experiences from students and alums. Resulted in an edited book, Digital Marketing Cases From India. This course I taught in about 10 editions across different programs, some of them to Executives. IMC, or Integrated Marketing Communications was a newer avatar of Advertising, and my first course to MBA students at Indore. I also did a Simulation course on Marketing in MBA first year, for a year. Some Indore alumni had a company called Biziga that developed it.

For Ph.D. students I developed three elective Seminars- on Digital Marketing, Tourism and Retailing. Students found Tourism the most interesting, I heard. So I co-developed a Workshop for PGP/MBA also on the subject of Tourism, with Jayasimha, a colleague. It was a hit.

Of course, there were variants in some executive programs, where I taught the core marketing course (last I did that was at IIM Lucknow in 2001-2003). We did a course for HPCL in Indore that was year-long, on Weekends. Repeated it at their Pune training centre for future batches. Also did a sort of induction program once. Indore used to have a centre in Dubai, and I taught there a couple of times. Meeting two Smitas (one a former colleague from IMT, another from KIAMS, a former student) was a highlight of the Dubai visits.

Managing a Business School- Alumni

Alumni Relations

These could be the most critical of the relations an institution may have. I am not kidding (not being a kid any more), but dead serious. The brand of their alma mater is carried by each alumnus/alumna for their career and the rest of their life after! Therefore, the institution or its office-bearers need to have a plan of action on roping in the natural goodwill that alumni feel for their alma mater. All great institutions in the world have active alumni support in terms of words and deeds. In India too, some of the better institutions, public and private, have a wonderful alumni network.

What Can be Done

In the pre-internet and mobile phone days, getting in touch and keeping in touch was difficult. Now, it is not. There must be a full-time body or committee headed by a faculty member of the institution to take care of alumni affairs- or relations, if you prefer that word to ‘affairs’.

There are several things one can do to make the alumni a vibrant and connected force. But you must remember to think of it as a human relations exercise, first and foremost, and not as a financial extraction exercise.

Chapter Meets

Regular opportunities that come every year, include a social gathering or chapter meet, attended by the institution head or faculty members, or both. This connects the alumni back like nothing else, except a visit by him/her to the campus. Since that is difficult, you must reach out. Maybe the costs of the chapter meets could be shared between the institute and the alums, but that is an accounting matter. The meets must happen regularly. If budgets are small, this can be initially a low-cost venue, and expanded into a more high-profile one after funding is sorted out. Sponsorship of these by alumni companies is an option.

We were able to attract 500 alums to attend chapter meets at IMT Nagpur (which I headed then), and about 650 of them at IMT Ghaziabad (which I was associated with later), in a year. The interactions were lively, and organised entirely by current students who had a genuine interest in linking up with their seniors from the institute. The alumni felt good, and came up with their ideas on improving their institution further in several directions.

Awards for Alumni

Distinguished alumni awards are another way to recognise the contributions made by alums to their organisation, to the profession, or to causes. There could be one at the convocation each year, and some at chapter meets too.

Admissions Interviews

Most Indian B schools have personal interviews for admission into the institution. You could invite select alums to contribute as a panel member to select future students. This is a sure way to improve ties with alumni, while increasing their feeling of ownership in their alma mater. We have successfully tried this in the IMT system, and at IIM Indore.

Guest Lectures

Most alumni would have experiences to share after a few years of work experience. What better way to get this into your classrooms than to invite them for a guest lecture? They would be very pleased to take a day off sometimes, and come to their institution for one. They also get to meet potential recruits if their company is in hiring mode. They may end up mentoring some youngsters regarding what career paths they should or should not take. A formal mentoring program can also be thought of, and implemented apart from this.

Seminars on a Theme

Themed industry seminars are something we successfully did at PESIT Bangalore. In one academic year, four such seminars were held on four different themes in HR, Finance, Operations and Marketing. These are eminently doable in cities, and also in other locations, for a modest budget. Many industry bigwigs including alumni can be the speakers. It forces students to think about trends in functional areas of management, and organise an event in their interest area too.

Merchandising

To alumni of any program, mementoes of the institute are very dear. US universities do a great job of merchandising mugs, t-shirts and a range of alma mater-branded stuff. We must learn to do this better.

Management Conventions

What's the difference between a conference, a seminar, and a convention? Let me try my hand at unraveling the mystery.

A Conference is what I understand the best. Many people attend, many people speak, and some listen, sometimes in sessions as intimate as 5 plus the speaker, usually conducted parallel-ly or simultaneously. At least in management conferences. Academicians play a major role in these.

In a seminar, there are a lot of invited speakers, everyone is expected to listen to these, and there may or may not be time for an exchange of thoughts, or Questions and Answers. Many a time, these are done for the benefit of student audiences.

A convention is similar to a seminar, with most speakers being stars, or aspiring stars in the firmament of corporate India (for management conventions at least). Mostly, academicians play second fiddle to the stars, or are 'conventionally' ignored, unless they happen to be the organisers.