Recently I attended a TEDx event organised by the Indian Institute of Management at Bangalore, and I must say that it was a huge disappointment all the way. I was pretty critical about the previous TEDx event in my blog post that I published last year, but honestly, the IIMB event made that event look like a rock star. My 5 reasons for why I hated the TEDX IIMB event are,
1. Starting late - common problem with both the TEDX events. I thought this one 'managed' by India's premier management institute would be different, but alas, we are all Indians nevertheless.
2. Selection of topics - there was absolutely no theme to the event. Each of the speakers came on the dias with their own random topics and made their speeches. The least I expected that each session/section would have a theme and some level of focus.
3. The speakers, barring one senior journalist, the rest of them were all low impact and not befitting the TEDX quality. I was surprised that they were unable to find speakers outside the IIMB network of alumni and faculty given their apparent clout in the industry. And yes, I am one of those who believe that getting a degree from a premier institute is one thing, and what you use it to achieve is another. So an IIMB degree or being a faculty there is not synonymous with success. It was pretty evident either that was the prerequisite for making the choice of speakers, or to make up for their inability to find someone else better, the organisers had to settle for this convenient quick fix. Hence, the quality of the talks suffered and added no value to the audience. However, there was one talk I enjoyed. It was on this organization named RangDe. Real impact story and an idea worth spreading. Clear example that brand IIM does not always sell.
4. General administrative issues - the stage was still being setup while we were waiting for the program to start, frequently defaulting sound and video equipment, very average registration experience all added to the agony. It just brought to the fore the clear lack of interest by the organisers to put up a good show. Seemed like everything was a last minute rush.
5. For the same ticket price, TEDXBLR served up a really scrumptious lunch. However, here, the audience had to settle for a meagre menu of samosa and tea.
In conclusion, a disappointing experience at TEDX IIMB. I had to force myself to survive the duration of the program.
In the 'buyer beware' age, I have my share of mistakes I made to land at this mediocre event too. I bought a ticket to this event which had no website and no speaker information whatsoever. Purely had the interest to attend on the basis that IIMB was organising it and had a bare minimum expectation on the quality. Well, that's not how things turned out exactly.
It now makes me ponder, in one of India's most premier management institute, how are graduates going to manage big organisations in the future while failing to even organize an event of this small a scale. Call it hype or marketing stunt! Or is the industry falling into the same trap as I just did?
IIMB Board meeting - we need more courses to increase our fee collection
Professor - sir, we can start an MBA in event management.
