I am Anna - Eventfaqs

LEAD FEATURE 4 September 2011, EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING 57
F E A T U R E
EEMAGINE 2011 began - the EEMA Executive Committee
Meeting. Discussions took place on the year gone by and
the year ahead, as well as the challenges that the industry
is facing and how to overcome these challenges.
This meeting was followed by the annual general meeting
which involved discussions on everything from the ups
and downs to the challenges and celebrations. The high
spirited meeting was no different from the previous years
in terms of enthusiasm, expression of ideas, thoughts and
constructive criticism.
However, the environment surrounding this AGM was not
just all talk as a number of mandates came out from this
meeting. These mandates included making more tie-ups
with academic institutions, creating more state chapters
to broaden the membership and increasing the number
of workshops in a big way. The discussions at the AGM
revolved around the questions of how to make EEMA
more relevant and what needs to be done from a CSR
point of view. The discussion over how to further spread
the EEMA mantra led to plans to bring new changes to the
EEMA website to make it more interactive and to better
communicate the association’s mandate and vision. The
meeting led to seven to eight initiatives being adopted.
Speaking on what made this year’s AGM different, Tellis
told ExM that the difference was “that while generally
people brought up constructive ideas, thoughts and
criticisms, the mood was very upbeat, the mood was very
positive; the mood was how to get things done rather than
just critical appreciation. I have been part of the previous
three AGMs. I thought the mood in today’s AGM was
fantastic, very special. In fact, people are still talking about
what a fantastic feeling it is to come together. I am a happy
camper as I speak...good stuff.”
“If you ask me to conclude day one, I would say we have
received a very clear mandate at the end of the day on the
vision of the coming 12 months. I think that’s the big take
out today. We have got a fair amount, if not a very clear
mandate going forward from members. So, we are very
clear on how we want to take EEMA forward and along
with it, its members,” Tellis added.
Day one of EEMAGINE 2011 culminated with dinner,
cocktails and a performance by Leslie Lewis.
Action Packed Day Two
Day two of EEMAGINE 2011 proved the fact that there
was a lot of thought put into the content that would be
presented at the convention this year. From lessons in
entrepreneurship, maintaining client loyalty and event
risk management to discussions on the fields of sports
marketing and rural marketing, the second day of the
convention was an action-packed learning platform for
every participant.
Deep Kalra, Founder and CEO, MakeMyTrip.com
Harish Krishnamachar, Vice President-South Asia,
World Sports Group
Day two began with a welcome speech by Tellis, giving an
analysis and brief outlook on the events and experiential
marketing industry overall. He also provided the audience
with a recap of the points and mandates that came out at
the AGM the previous day.
Deep Kalra, Founder and CEO, MakeMyTrip.com, talked
about the history of the company, an analysis of his
journey from starting up the company and the things he
had learned on the way. Encouraging people to take up
the entrepreneurial route, Kalra provided the audience with
a detailed glimpse of the challenges of a start up and the
process of scaling up businesses. He also provided advice
on how to encourage innovation amongst employees and
to share profits through ESOPS.
Following Kalra’s entrepreneurial speech, Harish
Krishnamachar, Vice President-South Asia, World Sports
Group, provided insight into the world of sports marketing.
He provided an in-depth analysis of this field - the growth,
the challenges and the outlook. He listed out the differences
between the events industry and the sports marketing field,
but also provided the common ground between both fields.
After the sporty insight, it was time to meet and greet the
closest cousin of the events and experiential marketing
industry - Advertising. Ambi M G Parameswaran,
Executive Director and CEO, Draftfcb Ulka, gave the
audience at the convention the ten commandments of