Bizarre

Bizarre, the event with a draw only second to that of Numero Uno, if anything. We flocked to Harsha Bhogle’s charisma like the proverbial moths to the streetlamp. And we weren’t disappointed. Although sprayed with a generous dose of routine fillers, there were a few moments of brilliance from the man worth remembering.

Also worth remembering was the quiz itself. With a star-studded array of finalists, it was a fine display of esoteric knowledge, combined with a few “Oh!” moments for all of us in the audience. With the projector taking quite some time to start working initially, it took all of the quizmaster’s wit and charm to keep the audience engaged. But once the quiz started, the participants took centre stage and an array of brilliant answers ranging from a nigh impossible connect between a memorial and a Mark Knopfler song being the Mason Dixon line to connecting various personalities through eponymous hairstyles ensured that the quiz was worth the watch.

IIMB’s sole representative on stage ended up in second place after a thrilling final round, which saw them leapfrog 4 other teams on their way from 6^th to 2^nd. The teams also attempted to come up with some good names, like Ippocalypse, Imon and the masters of the universe and Insert cool name here. We will leave it to your judgement as to which of these succeeded and which didn’t.

As in any other quiz, there were disputes about the scoring, but those were very quickly sorted out between the teams themselves. But these disputes apart, undisputed winners were the team of Arul Mani, also consisting IIMB alumnus Thejaswi Udupa. This writer regrets he doesn’t know the identity of their other team mate, but many congratulations to them. And thus, Vista draws to a close. The concluding L^2 is on, and the celebrations of yet another successful Vista will go on for some time into the night.

Aswin V 

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The Glitterati

Here’s an image from the Media Conclave that happened at IIMB auditorium on Oct 13th.

L to R: Suhel Seth, Priya Ramani, Sonny Abraham, Arnab Goswami, Jehangir Pocha

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The ibibo Workshop- Networking at its best!

Have you heard of the IIT Roorkee graduate who quit his job to make blogging his profession?

Or of Kyle McDonald’s famous online deal that can best be termed a bizarre series of exchanges?

Well, if you don’t, you sure missed one of the best workshops at IIMB Vista!

After several rounds of workshops that meant business (literally!), this was one workshop that was as fresh as workshops could get. The workshop conducted by ibibo on social networking, blogs and the power of online transactions was simply a must-attend.

The  writer was at the registration desk, in the thick of activity, as participants arrived in hordes. The room allotted for the ibibo workshop filled up in no time and some participants were disappointed as they had to be turned away.

The workshop started off with a brief quiz. The participants were quizzed on their knowledge of trivia regarding internet, personalities who shot to fame by quirks in online interactions.

Of course, there were also anecdotes of those who came to their fortunes online.

All these and more made the ibibo workshop a truly entertaining and enlightening exercise.

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Gearing up - The Grand Finale

After two scintillating days, Vista is all set for a fantastic finish this sunny morning at the picturesque IIMB campus.

The day begins with two workshops- CAT and Investments. Needless to say, both classrooms L11 and L12 were filled to capacity with gyaan-hungry junta.

Lined up for today are the ibibo workshop, Numero Uno finals and finally, the quiz Bizarre.

After Bizarre, it’s celebration time at L^2.

This is sure going to be an eventful day!

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Finesse

Finesse, as in smoothness, as in strategy. Both of those were in sharp focus as participants attempted to solve questions about company valuations and share prices in a race against time. This private equity quiz consisted of both the numerical and the general (?) knowledge types of questions. Participants were initially surprised by an announcement that calculators were not allowed and then, broke out into laughter at a subsequent announcement which said that if they hadn’t brought their calculators to a finance quiz, the organizers were not to blame.

The questions seemed to be of a reasonable level, although your writer’s lack of knowledge puts him at a disadvantage while making this judgement. One team in particular could be seen delirious with delight at having solved all of one question. Maybe one will find out the reason for that later.

Qualifying for the finals were the usual suspects, as far as IIMB is concerned and the finals should be good to watch. Be there in the L-cluster at 2:00 pm and see who can take over (ouch!) the title of champions.

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Media Conclave….Running live live!!!

SONNY ABRAHAM: Is the media a public good or a business?

SUHEL SETH: These guys are the real future of the country - so I think we need the lights on to have a better view. (Lights come on with cheers). Yes there are corrupt institutions. More people are seeing different choices in the way they are seeing information. Editors on TV, and TV anchors are writing editorials. Does the media perform a responsible role? Some of them do. Others don’t. Because of poor judicial intervention. Yes there are corrupt institutions. More people are seeing different choices in the way they are seeing information. Media is a watchdog but has become a lapdog.

ARNAV GOSWAMI : 30 national channels out of a space of 30 square kilometres. I think that’s unfair. Nothing today in television is original. No whiff of new ideas. There is a conflict between “perpetrator of the news” and “reporter of the news.” Two summary points -

• Media should have expanded qualitatively, not quantitatively
• Media is a business, and u need someone who understands that business. Role of editor in the 1960s was a communicator - today it’s to be a psychoanalyst. Nothing to be embarassed about changing content. 
  

JEHANGIR POCHA:  I don’t accept that the media is a business. Media exists not to just hand out candy, but to show what is relevant to the audience. It is the "Voice of the voiceless".

ARNAV: Talks about the ethics of journalism. But one must not wear the ethics on one’s sleeve. There is no church-state divide. The 23-year old newsreader should not sound like a pope. (His paragraphs are getting longer and the rest of the panel is RG ing him)

 SUHEL : Arnav speaks in paragraphs!!!(arnav’s been asking for 3 sentences since time immemorial. He’s gone into over 10 minutes speaking now.)

You have a bunch of jokers running the country in more ways than one. So you need the media to be effective control in more ways than one. We trust the written word - we are not taught to disbelieve textbooks. So you can’t have a role that is away from keeping the trust of the people.

(People have a major fight on who should speak :P)

ARNAV : Gives the example of Colonel Vasanth story versus the Sanjay Dutt and Haneef story. How Times Now covered it. Bottomline : It’s ethics versus preaching. Is there a relation between the two?

JEHANGIR : The only growing publication is the independent, honest and brutally frank one. At BW, we maintain an extremely strong divide between the church and the state. 

……………………………….

SONNY: Do you think journalists are partly to blame because of the glamour associated with things like lifestyle etc?

PRIYA: A page one story versus a page ten story..yes that distinction is there to some extent.

JEHANGIR:  There’s a reason that the church state divide exists. My concern is that the media in this country is not "SEIZED" with the critical issues facing this country. For example, one of the issues facing this country is caste - but our media is not seized with it. Whether someone preaches or puts it in a cheeky way is a choice. But the integrity is a different thing and that is important. 

Everything in life comes down to your individual values.  

SUHEL : If you’re in the business of trust, you have to ask yourself, what is the category proposition. The USP of any media house can only be its content. It is distrustful and deceitful to see the impact feature in silly magazines like Outlook or India Today. Bombay or Noida does not matter. Purpose with which you are driven is important. Media have given less weightage to the content end and more weightage to the business end. (claps)

 SONNY ABRAHAM: (Changing the topic): How do all of you respond to new media like blogging etc. 

ARNAV:  I’m not cynical about this country. 51 people in Orissa died of mango gruel. Shantakumar had to give up his ministry because of the television. (details later) That is the impact TV has.

We have a code of self regulation to do it…etc.

SONNY ABRAHAM:  (Changing topic again) What are the opportunities for a B-school graduate in the media? 

The panelists more or less agree about the fact that you need passion to be into journalism. Though it may not pay well, if it’s a passion you must join. Suhel seth asks us to do what we believe in. He tells us we would have more plain vanilla influence if you’re in the media. 

ArnavSpeak. 

1. Lot of foreign investment
2. Only area where you don’t need a degree to do an entrepreneurial thing
3. If you have the right ideas, it’s a good industry to be in
4. Lots of opportunities - can we run an international channel out of Bangalore? A robotics engineer with an MBA from Stanford is today the chief guy @ Times Now. Its a flourishing career option where roles can change rapidly. Payscales are extremely competitive.

 A wonderful event - by far one of my most memorable events. It’s a pity I couldn’t replicate the event word for word, but as Suhel said, any panel discussion sees the anchor get most of the footage. Now this was a panel discussion with 5 anchors!!! So there was high adrenalin in the air. In retrospect, there were mainly 2-3 issues discussed that included media as a public god versus a business and how they are adjusting to the new high tech kids on the block. What would probably matter most to us B-school grads, though, is the career options at the end. And as usual they all centred round passion.     

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CAT WORKSHOP

Early morning at IIMB is synonymous with classes by professors and either over attentive listeners or sleepy backseat boys – typical of any college for that matter. Not so, though at the CAT workshop today morning.

 
An event traditionally conducted by the hundred percentilers at IIMB, Pradeep Shekhawat and Udayan Sarkar were doing the CAT workshop and were assisted by Siddarth Madhav, Geet Bhanawat and Adithya M.R. in the process. Adithya started off the session with a terse and to-the-point presentation, without beating around the bush. And of course, with the parting advice - listen to inspirational music before entering the exam hall!!!

The presentation was followed by a session with one of our seniors from the 06 batch talking to prospective fachchas in a bid to show his book – “Joker of the Pack’. Nonetheless he did have some very good insights to give regarding day zee’s and marketing and finance and terms that IIMB students are familiar with and somewhat dread.

Coming back to the CAT workshop gyaan….

Adithya had some interesting things to say. What is important is to have a strategy for CAT.  Identify your weakness and strengths and work on them. After taking mocks I knew that I was good at quantitative area. I decided to attempt my best section (quantitative) in the middle. That gave me cushion both ways. Wow, MR, never thought you would have planned so much J

Udayan Sarkar concentrated on highlighting the importance of mock tests. Sarkarspeak - With just few weeks to go, take a lot of mocks. And attempt as many as possible. That is a good way to improve your chances.

Geet Bhanawat added his two bits. It’s good to have a strategy but be flexible. It is important to be open and flexible about what one expects in the paper.

The workshop closed with a Q&A where hopefuls asked a range of questions – from choosing a particular IIM, to IIMs Vs ISB, to life in a B-school.

And yeah, junta expected in droves tomorrow, being a Sunday. Good work guys, keep up the marketing effort for prospective fachchas!!!!

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The General’s Gambit

 Gambit…the word evokes thoughts of traps, strategies and sacrifices. General’s Gambit is a strategy event where participants need to take decisions to satisfy certain tactical and strategic goals. These decisions need to be taken in a framework of a set of possible events and must be robust to any combination of those events.

This sounded very tempting, so this writer too decided to try his hand at it. Unfortunately, so many people thought the same way that the organizers soon ran out of question papers and large numbers of people were hanging around the event venus waiting for the papers to arrive. Thanks to presence of our friendly neighbourhood xerox shop in room A-103, the papers arrived quite soon.

The event itself was quite thought provoking and one only wishes some more time had been allotted. With the results slated to come out in an hour’s time and the final presentations an hour after that, this promises to be a fast-paced event on all fronts.

We will keep you updated on the finals from 2 p.m. onwards, although you might prefer to be at the venue yourself. This writer is now off to see the results himself.

Aswin V. 

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BzzWings

 True to form, the Bzzwings event generated much buzz among the participants, and was received with a full house. The Business Plan Presentation event at Vista is being presided over by a distinguished panel of judges, mainly from Amazon and IIM Bangalore. Amazon has graciously decided to sponsor the event, and as many as nine teams have been chosen to present their ideas among over a 100 entries.

The event started with a new idea titled “E-Pustak”, which aimed at opening an online book rental service for net-savvy people, the likes of IT professionals in cities like Bangalore. The team laid out their plan, the finances of the proposed company and also elucidated their SWOT analysis for the plan. Barring a few nitty-gritties, the plan was thoroughly analyzed from all managerial and operational perspectives, and was received with applause from judges and audience alike. Wonder how nice it would be to order your favorite John Grisham bestseller from the comfort of your home/office and leaf through the pages at your own leisure. Surely sounds interesting!

Carrying forward the “educational” theme, the next team came up with a remarkable concept called “Infovision”. They hoped to produce educational content for the television medium and cater to a whole range of people in the 4-45 year age group. Starting with conceptualizing content for free-to-air channels, they aspired to start a full-fledged educational channel in a few years, should the initial plan succeed. One of the questions raised was the profitability of such a channel, given that TV is dominated by TRPs after all. But if one couldn’t foresee the success of Aastha and Sanskar on Indian TV, then maybe Infovision could still hold an ace up its sleeve.

Enough of studies, thought everyone, and thank God someone wanted to make money by promoting sports. The team from Sarvy Sports brought forth a whiff of fresh air, both in terms of their business idea, and their enthusiasm. Aiming to expand into a full-fledged Sports Management Company, dealing with a whole range of functions including event-management, sponsorship and sports tourism to name a few, the guys sure had lots of guts and chutzpah. The better part of the deal was that they had already incubated their operations and had projects lined out for the coming years. Way to go surely!

But the most revolutionary concept was about to come. Taking a cue from reality TV shows like the KBC, the team from Hyderabad, planned to take Indian politics head on, and out came the idea – Kaun Banega Pradhanmantri? Wow! Surely my mom’s gonna watch this one. The idea was to select a few promising candidates who were driven by societal concerns, give them a fund of 5 lakhs and cover their story for 44 weeks as they go about spending the money on projects in their locality. Its ideas like this that can shape the future, and hopefully, the team has done its maths to make it a reality.

Akash Gupta 

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Key Note

Vista about to be inaugurated…with the keynote address by none other than the HR head of one of the greatest milestones of Indian Industry - Mohandas Pai.

Ganesh starts off with a wonderful quote culminating with the "Rediscover, Redefine, Refocus" tagline of this time’s Vista. Off starts the Vista video whose sound effects are marred by a couple of hiccups by the Bose speaker system. As always, Infra rocks, and hence the mikes are back to power in no time. However the video has to be stopped in the interest of time, which is kinda disappointing, after the hours of effort that must’ve gone into its making.

Mr.Mohandas Pai starts off his keynote speech "Recharging with Leadership" with Ganesh on the keyboard. The first reference is to a namesake - M.K.Gandhi - about how he was a great leader, and how because of him we have 40% of the world’s population experiencing 8-10% growth today and therefore Asia / India is the best place to be. Along came a truly enlightening seminar on the leadership qualities and theories like trait, behaviour and learning.

1. whether leadership can be taught or not
2. whether leadership implies leading by example

and of course…in the words of our German friend….
"You have spoken about people like Gandhi and Mandela who have done good things. How come you don’t talk about people like Stalin and some infamous people from my own country Germany? They were not good leaders. Don’t you think we should be talking about good leadership and what goes into making it rather than just leadership?"

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