Future Fest - let’s not repeat that in the future

Future Fest

let’s not repeat that in the future

Marred by political uncertainty and a crushing heatwave, a lot can be learned from the event

By Taimoor Hassan

You know an event went down like a lead balloon when the attendees of the event are scrambling in scorching heat to find water to hydrate themselves. Even the president of Pakistan’s entourage, said one attendee at the recent Future Fest, came searching for water at their stall, for the president. This precisely sums up what turned up at what was the largest tech conference/expo in Pakistan.

The event organised on May 11-13 in Islamabad’s Fatima Jinnah Park in F-9 had been a subject of Tech Twitter last week. The event featured a VIP dinner, an address from the president and high-ranking government officials, panel discussions, food and technology festival and performances by leading artists. The event, supposed to be the biggest of its kind, was initially scheduled to be organised in the month of March and had in its speaker lineup the then prime minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan.

The event schedule in March was disrupted after the future of the PTI government became uncertain and political agitation in Islamabad where the event was going to be held made the Future Fest rethink the dates for the event. The event was rescheduled for May 11-13.

The speaker lineup was also disrupted. Besides PTI government officials, which included prime minister Imran Khan and IT minister not attending the event anymore, the new dates of Future Fest coincided with the Organization of Pakistani Entrepreneurs (OPEN) Silicon Valley’s Invest in Pakistan conference in the US, and a number of investors chose to attend the OPEN event in the US instead of Future Fest.

The initial Future Fest speaker lineup included the VC firm i2i founders Misbah Naqvi and Kalsoom Lakhani, who chose to attend OPEN’s Invest in Pakistan conference. Aatif Awan, founder of Indus Valley Capital, who was one of the speakers, could not attend Future Fest in Pakistan, Ali Mukhtar could not attend, and international VC firm Antler partner Teddy Himler could not attend either.

At the venue, Fatima Jinnah Park in F9, Future Fest was expecting to host 30,000 participants not only from the startup ecosystem but also the general public who would attend microfests like freelance fest, food and entertainment fests. To accommodate such a large gathering, it had to be a space like the Fatima Jinnah Park where seven marquees were set up to give space to exhibitors, hold conferences and panel discussions.

The turn of events was not favourable to Future Fest. It was a three-day event in May which means the threat of severe heat waves should have been accounted for and planned for. The worst actually happened and it was unfortunate for the Future Fest team that the heatwave was followed on by stormy weather

which disrupted the open air setting at the venue.

The consequence was that the attendees at the event, who were either speakers, sponsors or attendees who had purchased tickets to attend the event, were melting with heat and running around like headless chickens in search of water which was not available. The air conditioning at the event surprisingly failed too and there was no backup that could substantially tackle the heat problem at the venue. It could not all be blamed on weather extremities, though. At the outset of the event, attendees were surprised when they simply walked in at the venue and no one checked if they had tickets that they had purchased for hefty amounts. Since there was no checking on spot if those entering the venue had tickets, people who had no tickets were able to enter too without any checks.

Consequently, there were paparr walas and ghubaray walas too at the event. The crowd subsequently was unusual for an event that was titled Future Fest. The strong heat, failure of air conditioning and strong winds blowing away chairs and equipment was not an ideal place to be for the tech crowd, some of whom had flown in from other cities, had purchased tickets for themselves as well as guests that they brought with them. Some of the attendees had flown in from outside of Pakistan to attend the event to see the success of Pakistan’s tech ecosystem, but only witnessed disappointment. In fact, ‘disappointing’ would have been a small word for them to explain how the event was.

Some of the guests went back to their residences soon after coming to the event, people apologised for not appearing on the panels.

The management of Future Fest owns their mistake. They say that they made a mistake in choosing a vendor who was flown in from Karachi to organise the event in Islamabad. The vendor in question would have cost the organisers less than other vendors in Islamabad, which might have compromised the event. For crisis management, vendors in Islamabad were engaged for crisis management. Nonetheless, the organisers have issued an apology and have initiated refunds for disgruntled guests. If only they had chosen a better vendor and had chosen to pay more, the guests would not have had to endure the painful experience. The organisers would also now not have to initiate refunds to sponsors if they had chosen to spend more on a better vendor for their event.

Some of the legitimate problems that the management faced, which compounded management issues for the organisers. Independent sources have testified that the organisers faced harassment from government officials. The trucks were stopped by government officials which the management of the event says was in a bid to extract bribes and force the organisers to let acquaintances of the government officials attend the event free of cost. The event management was intimidated with threats to stop the concert, received calls that their approvals were going to get cancelled if they did not pay up or let their people in. It was only after the CDA chairman and chief commissioner were engaged to take notice of the situation repeatedly that the organisers could deal with their actual guests instead of government officials. The management of the event says that this compounded their problems and the mismanagement of the event.

Future Fest organisers acknowledge that they have learned from this experience, and learned it the hard way. Though they still claim it to be a successful event. Publicly issued press releases claim that the event had over 50,000 attendees. The maths behind this number is unfathomable, however, because testimonials suggest that no one was checking tickets.

The management of the event tells Profit that their ticketing was compromised while dealing with the heat situation and they were only able to sell tickets worth Rs10 million (physical and online). The target was to sell tickets worth Rs30 million. So if Rs10 million number is accounted, at the bare minimum ticket price of Rs1,000 advertised on Future Fest website, that’s 10,000 people that attended the event on tickets.

These are extremely conservative estimates, however. The discounted tickets for Future Fest listed on the website were from Rs1,000 to Rs4,000, and passes for two categories for a hefty Rs35,000 and Rs300,000. Its a success, though, if everyone and their uncle managed to get into the event free of cost because no one was there to hold back unwanted entrants.

Future Fest hopes that they could rectify their mistakes in the upcoming events. In fact, instead of being discouraged, they were reassured that they would learn from their mistakes and make the next event successful to erase the harsh memory of Future Fest 2022. n

Nawaz Sharif, Ishaq Dar to remain in London after govt bans non-essential luxury items in Pakistan

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Supremo Nawaz Sharif and senior party leader Ishaq Dar will remain in the United Kingdom following the government’s decision to ban the import of all non-essential luxury items under an “emergency plan”.

Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb announced the government’s plan while addressing a press conference in Islamabad where she confirmed that the two most high-profile luxury items of the PML-N will not be brought to Pakistan.

“These items are those which are not of use of the general party, especially at present and in the immediate future,” she said as she identified the two PML-N leaders as two such items.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has also confirmed the plan saying that the party and the government cannot afford such luxury items.

“We will practice austerity, within the party, which must be led by stronger people so that the less luxurious items within the party do not have to bear this burden inflicted on them,” the PM tweeted immediately after the information minister announced the news.

Previous govt artificially kept dollar below actual price, says PM

DOLLARPURA: The Prime Minister has blamed the previous government’s policies for the dollar reaching an all-time high against the local currency.

In a statement issued after the American dollar once again reached a historic high, the prime minister said that it is due to the policy of his predecessors and their corrupt practices that the local economy, and in turn the currency, is suffering.

“It is the corruption of the previous prime minister and his party that is responsible for the financial mess that you see today, and this is why the current government is probing the corruption and other misappropriation of the previous premier and his family members using the entire state machinery,” the incumbent prime minister told the media.

“It is the corruption of the previous prime minister and his party that is responsible for the financial mess that you see today, and this is why the current government is probing the corruption and other misappropriation of the previous premier and his family members using the entire state machinery,” the incumbent prime minister told the media.

“To stop the dollar rising and to stop the constant borrowing, you need to keep electing this government over and over again till the end of time,” the PM urged the nation.