Let me take you back to the time when I was the Event and Content Curator for India’s largest plant-based conference, the Vegan India Conference (VIC) 2024!
Come along for a walk through 10 months of memories working on VIC 2024!
It was my first time curating an industry event, both in terms of speakers and content! I curated not 1 but 5 conclaves within the massive event for vegans, non-vegans, professionals, enthusiasts and everyone in between.
What an experience it turned out to be! 😀
Key learnings:
1. Learnings about leadership
As the Event Curator, one of my core tasks was to research, approach, confirm, onboard, co-ordinate with and brief the speakers of the 5 conclaves. We had close to 80 final speakers from across the world and industries, from behemoths to legacy brands, from startups to niche experts. And many more who could not ultimately join us on the D-day.
Interacting with such a large and varied set of business leaders, I learnt and witnessed true meaning of leadership:
🌿The bigger the achievers, more fuss-free they are unlike upcoming leaders who have too many expectations and demands
🌿They are more accessible directly vs the more hierarchical behavior of new leaders who lay down layers and protocols to reach them.
🌿True leaders are secure enough in their expertise and their value to recommend and introduce other relevant leaders.
🌿Also they offer this help unconditionally, without expecting something in return
🌿Great leaders are flexible and more empathetic about unexpected changes
🌿Without exception, great leaders are humble and very respectful, not only of the opposite person but also of that person’s time. They will not keep them waiting for a decision or during meetings
🌿They are easy going and exceptional at putting the other person at ease
🌿They discuss more than they dictate or demand
2. Learnings about personal brands
🌿First impressions inevitably get formed either through social media presence or company reputation or through the first interaction. As a Curator, I had to consciously make an effort to not take hasty decisions without a thorough study of the person, their work and their response.
🌿We must nurture our social media presence, be it on Linkedin , X, Instagram, Medium, Substack, whatever interests us. Better to shape the narrative about us ourself instead of leaving it up to the internet.
🌿To be seen as a potential speaker, showcase the expertise without showing off. Quality content is the best way to do that.
🌿The way to gauge a person’s potential as a speaker is by seeing how they express their thoughts either through written content, videos, podcasts or even emails. Many business owners or C-Suite executives excel at their jobs but are not as good at sharing that expertise verbally.
3. Learnings about marketing, content and curation
🌿Speed is more important than perfection. Launch beta versions if you must and update and improve as you go along.
🌿Simple content and copy is more impactful than fancy or flowery.
🌿Copywriters or content creators have nothing to fear from generative AI like Chatgpt and Google Gemini. They are great to get first drafts within seconds. But that draft undoubtedly needs human creativity and strategic thinking to be molded into a usable piece. Plus after the 3rd or 4th content piece, you quickly realize that AI is getting repetitive- be it vocabulary, style, tone, use of emoticons.
My absolute favorite parts working on the Vegan India Conference project were:
1. Deep exhaustive research into:
🌿Potential topics most people would be keen to delve into across Food, Fashion, Health, Lifestyle, Startup and Investing, Activism and Advocacy
🌿Who would be the right experts and leaders to do justice to them
🌿Discussion points within each topic ensuring a 360 degree coverage of it
🌿Companies and brands whose presence was imperative to take the vegan movement forward in India.
2. Memorable interactions (from the 1st email to even after the conference) with warm, interesting, humble speakers and global leaders such as
Sonalie Figueiras (Green Queen Media), Robbie Lockie (Freedom Food Alliance), Arvind Krishna (Actor and Pro Basketball player), Kuntal Joisher (Nutritionist and Mountaineer), RM Vinay Kumar (Tata Consumer), Pawan Kumar (Swiggy Instamart), Dr. Nandita Shah (Sharan), Zeeshan Ali, PhD (PCRM), Sreedhar DV (Big Basket), Ashwin Bhadri (Equinox Labs), Dr. Pranesh Sridharan (APIC), Dr. Rupa Shah, Jayesh Parekh (Good Startup), Shreya Swaminath and Alokparna Sengupta (HSI), Abhay Rangan (Nourish You and One Good), Avinash Mane (Lenzing), Harshvardhan Chauhaan and Sachin Aggarwal (Nature’s Basket), Deeksha Ahuja (Encubay), Siddharth Kothari (Ahimsa VC), Dr. Sailesh Rao to name just a few.
3. The Incredible Team!
None of this would have been possible without Palak Mehta, Founder and CEO, Vegan First and Vegan India Conference and my co-curator. She pushed my boundaries, made me stretch, gave me valuable tips on persuasion, curation, closing and moderating panel discussions. She also warmly included my husband in the conference as part of the team 🙂
Lastly, thank you for these kind words:
Some of my favorite memories with the rest of the team:
🌿Lots of dabba sharing, food ordering, cold coffee drinking, makhana munching
🌿Simran Sood, mentoring me on all things Gen Z, particularly all things ChatGpt; being my food guide (introducing me to so many vegan restaurants and food brands) 😁
🌿Heman Shakthi’s speed and patience with frequent changes on website and creatives, plus his endless supply of funny whatsapp stickers
🌿Heman, Rucha Gotarkar’s and Sahil Batham’s seamless support during showrunning
🌿Rucha’s offer and prompt takeover of an urgent task before the Awards Night when I was occupied elsewhere
🌿Harsh Sharwan’s enthusiastic help and speed with speaker updates two days before the event
🌿Simran staying up till 1am-2am the day before the event only to help me with last minute issues
🌿Suchit Naik for being a quick learner and the EverReady battery for any and all tasks
🌿Anuj Kokamkar, Amruta Shewale, Souptik Kaushary for the lighter moments in office and post conference
🌿Dance practice with the entire team for a social media reel
🌿Sandhya Krishnan for being the quick thinking partner and voice of calm during the two days of the conference
🌿Eesha Gulati, Vineeth Vincent and Aishwarya Tiwari for being rockstars and rolling with the punches
There is so much to share that it’s difficult to express in a single post. Suffice to say: what an unforgettable experience!!
Question to think about 💡
What should be the success metric for work: the amount of money you earned, the extent of learning and growth, the real, lasting connections made or clarity achieved about your own strengths, weaknesses, likes and dislikes? Think about it.
Should you want to talk, I am just an email away. You know that, right?
