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.

Activities

 I have attended conferences, and organised a few.

I went to a few conferences abroad with Jayasimha, my colleague at IIM Indore. These were in Japan (Beppu), Cambodia (Phnom Penh), Vietnam (Hanoi), Sri Lanka (Colombo). 

Organised a few at IIMK, from IMT Nagpur at Goa. The latter, 4 editions, with Harsh Halve as a collaborator. Tripti Shrivastav assisted in the first, as an RA.

Music group - attended two physical meets at Hyderabad and Bangalore. Smaller meets at Chennai, Pune, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bangalore.

Parties with friends all over. Bangalore with Anshita and gang, Savitha, Vandana, Anushka, Divya Sisodiya, Bharath Shenoy, Mumbai with Meghna Sinha, Meghana Joshi, Tosha Dubey and Abha, Sirisha and Khyati, Sheetal, Swati Jain, Kedar Muley and Ravi Mittal, Pune with Meghana Khadilkar, Harshad Lunavat, Pushpinder, Anusha Soni, Delhi with Prachi Jain, Abha, Ananya Nandi Dey, Nikita Kumar/Ray, Shruti and Aditya Naag, Jaya Dulani Sardana, Padmapriya, Shweta Agarwal, Sharmishtha Singh and Sunil Kataria, Hyderabad with Jogeswari, Indore with Neeti, Pratishtha and Akansh...

Groups of classmates in Bangalore, and Hyderabad and now, Goa next week. Bangalore with Veronica, Kolkata with Dash, Shakti and Sudeshna (missed Roopsha).

Bhagyalakshmi and Shraddha Nigdikar at Mumbai, Faculty colleagues at Nagpur and Bangalore and Chennai and Coimbatore too, apart from Golf at Kodaikanal Munnar and Wellington. 

Golf at ASC with Dr. V, and with Venu at Hyderabad. Also with Muthu at KGA, and Sunil at Hubli. Belgaum wth Sadanand, Pattaya with lots of people led by Golftripz, ..

Weddings- Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Mumbai were the latest in a long list. Aditi Prabhakar in Bangalore where I took some good pics. At homes of friends, in Delhi IIT, Chennai, Bangalore, and other places. 

Goa

Me and Sujit (IIMB classmate) at Colva, 1983. I had gone with Subodh, a childhood buddy, who clicked this.

 I have been to Goa a dozen times, at least. Maybe more. At IMT Nagpur, we hosted a Case Conference and the location was Goa. I also drove from Harihar to Colva beach three years in a row, for a Diwali vacation. The drive along the Hubli-Karwar route was fantastic.

I have also been there on invitation by Goa University or GIM a couple of times. The latest was a conference at BITS Goa. January or February 2019, I believe it was.

Also drove with family through Gokarna, to Palolem one December. 

All these were memorable trips. Once, we drove all the way up from Mangalore, stopping at Turtle Bay beach, and on to Colva though a picturesque part of Karnataka- Honnavar, Padukone, Kundapur are some spots we drove through.

But my first visit was with Subodh Bhide in 1983. Remember a bar called Ding Dong in Panaji from there, and meeting Sujit in Colva for a beer (pic above).

More recently, Bogmalo beach.

Interesting Conferences

One was on Retailing (about Online versus Offline Pricing), and a paper I had written had an unexpected reaction on fb- lots of people requested a copy, and I was amazed.

Another very interesting conference was in Beppu, a small Japanese town. Met some amazing professors and students there, and got a taste of Japanese culture- one of the most polite people on earth. Another was in Sri Lanka, and I thought about why we in India don't do more in partnership with their universities-could be very fruitful.

There were others, one in Cambodia by ABEM, that enabled a visit to Angkor Wat, which was on my bucket list. Some of our domestic conferences- one on Social Media at Bangalore, and another on film and literature at BITS Goa recently, also gave me  a chance to explore interesting themes.

Nearing 5 Years at Indore

I have been notorious for changing workplaces faster than Hindi film heroines changed their costumes in song situations. But looks like I am trying to change. Must be the poha-jalebis, and the nice people of Indore. I am about to reach my fifth anniversary at Indore, in early December. So what are my thoughts?

The beauty of the campus is incomparable- inspired by buildings at Mandu.

The Sun rises over IIM Indore (above), and below,  Singing in progress- Sadhana Lakshmi tries out her skills- karaoke party with my Google Online Challenge champs-Kalaivani and team

 Above-Nidhi Kanungo with her dad, visits. She was my student in 2000 at Kirloskar Institute. Below, our first Digital Marketing executive program in 2017, at Indore-dinner at Mashaal.

 Gulmohar gar tumhara naam hota..

 Above-Indrajit at the Mumbai campus, and below, the PGPMX 16-18 batch at Mumbai, during the Convocation visit to Indore.

I am thrilled with the peace and quiet, for one thing, on the campus. The variety provided by the PGP/MBA, short term MDPs, and the Executive programs at Indore and Mumbai is a great plus point. We did a couple of interesting programs for Trent, Whirlpool, and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation.

A chance to experiment with new courses, particularly in the Doctoral program, is for me a definite attraction. Even in the MBA, I started teaching Digital Marketing for the first time in my career, and have learnt a lot from it. I had only one stint with the IPM in a seminar course, apart from some good CIS projects they did with me. But I did interact with a few good actors and actresses during the plays they acted in.

Bright students are like Oxygen, and there have been quite a few, from the first batch whom I taught Advertising to, to the batches thereon, whom I taught Marketing Research and Digital Marketing-you know who you are 😃 Some champions have also won numerous awards and recognition- not necessarily due to me, I might add! I also have been on Doctoral committees of various students in the full-time and part-time programs.

Faculty colleagues are also great fun to be with, and I have had a chance to meet most at breakfast, lunch or dinner, informally, if not at recruitment seminars. Many past students and colleagues visited me at Indore, and I met a few elsewhere during these years. Some also contributed to books that I managed to edit, publish, and I look forward to meeting many more.

Had two admin. stints as MDP chair and Dean-Faculty, that were also enriching. I ended up visiting (for conferences) a lot of nice destinations, from Beppu in Japan to Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. Since I also teach Tourism Marketing, it was all useful in my teaching too.

Enjoyed visits to places nearby such as Maheshwar, Pataalpani, Omkareshwar, and Mandu (several times-my favourite). 

Highlights of Four Years at Indore

I saw Sholay again (in 3D this time). Not comparable to the 70 m.m. version, but good. Saw quite a few other films in our institute auditorium. Finding Fanny, Dhoom 3, Happy Bhag Jayegi were some of them. Went out and saw Bahubali and its sequel, and the Rajnikant film Kabali (I am a fan. He's magical on screen).

 I played some Golf at our greens.

 Looking down at the new complex (above) and Shweta (below).

Met a lot of new faculty at the mess, as they came in. Met a few old colleagues here from places past. Taught in a few MDPs (short term programs), designed a couple, and taught in a wide variety of programs, from doctoral to part-time MBA in Mumbai and Dubai. Apart from my staple Marketing Research, I tried Advertising/IMC, Retailing for FPM, and Digital Marketing. Also taught some German students.

Saw the brilliantly directed and performed plays staged here, directed by Shweta, a colleague, and acted in by Sanjana, Jasmine, Avik, Shrunga, Philip and Ayushi and Urvaksh in the first of those-The Importance of Being Earnest.

Advised (!!) a few students including some doctoral students, collaborated with IPM students Satchi, Ayushi and a couple of others for joint papers. Presented papers at international conferences in Japan, Indonesia, Colombo and Phnom Penh apart from a few in Indian conferences. Wrote a couple of cases like Euroflex and Ten Motion Arts.

 A road trip to Jaisalmer, Udaipur.

 My Japanese avatar.

 Veenus, the conference manager of our conference.

Was fortunate to have some good academic assistants like Abhishek, Saumya Sharma, Veenus and Sarada who helped out in Indore, and Aiman in Mumbai. Kritika Gupta topping the M.R. end term with a 100% score was a highlight this year. Another was a student team led by Kalaivani comprising Swathika, Sadhana, Akshaya, Madhan and Chandran winning the Google Online Marketing Challenge 2017 Asia Pacfic title under my mentorship.

A marketing conference we ran in July 2017 was a big hit.

Airport Musings- Start of 2012

This one's from the lounge at Mumbai international airport. Afternoon flight to Bangkok for a conference. Afternoons are a lot less crowded, and immigration is a breeze unlike late night flights, when you are sleep-deprived, edgy, and there's a huge crowd.

Australia seems to have done to India's confidence (in cricket) what we did to them (it seems) eons ago in India. The bowlers are our only hope, as they haven't yet given up. The second test is in its second day as I write, and it looks pretty grim.

The Lokpal agitation had an unexpected finish, with everyone involved taking a deep breath, it looks like. May be for the better if a more evolved thought process goes into the core problem of minimising corruption at various levels. One solution may not fit all dimensions of it, and may not work unless it is well thought out.

Nagpur had a shower on New Year's Eve, and balmy weather thereafter for a couple of days, more like Spring than Winter. Unfortunately for people in Cuddalore, it was a bad start to 2012, with the storm hitting the town south of Pondicherry.

IIM Bangalore Visit

Had a chance to visit my alma mater, IIM Bangalore, for a conference on Entrpreneurship where my co-authors and I are presenting a case on a Nagpur-based entrepreneur who exports wood-metal figurines made by craftsmen who are ex-Bastar tribals. It has interesting business issues, and could be a good teaching case.

The campus of IIMB is unique in the sense that it looks like a mini-forest, with plants, shrubs and trees of different hues all around. It is pleasant to walk around. Maybe you could call it a B school in the middle of a forest. Like IIMA which is known for its architecture, and might be termed as a B school in the middle of an architectural wonder. As an aside, at one time, ASCI at Hyderabad used to be called a college attached to a bar, as it had an active beverage service!

The crowd at the conference was eclectic, and had a sprinkling of international faces. Since the focus is on BRIC nations, there were a few Chinese and Brazilian paper presenters too. Maybe some Russians as well. All in all, an interesting experience. Nice to see a bit of the metro in operation on MG Road. Hope it reduces some of the moving around blues over time. The lesson is that other cities need to start building it now, instead of waiting to get congested beyond endurance.

Goa 2011 edition

Goa conjures up images of the sun, sand and sin. But it is possible to do some sensible work there too. And enjoy yourself in the process. This is exactly what we did at the International Centre there last week. This was a case conference co-hosted by IIM Indore and IMT Nagpur.

Faculty, students and company executives wrote cases on an organization of their choice in a functional area such as Marketing, Strategy, Finance, Operations, and Human Resource Mgt. These were pre-read by people in the session, including a chairperson. Sitting around a table, participants had to present their case to a small group and get feedback from them on various issues.

There was also a plenary session (all participants) discussing their expectations, and feedback at the end of it all. Very stimulating ideas came from people, and learnings were tremendous. This conference will be repeated next year around November at the same venue.

There was also time taken out to go to the beach one evening. Dodging the beach police (you are not supposed to swim after dark) was a pastime some had to choose if they wanted a dip. Others chose to relax at the shacks, or take a walk.

Activity filled week at IMT Nagpur

We just finished doing an MDP (management development program for those unaware of the acronym) for the GMR group. Their executives came in for a 3-day program at the campus. We also had a visit fron HDFC for a campus recruitment program for the first leg of a sort of combined training-cum-recruitment process. The offers will be made to successful students after a training program of a few weeks done both by HDFC and our faculty. This is an interesting way to recruit students.

We also just finished a 2 day conference on MSME sector (Micro, Small and Medium is the expansion of the acronym). Some interesting stats on MSMEs and their contribution to the GDP and exports came up. But some of their problems seem to be timeless. Anyway, researchers made a great effort to document many different facets. This was our second conference since June. Three more are slated in the rest of the year.

We are doing an SPSS (Stat Package for Social Sciences) training program from tomorrow for 3 days. This package is useful for statistical analysis, and doctoral students and faculty in particular. You can do stuff such as regression and other analyses using this.

We also have an entrance test for our Ph.D. program offered in partnership with National Law University at Jodhpur on 27th. So the action continues through this week.

The Old Man and the Sea

Read this book by Hemingway. Pretty good for a single-thread-story, I must say. An old man goes out fishing, hoping to catch a big one, and does- on the eighty-fifth day after he starts. His fight with the fish while being far out at sea, and the final capture, and then the fight with all the sharks who try ripping the fish off the side of his boat- an interesting theme, somewhat like Moby Dick, but much more subdued and subtle.

Pertinent also, because an old man(me) was in Goa (the sea) recently, for a conference where faculty presented cases and also had a good time doing it. Goa always gets my vote as a destination that brilliantly combines international ambience, food and at Indian prices, by and large. The venue for the conference was the International Centre near Dona Paula, also a good venue. Had about 100 participants and hope to repeat every year.

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.