Congregations India

EVENT DATE: December 24, 2020

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#CongregationsIndia

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A dynamic congregation management companies and event managers. I believe events do not feed just event managers. They propel tourism, they create experiences, they enrich lives, they educate the public, they promote brands and they create consumption.

Events can also help elect Governments, deliver healthcare, offer hope and motivate a nation. The main reason for curating the Congregations India platform is to get a head start - several State elections are coming up in 2021, they may be the biggest in political events; then there is the Kumbh Mela, a mega religious event but not many event companies are working on it; besides, there are several other cultural events. At the summit, we brought together various Tourism boards and Government authorities to help event managers understand how they can get information and access to the events and how the events industry can work better with the Government.

Through #CongregationsIndia, we as Media want to gather perspectives of bureaucrats, Ministers and key decision-makers on how the events industry can work with the Government

Deepak Choudhary

Founder and Director, EVENTFAQS Media & Event Capital Curator, #CongregationsIndia Summit

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e have just organized a very successful first edition of our ‘CONGREGATIONS INDIA: Government, Political & Religious Events Summit’. Let me explain its genesis.

During the pandemic, we realised that businesses had been impacted immensely and organised Government events had also been impacted. For example, if we are a Rs 6,000-8,000 crore industry, the business coming from the Government events was not more than Rs 600-800 crore, which comes to 10% of the business. The whole idea behind the summit was to explore the gap.

Our efforts were directed towards exploring what will it take to bring together Government authorities and event

The 40+ speakers, including Union and State Ministers, toplevel bureaucrats and events industry leaders at the summit discussed the value, process and the scope of Government events. Our effort was to bring in ministers and secretaries from the Tourism-prime States including Kerala, Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Odisha, as well as experts on cultural, religious and sports events. The speakers collectively presented a superlative perspective of different aspects of Government events. Congregations India is all about how the construct of each of these should direct to the events industry, what is there in 2021 and how one can grow to get large format events that straddle the spectrum from the political to the cultural, religious to sporting events.

Through the Congregations India platform, we as EVENTFAQs Media want to be the voice of the events industry and explore through perspectives of bureaucrats, Ministers and key decision-makers, how events can enrich sports, culture and religion and how the events industry can work with the Government for all-round growth.

I thank the speakers, moderators, partners and participants who have made the ‘CONGREGATIONS INDIA: Government, Political & Religious Events Summit’ a huge success.

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Maharashtra Government Plans an ‘Events Board’ Soon to Help Industry, Says Minister Aaditya Thackeray Session Topic: Balancing tourism and environment for sustainable growth: Can Maharashtra lead the way under young Thackeray?

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e want to build the hospitality industry as a core industry for the State. Likewise, with the events industry. Maharashtra has no dearth of talent and no dearth of audiences,” said Aaditya Thackeray, Minister for Tourism, Environment and Protocol, Government of Maharashtra, speaking at the ‘CONGREGATIONS INDIA: Government, Political, Sport & Religious Events Summit’. In conversation with session moderator Sabbas Joseph, Founder & Director, Wizcraft International Entertainment, the Minister revealed that in the last three months, the number of licenses required by the hospitality sector had been reduced from 70 to 10, number of application forms from 70 to eight and from needing 15 NOCs, new establishments now only need nine selfcertifications.

Aaditya Thackeray, Minister for Tourism, Environment and Protocol, Government of Maharashtra, says he wants to make the Tourism department an enabler for hospitality and tourism.

On the events industry front, Maharashtra Tourism is forming an ‘Events Board’, talks for which have been on since early 2020, revealed the Minister. He said, “There are two things we will be doing in the coming few weeks. One, we will be forming an Events Board as a platform for everyone to have an interaction with the Government, suggest ways to go ahead and how we can actually incentivise this industry, how do we re-build this industry. The other is, we are going to have regular, physical interactions, so that we can hear from you.

Rather than me speaking, we want to hear your perspectives on what we can do better and what we can do right.”

SPEAKER Aaditya Thackeray Minister for Tourism, Environment and Protocol, Government of Maharashtra

Moderator: Sabbas Joseph, Founder & Director, Wizcraft International Entertainment

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Chhattisgarh CM Baghel Invites Event Managers to Organise New Large Scale Events in the State Session Topic: From scripting political success to promoting mass domestic tourism: strategic roadmaps of Chhattisgarh

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hupesh Baghel, Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, brought the spotlight on several initiatives undertaken by the Chhattisgarh Tourism Board (CTB) in the last two years to boost tourism in the culturally vibrant State, while speaking at the virtual ‘CONGREGATIONS INDIA: Government, Political, Sport & Religious Events Summit’. He was in conversation with session moderator Ujjwal K Chowdhury, Pro Vice Chancellor, Adamas University, in the course of which he shared insights on how Chhattisgarh is leveraging events and the State’s rich cultural heritage to grow Tourism and invited event managers to organise large scale events in the State.

Speaking at the summit, CM Bhupesh Baghel outlined how Chhattisgarh is leveraging events and its rich cultural heritage to grow eco-ethno, adventure and cultural tourism.

He recalled how Tourism has grown in the State since 2018, when he took over as CM. “Chhattisgarh has curated many prominent festivals around the State’s rich cultural heritage, such as the Bastar Dussehra, Bastar Lokotsav, etc., and I view the role of these events as definitely enhancing the tourist experience and helping them get a true taste of local culture,” Baghel said. He outlined plans to grow Tourism, based on the State’s heritage and tribal culture.

“The Chhattisgarh Government has taken meticulous steps to preserve the State’s tribal culture and traditions celebrated from ancient times. The Tribal Fest Show, or the National Tribal Dance Festival, is a great endeavour in this regard,” he said. With 45% forests and 32% tribal population, Chhattisgarh is uniquely poised to create experiences across eco-ethno, adventure and cultural tourism, Baghel added.

SPEAKER Bhupesh Baghel Chief Minister, Chhattisgarh

Moderator: Prof. Ujjwal K Chowdhury, Pro Vice Chancellor, Adamas University, Kolkata

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Dy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia Invites Industry Partners to Help Create ‘Tourism Destination’ Delhi Session Topic: Role of sports in nurturing human capital for a robust India

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peaking at the virtual ‘CONGREGATIONS INDIA: Government, Political, Sport & Religious Events Summit’ organised by EVENTFAQs Media, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia appealed to events and advertising industry professionals to partner the Delhi Government and help brand it as a tourism destination. In conversation with summit cocurator and moderator Vivek Singh, Joint Managing Director, Procam International, Sisodia invited partners to give the world ‘a flavour of Delhi’.

The Deputy Chief Minister noted that large scale events in Delhi, from art and culture to sports, were possible because of partnering event industry professionals.

On the session theme of ‘Building human capital with sport’, Sisodia noted that things were reaching a satisfactory level on the sports infrastructure front in Delhi. “Sport does many things for society. Team spirit and a sense of patriotism come from sport more than it does from anywhere else. It is equally important for fitness (mental and physical) as it is for the nation,” he said. To that end, he explained the initiative of the Delhi Govt to open up schools for sports in the evenings and a two-pronged strategy to promote sports: One, amongst aspiring professional sportspersons and two, for those seeking a work-sport balance. For the former, the Government announced in October that it is expediting work on a school, across 95 acres in Mundka, offering graduate, postgraduate and doctorate degrees in cricket, football, and hockey, among other sports.

Partnering the events industry: Sisodia noted that large scale events in Delhi, from art and culture to sports, were possible because of partnering event industry professionals. “The Government can think, we can fund, but the doer is the events industry,” he said.

SPEAKER Manish Sisodia Deputy Chief Minister, New Delhi

Moderator: Vivek Singh, Jt. Managing Director, Procam International

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Revive MICE Activities; Madhya Pradesh has Safety Protocols in Place, Says Minister Usha Thakur Session Topic: Tourism, Culture and Adhyatm Minister, MP, spells out her vision for MP Tourism as it strides confidently back from the pause of the pandemic

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sha Thakur, Cabinet Minister - Tourism, Culture, Adhyatm, Government of Madhya Pradesh, spoke of promoting spiritual tourism to attract tourists to the State, during a session at the virtual ‘CONGREGATIONS INDIA: Government, Political, Sport & Religious Events Summit’. In conversation with session moderator Lubaina Sheerazi, CEO & Co-founder, BRANDit, Thakur asked people to shake off their fear and revive MICE activities again as safety protocols are in place.

“The State’s Anand Vibhag (Happiness Department) was merged into the new Adhyatmik Vibhag (Spiritual Department) to help promote positive and healthy lifestyle through Vedic practices during the pandemic. To spread happiness, we also organised the ‘Har Ghar Diwali’ campaign wherein we distributed essential goods in many areas,” said Thakur.

Anand Vibhag (Happiness Department) merged into new Adhyatmik Vibhag (Spiritual Department) to help promote positive and healthy lifestyle through Vedic practices during COVID pandemic, Thakur said.

On various measures taken to reopen tourist places in MP, she said, “We have trained officials on use of COVID SOPs released by the Government. We have also showcased different tourist places in MP through 3D campaigns so that people can travel through MP virtually from the comfort of their homes. As mentioned by our honourable PM, we are looking forward to promoting spiritual tourism as it will help reduce the impact of COVID-induced lockdown on the travel and MICE industry. We are opting for smaller versions of large format events to keep traditions, following safety protocols.”

SPEAKER Usha Thakur Cabinet Minister - Tourism, Culture, Adhyatm, Madhya Pradesh

Moderator: Lubaina Sheerazi, CEO & Co-founder, BRANDit

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2021 Has a Lot in Store for Event Managers, Says Punjab Minister Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi

Session Topic: Tourism, Sports, Culture and Youth – Vision for unlocking the potential of each and shaping the future with live events

SPEAKER

SPEAKER

Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi

Jyoti Prakash Panigrahi

Minister of Sports & Youth Services, Government of Punjab

Minister of Tourism, Odisha

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t the summit, Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi, Minister of Sports & Youth Services and NRI Affairs, Government of Punjab and Jyoti Prakash Panigrahi, Minister of Tourism, Odia Language, Literature & Culture, Government of Odisha were in conversation with session moderator Shubhra Bhardwaj, Founder and CEO, Ferriswheel Entertainment on the impact of the lockdown on youth, sports, culture and tourism.

While Panigrahi said Odisha is opening up to tourists by promoting niche tourism, Sodhi said that in 2021, marathons, conferences, matches, leagues and tournaments will return to normal and generate large work scope for event managers.

Moderator: Shubhra Bhardwaj, Founder & CEO, Ferriswheel Entertainment

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Embed Indian Culture in Societies to Create the Audiences for the Future: Dinesh Patnaik, ICCR

Session Topic: The Director General of ICCR spoke on bringing the Government and event managers together to take Indian culture global

SPEAKER Dinesh K Patnaik

Director General, Indian Council for Cultural Relations

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peaking at the summit, Dinesh K Patnaik, Director General, Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), a career diplomat and former Indian ambassador to multiple countries, asked whether culture is embedded within our societies. “I would like to embed Indian culture within societies and create the audiences for the future. I want to re-orient ICCR to that,� he said. The session moderator Roshan Abbas, Managing Director, Geometry Encompass & President, Event and Entertainment Management Association of India (EEMA) was in conversation with Patnaik and Sanjoy Roy, Past President - EEMA & Managing Director, Teamwork Arts, which hosts several festivals including the Jaipur Literary Festival.

SPEAKER Sanjoy Roy

Past President - EEMA & Managing Director, Teamwork Arts

Moderator: Roshan Abbas, Managing Director, Geometry Encompass & President, EEMA

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Maharashtra Tourism Gained More in Last Six Months Than in Last Three Decades: Valsa Nair Singh Session Topic: How to bring about the Maha revival of tourism in the vibrant West

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hile the COVID-19 pandemic has indeed affected tourism across the world, Maharashtra Tourism has taken it as a big opportunity, revealed Valsa Nair Singh, Principal Secretary, Tourism, Excise & Civil Aviation, Govt of Maharashtra, speaking at the inaugural edition of the virtual ‘CONGREGATIONS INDIA: Government, Political & Religious Events Summit’. In conversation with moderator Sushma Gaikwad, Co-founder, Ice Global & Wizcraft MIME, Singh said, “So many of the infrastructure projects and ideas we have been debating for the last 20 to 25 years have been taken to a logical conclusion in the last seven to eight months. But for COVID, we may not have given these so much time. In the last six months, I think we have made more gains than in the last three decades.”

She outlined three verticals of focus: Development of infrastructure for tourism, policy reforms and partnerships and MoUs (where the events industry could come in). The COVID period was also used by the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) to create a series of cost-effective destination branding initiatives on social media, she said. These were segmented as known destinations, unknown destinations (Unseen Maharashtra) and lesser known destinations.

SPEAKER Valsa Nair Singh,

Secretary, Tourism, Excise & Civil Aviation, Govt of Maharashtra

Singh stated that the events industry could play a major role in promoting lesser known destinations in Maharashtra, by hosting events there.

Valsa Nair Singh stated that the events industry could play a major role in the promotion of lesser known and unseen destinations for domestic tourism, by hosting events there.

She pointed to the non-financial MoU route, where the Government facilitates all approvals for the conduct of an event. In some cases, it has done so in 24 hours, Singh added.

Moderator: Sushma Gaikwad, Co-founder, Ice Global & Wizcraft MIME

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More Public-Private Partnerships and a Level Playing Field are the Way Forward for Future: Nirupama Kotru Session Topic: Cultural events and tourism are inseparable; both have been hit hardest by the pandemic. How will they bounce back? What have we learnt from the COVID-19 setback?

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esponding to a question by session moderator Sanjoy Roy, MD, Teamwork Arts at the ‘CONGREGATIONS INDIA: Government, Political & Religious Events Summit’, on allowing event organisers to use monuments as a backdrop for events, Nirupama Kotru, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Culture, said though the COVID-19 pandemic put a brake on most plans of the Ministry of Culture, “we are headed there 100%”.

The Ministry of Culture is moving towards a level playing field to allow smaller agencies to bid for work.

Kotru said, “We have had extensive discussions in the Ministry involving all stakeholders. The spaces will be opened up to agencies. The Archeological Society of India is making a list of monuments where they can start. The thinking is towards developing these monuments as cultural spaces.”

She affirmed that more public-private partnerships were indeed the way forward to drive the cultural agenda.

Roy, former President of the Event and Entertainment Management Association (EEMA), brought up the subject of smaller agencies and their inability to bid for Government work, given pre-conditions. He asked the Joint Secretary if things will change to allow smaller players a level playing field. Conveying good news for micro and mid-sized agencies, Kotru said, “We are headed in that direction. Everyone now realises that start-ups can be really smart. Even a small catering outfit could have an excellent menu. We are on the same page here.”

SPEAKER Nirupama Kotru Joint Secretary, Ministry of Culture

Moderator: Sanjoy Roy, Managing Director, Teamwork Arts

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The Events Industry Should Charge More if More People are Watching the Show: Rabindra Narayan, PTC Session Topic: Can the events industry cater to India’s rejuvenated religious fervour post the pandemic? How can event professionals help structure and grow religious events to benefit all stakeholders, including sponsors?

SPEAKER

SPEAKER

Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji

Rabindra Narayan

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t the ‘CONGREGATIONS INDIA: Government, Political, Sport & Religious Events Summit’, session moderator Lalit Gattani, CEO, Showcraft Productions, posed a question on sponsor and advertiser response to virtual events to Rabindra Narayan, Managing Director & President, PTC Network, which started a religious telecast in 1998 and launched a daily

MD & President, PTC Network 360-degree virtual reality telecast from the Golden Temple last year. Narayan said, “Advertisers need eyeballs. The events industry should actually charge more if more people are watching the show.” Narayan billed the post COVID-19 phase as a boom time for events, with companies like Facebook offering to host events and sell tickets for organisers and performers, while giving the latter the entire proceeds.

Moderator: Lalitt Gattani, CEO, Showcraft Productions Pvt.Ltd

Simarjeet Singh, Assistant Secretary, Dharam Prachar Samiti, SGPC, described how the need to telecast Gurbani was felt circa 1980, with the Sikh community migrating to different parts of the world and how the live telecast with PTC started. After seeing the telecast, more people actually

‘Events Industry Can Help Govt in COVID-19 Vaccination’ Session Topic: All about digital engagement: Government to co-strategize with events industry

SPEAKER

SPEAKER

Amiya Swarup

Simarjeet Singh Assistant Secretary, Dharam Prachar Samiti, SGPC started coming to the Gurdwara, Singh said. Speaker Swami Chidanand Saraswati, Founder, President and Spiritual Head, Parmarth Niketan Ashram in Rishikesh and Hindu Jain Temple in Pittsburgh, observed that during the COVID-19 crisis, more and more people had turned to technology to access yoga, meditation, motivation and religious functions. Among several catchy sentences he coined was this: “Internet and ‘innernet’ should go hand in hand.”

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Director, Ernst & Young LLP

miya Swarup, Director, Marketing and Advertising Advisory Services, EY, spoke of possible ways of collaboration between the Government and events industry at the summit.

On digital engagement and new ways of working, Swarup said, “Neither the Government nor the events industry has stopped efforts towards finding new ways of working.

Communication and connect cannot cease to exist. The events industry plays a critical role in keeping that alive.”

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Events Industry Can Help Govt Create Database of Performing Artistes and Also Support Them: Raghvendra Singh Session Topic: Revitalising India’s cultural capital with live events and new experiences

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peaking at the virtual ‘CONGREGATIONS INDIA: Government, Political, Sport & Religious Events Summit’ organised by EVENTFAQs Media, Raghvendra Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Culture, appealed for a change in the approach of looking at culture as the Government’s responsibility, and sought creation of skilled organisations to incubate specialised projects. In conversation with session moderator Sabbas Joseph, Founder & Director, Wizcraft International Entertainment, Singh discussed ways to revitalise India’s cultural capital with live events.

Talking about creating experience centres at museums and other spaces, Singh said, “We are asking the private sector to come in and take these cultural spaces for exhibitions or cultural activities. I appeal to the events industry to help us create experiences in this kind of open spaces.”

“There is a 100-room building at Red Fort that we have restored to turn into a Design Centre to display indigenous geographical indicator tag products.

All creative people are coming together for this project, with 5% stake from the private sector.”

When asked about what the Culture Ministry can do to alleviate the problems of artistes affected by the pandemic, Singh stated, “We have a mission called the National Mission of Cultural Mapping and through this mission, we plan to create a database of artistes who are in pursuit of something creative. We also have a programme named ‘Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat’ to bring various parts of India culturally together. We want to synergize the two and put it on a digital platform. The events industry can partner the Government in creating that database of performing artistes and take up ventures which will eventually help them financially.”

SPEAKER Raghvendra Singh Secretary, Ministry of Culture

Moderator: Sabbas Joseph, Founder & Director, Wizcraft International Entertainment

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Promoting a Place is Akin to Building it as a Brand, Says Almora DM Nitin Singh Bhadauria Session Topic: How to build a destination brand with festivals, faith and full focus

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itin Singh Bhadauria, IAS, District Magistrate, Almora was in conversation with Pravin Shah, Founder, BigBrandTheory at a session titled ‘Building a destination brand with festivals, faith and focus’ at the virtual ‘CONGREGATIONS INDIA: Government, Political, Sport & Religious Events Summit’ organised by EVENTFAQs Media.

Speaking at the summit, Nitin Singh Bhadauria, IAS, District Magistrate, Almora, dwelt on leveraging the history of Almora to promote it as a destination.

“Although Almora is rich in cultural heritage, distinctive local handicrafts and its signature cuisine, people were not aware of this place as it was not exposed very well. So, whenever we got an opportunity, we started various branding exercises including word-of-mouth publicity and social media promotion. We also started various festivals like the Almora Festival, Jageshwar Festival and more, thereby creating buzz to attract people. I feel we need to blend in all sorts of tourism, be it eco-tourism, village tourism, religious tourism, resort tourism and more - and these are the things that we are trying to achieve. The COVID pandemic did affect the global tourist inflow, but it also helped us find new value propositions and projects to work on,” said Bhadauria. “I believe promoting a destination is all about building it as a brand, and social media is a big tool.”

Talking about recovery projections for the tourism industry, Bhadauria said, “There is definitely a lot more happening online and location-independent work models are coming up. The positive disruption that took place due to the pandemic is this digital revolution. COVID is also an opportunity for the Tourism industry to open up for homestays and ‘workcations’, which will help in increasing productivity as compared to work from home.”

SPEAKER Nitin Singh Bhadauria IAS, District Magistrate, Almora

Moderator: Pravin Shah, Founder, BigBrand Theory

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2021 Will be Close to Normal for Sports Events, Predicts Adile Sumariwala, Olympian Session Topic: India’s Olympic Dreams: Bridging the Aspiration-Reality Gap

SPEAKER Adile Sumariwala

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Olympian, Arjuna Awardee & President of Athletics Federation of India

n conversation with sports journalist, academician and author Boria Majumdar at the summit, Adile Sumariwala, Olympian, Arjuna Awardee & President of the Athletics Federation of India and Vijay Bokadia, Wedding & Event Planner and Restaurateur, Director, Moksh Events, agreed that things need to open up slowly, as health, sports and events are all inter-linked Adile Sumariwala said, “I am one of the first guys who requested the Government to very quickly vaccinate our athletes, the minute it gets approved. Sporting events have started in India, and 2021 is going to be pretty close to normal.” “Things are moving; people have started coming out,” Bokadia added.

SPEAKER Vijay Bokadia

Director, Moksh Events

Moderator: Boria Majumdar, Author, Academic & Journalist

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The Events Industry Needs to be Creative, Cooperative, Collaborative Going Forward: Dilip Chenoy, FICCI Session Topic: How corporate outreach will evolve in the coming years and where experiential marketing will meet the virtual space

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hough the COVID-19 pandemic has led to physical events going out, it also opened up the new space of digital interaction,” said Dilip Chenoy, Secretary General, FICCI, speaking at ‘CONGREGATIONS INDIA: Government, Political, Sport & Religious Events Summit’.

In conversation with session moderator Prof. Ujjwal K Chowdhury, Pro-Vice Chancellor, Adamas University, Kolkata, Chenoy said, “The FICCI EY Media report comes out every year in March, and for 2020, the finding was that the events industry would see a growth rate of 13.2%, but that was pre-COVID. Today, the challenge is to monetize digital events. There is a variety of events, including corporate and Government events, and event managers have become digital event organisers.”

SPEAKER Dilip Chenoy Secretary General, FICCI

“At a physical event, that can be a constrict, but for a phygital event, there are infinite opportunities. The blend of physical and digital events will evolve.”

“The role of the event manager has been changing over the years, as new types of organisations are getting into the events business. The market in India is large and organizations and planners overseas are looking at India as a market. It’s a competitive but creative space; we need to work together to expand it. For this, the events industry needs to be creative, cooperative and collaborative going forward, to lead the Indian market,”

Moderator: Prof. Ujjwal K Chowdhury, Pro Vice Chancellor, Adamas University, Kolkata

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Events Like Sunburn will Help Goa Economy Get Back to Normal, Says Nilesh Shah of TTAG Session Topic: Breaking new ground in Tourism with event IPs - The Sunburn Goa Saga

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ilesh Shah, President, Travel & Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) was in conversation with Karan Singh, CEO, Sunburn Global at the ‘CONGREGATIONS INDIA: Government, Political & Religious Events Summit’.

Talking about Goa’s booming tourism, Shah said, “We saw that the safety protocols around the tourism industry were not picking up. Then as test cases came down, we persuaded the Government to remove the testing procedure, instead follow the three-month graph regularly by all industry stakeholders. I would like to bring it to everybody’s notice that Goa is the only State that has not gone back and forth once it started gradually opening up all sectors as per the Government guidelines. There is no night curfew, but the Government and industry are following protocols in their properties very strictly, which tourists spread by word of mouth; as a result, more tourists are coming to Goa. If you see the track record of the last three-four months, there is an increase in tourism and Goa has become the best performing State in India because of the protocols and overall positivity all around.”

SPEAKER Nilesh Shah President, Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG)

Shah, President of Travel & Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG), claims Goa is the best performing State in India in terms of Tourism.

Talking about what role events like Sunburn play in State Tourism, Shah said, “When Sunburn is held in Goa, it fills the rooms and helps tourism on the domestic front. All of these events are a must in Goa, because they help people prior to the event, after the event and during the event. It is a very good marketing exercise for Goa.”

Moderator: Karan Singh, CEO, Sunburn Global

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Event Managers Can Help Build Communities During Polls, Says Newsman Rajdeep Sardesai Session Topic: Elections, electioneering, election campaigning, and changes ahead in the digital age

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ajdeep Sardesai, Consulting Editor, India Today TV was in conversation with Ujjwal K Chowdhury, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Adamas University at ‘CONGREGATIONS INDIA: Government, Political & Religious Events Summit’.

On the difference between elections in 2019 and 2020, Sardesai said, “What has happened in our politics as a result of the pandemic is that you can’t use the election maidan alone to do your events, the necessity now is to perhaps move to virtual, to connect with millions of your followers through Facebook, through Instagram, and that has almost changed the rules of the game.”

“Event managers have to invest 40-50% of their efforts in ensuring that the connection is there, also ensure that the backroom is in place. They can actually help in bringing the two – physical and virtual - together.”

“For example, in Bengal, where elections are taking place in April-May, there are about 80,000 polling booths.

The BJP already has almost 80,000 WhatsApp groups created - one for every booth. Now, that is the level of micro-management possible - we are in the age of micro-messaging. The future is to create WhatsApp communities,” he added.

Talking about the role of event managers in elections, Sardesai said, “What if an event manager, for example, connected all the WhatsApp groups of a particular political party, either through a conclave, which is virtually done because of the pandemic, and ensured that there was enough communication to each of those groups and then built a community? The event manager’s role is to solidify this community building aspect.”

SPEAKER Rajdeep Sardesai Consulting Editor, India Today TV

Moderator: Prof. Ujjwal K Chowdhury, Pro Vice Chancellor, Adamas University, Kolkata

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Event Managers Must Come Forward with Ideas for Experiental Tourism, Says Kumar Pushkar, ex-MD, KSRTDC Session Topic: Promoting Karnataka as a tourist destination

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SPEAKER

SPEAKER

Priyank M. Kharge

Kumar Pushkar

MLA, Chittapur, ex-Minister IT/BT, Tourism & Social Welfare, Karnataka

MD Jungle Lodges and Resorts, Ex- MD, KSRTDC

n conversation with Oum Pradutt, Founder of Phase 1 Experiences, at the summit, Priyank M Kharge, MLA from Chittapur and Former Minister for IT/BT, Tourism & Social Welfare Dept, Govt of Karnataka and Kumar Pushkar (IFS), MD Jungle Lodges and Resorts and Ex- MD, KSRTDC, talked about the demand for experiential tourism, role of event managers and giving tourists a taste of the local culture.

Moderator: Oum Pradutt, Founder, Phase1 Experiences

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Make Religious Events Simpler and Hassle-free for Pilgrims: RVB Iyer, Reliance Jio Infocomm Session Topic: Role of tech in religious events and congregations

SPEAKER R V Balasubramaniam Iyer VP, Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited

SPEAKER Punneet Sobti

Kumbh Mela and MICE Specialist

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peakers R V Balasubramaniam Iyer, VP, Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited and Punneet Sobti, Kumbh Mela and MICE Specialist, shared insights on how technology is an enabler and makes things easy for people at religious events, in conversation with session moderator Giresh V Kulkarni, Founder, Temple Connect at the s ummit.

Iyer described Jio’s tech support to the Ganesha festival.

Both the speakers called for the Government to simplify religious events.

Moderator: Giresh V Kulkarni, Founder, Temple Connect

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Events will Never Stop, Just the Format Will Change and be a Challenge: Sudhanshu Mittal, IOA Session Topic: The future of Indian sport post the COVID pitstop

SPEAKER Sudhanshu Mittal

VP, Indian Olympic Association (IOA)

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peaking at the virtual ‘CONGREGATIONS INDIA: Government, Political, Sport & Religious Events Summit’, Sudhanshu Mittal, Vice President, Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and Sanjay Sharma, Head of Motorsport, JK Tyre along with session moderator Lalitt Gattani, CEO of Showcraft Productions, shared insights about the future of Indian sports post the COVID pitstop. Speaking about revival of indigenous games, making them spectator-friendly and getting kho-kho recognised internationally, Mittal said, “Kho-kho will soon be recognised by the International Olympic Committee. The pandemic has put a question mark on spectator participation in games, and event managers must recognise this challenge.

Events are never going to stop, just the format will change.”

SPEAKER Sanjay Sharma

Head-Corporate Communication & Motorsport, JK Tyre & Industries Ltd

Moderator: Lalitt Gattani, CEO, Showcraft Productions

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Launch of Schemes Under the New Tourism Policy in Rajasthan Will Commence by March: Nishant Jain Session Topic: Cultural events and tourism have been hit hardest by the pandemic. How will they bounce back? What have we learnt from the pandemic?

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t the virtual ‘CONGREGATIONS INDIA: Government, Political, Sport & Religious Events Summit’, Nishant Jain, IAS, Director, Tourism Department, Rajasthan was in conversation with Sanjoy Roy, MD, Teamwork Arts on how Rajasthan will bounce back post-COVID and his learnings from the pandemic setback.

On taking over the position of Director of Rajasthan Tourism, Jain said, “Rajasthan is known for its various fairs and festivals which keep up cultural vibrancy among domestic tourists. But due to the pandemic, we were not able to conduct these festivals. Now, we are planning to conduct some events and cultural festivals, with online and on-ground combination, to boost State tourism.”

On opportunities for event managers to work hand-inhand with the Rajasthan Government, Jain said, “Rajasthan has many sound and light shows, and we recently started one in Jaisalmer. We have so many unexplored places in Rajasthan that we aim to promote. We are also focusing on planning upcoming events and projects for Rajasthan as we are relatively free.”

SPEAKER Nishant Jain IAS, Director- Tourism Dept, Rajasthan

Jain said that as the situation is easing, they are planning to conduct some events and cultural festivals combining online and on-ground experiences to boost Rajasthan tourism.

Talking about the New Tourism Policy, 2020, Jain said, “We are finalizing schemes under the New Tourism Policy, and hope to launch all the schemes by February or March.

MICE is our strength and we are working on an action plan to boost it in Rajasthan under the Tourism Policy.”

Moderator: Sanjoy Roy, Managing Director, Teamwork Arts

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Big Opportunities for Event Planners and Potential to Grow in the Govt Sector in 2021-22: Khantil Mehta Session Topic: King, Queen & Jack of the Govt events tender process

SPEAKER

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Iram Mirza

Kaushik Mukherji

Founder, First Born Collective & Purpose Economy

Principal Consultant, AP Tourism

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aushik Mukherji, Principal Consultant, Andhra Pradesh Tourism; Iram Mirza, Founder of First Born Collective & Purpose Economy and Khantil Mehta, Co-Founder of Gobananas and Init Design Studios were in conversation with Samit Garg, CoFounder and Director of E Factor and SkyWaltz on scope of collaboration with the Government on events, tender process, experiential marketing as an emerging trend and more at ‘CONGREGATIONS INDIA: Government, Political & Religious Events Summit’ organised by EVENTFAQS Media.

“We said no to advertising and instead created experiences in the form of events that will be a reason of perspective for travellers to travel to Andhra Pradesh. I believe that the Government has started to understand the difference between events and experiences and they are now ready to embrace experiences over events,” said Mukherji. Speaking about experiential marketing, Mirza said, “People are going towards exploratory and authentic experiences as opposed to the entire mandate being destination-specific. The target demographics have been divided into sub-groups where

COVID-19 Vaccine Key for Kerala, Says MP Joseph Moderator: Samit Garg, Co-Founder & Director, E Factor & SkyWaltz

crafting experiences and personalising them have opened up revenue streams for the Government. This time is extremely prolific for event managers as you can create

SPEAKER Khantil Mehta

Co-Founder of Gobananas and Init Design Studios multiple experiences for the destination.” “The Government process is strictly protocol-based and when you work under a particular protocol, the event companies don’t necessarily qualify according to those parameters. That is why it helps if you have a consortium in place where you have multiple kinds of expertise coming on board to create experiences. This is a good initiative by the event managers to come together and collaborate, which has also helped the Government to offer and create platforms for more interesting experiences,” said Mehta. “I believe there is great potential for event managers to grow with the Government.”

Session Topic: Taking ‘God’s Own Country’ to the next level

SPEAKER MP Joseph

IAS (Retired), former Advisor to Kerala Govt, Ex-Addl Chief Secy

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he benefit of the COVID-19 vaccine should be given to the Travel and Tourism industry to attract tourists and give them the confidence to visit Kerala,” said MP Joseph, IAS (Retired), former Advisor to the Government of Kerala, former Additional Chief Secy and former UN International civil servant, speaking at the summit. In conversation with session moderator Martin Emmanuel, Executive Director, Razzmatazz Ventures, Joseph also said there’s so much more that can be done to develop more events as a tourist package in Kerala.

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Event Managers Must Explore New Channels for Political Campaigns, Say Ankit Lal and Diggaj Mogra Session Topic: As political campaigning blends social media with face-to-face, listen to those who advise parties and governments

SPEAKER Diggaj Mogra

Political Advisor & Director, Jarvis Technology & Strategy Consulting

SPEAKER Ankit Lal Author, India Social and campaign strategist

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nkit Lal, Author, India Social and campaign strategist and Diggaj Mogra, Political Advisor & Director, Jarvis Technology & Strategy Consulting were in conversation with Prof. Ujjwal K Chowdhury, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Adamas University on the reality of strategising virtual communication for the forthcoming polls at the summit.

They advocated leveraging technology and data for poll campaigns and urged event managers to experiment with new channels of reaching out as people are open to accepting new ways.

Moderator: Prof. Ujjwal K Chowdhury, Pro Vice Chancellor, Adamas University, Kolkata

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A showcase of the Artistes, Hosts and Performers who overcame the Covid challenge to enthrall audiences in 2020

For more information contact Charmi Janani Mob: +91 99205 74595 E-mail: charmi@eventfaqs.com

WHAT ARE EVENT PLANNERS ACTUALLY EXPECTING FROM EVENT VENUES?

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