The session began with an interesting discussion on the events landscape and its relevance in the middle of a pandemic. We learnt that due to Covid-19, there has been a clear variation and shift in the budget of various events.For instance; Today people in India are having intimate weddings with only 50 people instead of hundreds, however, they are still spending the same, or even more amount of money to ensure safety and social distancing. The discussion then moved onto listing down the reasons why any organisation considers an event as important. Attendee satisfaction, lead generation, brand awareness, cross-sales and improving efficiency were a few of them among others.
The students also learnt that there is no thumb rule for approaching an event and how it is dependant on nature and the kind of event. Mrs. Raji Vamadevan walked us through various manual, technological and integrated platform events by giving several examples. Then she went on to discuss the challenges related to events such as justifying one’s return on investment (ROI), budgeting, and networking. Moving on to event promotions, she proceeded to explain how social media and digital marketing are extremely important especially during Covid-19. We further went on to discuss the kind of audience on Facebook v/s on Instagram.
Concluding her session, she explained how the social and cultural needs of the society will bring events back as a hybrid concept after the pandemic. An event will include live as well as virtual elements. The last 20 minutes were open to discussion where students engaged with her in insightful conversations about the future of the events industry, the need for adaptability and opportunities created due to Covid-19.
As someone who is always excited by new ways of marketing and promotions, this guest session was indeed interesting. Today, students are not only studying but also witnessing the evolution of the events industry. Discovering events as one of the most powerful tools of marketing was truly enlightening. Filled with stories from her personal experience in the industry to predicting it’s future, Mrs Raji Vamadevan covered it all for the future industry professionals!
Sudipti Kumar
(Batch 2022)
