Friday, October 3, 2008

Press Release - VGSoM IIT Kharagpur celebrates All India Alumni Meet

VGSoM, IIT Kharagpur celebrates its 1st All India Alumni Meet in Style

A picturesque view defined by a lush outfield, a green top, a big grandstand and shining sun. This description is of the Chinaswamy Stadium, Bangalore which was the venue of the First All India Alumni Meet of Vinod Gupta School of Management (VGSoM), IIT Kharagpur on the 27th of September 2008. What better place to be when you meet up with old friends and catch up on all those years gone by, reminiscing about the memories of the campus, the rainy days, the sluggish afternoons, beads of sweat before the exam and of course the hectic schedule of a B Schooler.


Organizing Team of the Event
Sitting (L to R) – Swati Garg, Neelima Sahu, Col. Indrabalan, Sonika Verma (all Batch of 2009)Standing (L to R) – Sudhanshu Jain, Manish Sinha, Pradyumna Mahajani, Akshat Mohindra, HR Sampreet, Sachin Mehta, Rohit Sharma, Alok Casekar, Alok (all Batch of 2009)




These are just some of the things that were palpably present throughout the meet. The idea was conceived by Colonel Indrabalan and his handpicked team of twelve would be executives, three ladies and nine gentlemen from the class of 2009. The presence of IIT Kharagpur alumni made the event even more memorable as they acted as the torchbearers to help VGSoM herald into a new beginning. Prof. Parameshwar P Iyer, Principal Research Scientist and Head Placement and Industrial Liaison at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore was the Chief Guest for the meet. The meet was also graced by the presence of Mr. Ramesh Hariharan, who is the founder Director of Deffusion Consulting and Managing Trustee of LeadCap. Mr. Ravichandran Rajamannar also found out time from his busy schedule to apprise the alumni about the initiatives taken by the PAN IIT Alumni Association.

Panel Discussion in full flow
Sitting (L to R) – RVLN Arun Kumar(Batch 2002), Amit Jha(batch 2001), Prof Parameshwar P Iyer (Chief Guest, IIT Kgp alumnus), Mr Ravichandran Rajamannar(IIT kgp alumnus), Nanditha(Batch 2008), Wg Cmdr Vinod (Batch2007), Pankaj (Batch2005), Kesavan (Batch 2004)
The alumni started trickling in and were received by an exceptional performance of the Madras Engineers’ Group Pipe Band which has incidentally been a part of many ‘Beating the Retreat’ at the Republic Day parade. The characteristic and enchanting notes of the Saraswati Vandana laid an auspicious foundation to the official start of the alumni meet followed by a spirited speech by the organizing team. The call for greater accountability of the alumni was made and their feedback along with their resounding spirit to view VGSoM as a B School to reckon with the best in the world was invoked.

As part of the alumni meet, a small video capturing the moments of VGSoM right from its inception was shown to the 80 people strong alumni who became nostalgic about the past memories and found out time from their busy schedules to be a part of this great evening.
An open house discussion about the role of the alumni in strengthening the brand of VGSoM, enthralled the audience. The fulcrum of the discussion was how and what best we as brand ambassadors of VGSoM can do to enhance the effectiveness of the alumni association, increase the alumni connectivity/affinity and sense of pride and build a perception of the philanthropic worthiness of VGSoM by creating a ‘giving’ culture.

The felicitation of the two of the senior-most members, in order of the year they graduated in, stood out as a humorous moment coupled with nostalgia and a moment where the tide reversed, current students felicitating the ex-students. To add glamour to the event was the presence of the major sponsors Canon, Golden Gate along with the beverage partners United Breweries and Red Bull.

As is the norm in alumni meets, a sumptuous dinner along with some fine drinks in tow followed. Tweaking the famous movie title as it aptly defines one of the most cherished days for every VGSoMite “An Evening at Chinaswamy Stadium” celebrating VGSoM turning fifteen this year, a coup of sorts literally.
Please check out the following links:

Akshat Mohindra
Corporate and Media Interaction Cell
Batch of 2009

Thursday, October 2, 2008

The next step....!

Dear Alumnus,

At the outset allow me to thank you on behalf of the batch of 2009 for gracing the alumni meet with your presence and active participation. It was indeed a pleasure to meet all the senior alumni and have such interesting and meaningful discussions. We have made keen note of many of your thoughts and suggestions and eagerly look forward to working with you towards building a very strong alumni network which is very essential for a B-School and empowering for its alumni. The Alumni meet in Bangalore was only the first step towards re-connecting and brainstorming, the larger goal of re-uniting the alumni with the B-School and connecting the alumni amongst each other will require continued efforts and many initiatives.

As committed during our discussion in the meet, the current students will extend full support in building and creating the network in the form of a recognized and formal association. Building and sustaining the network will require equal commitment from the alumni. As proposed during the meet, we are considering formation of the Association that would aim at growing and strengthening itself (and also at integrating with the TAA and the larger IIT alumni network) . For this we propose a working group that would take up initiatives and the responsibilities of founding the formal association. This group could have about 4 members from current students (Students alumni committee at the B-School) and about 5 alumni from the passed out batches. As the founding office bearers of the association this working group will draw up plans for institutionalizing the association by inviting discussion and building consensus and seeking support from alumni and faculty. Together this work group would take on the tasks of formulating the objectives, charter, composition and identify need and modalities of intense relationships with alumnicomm, TAA etc, and also register the Association. In addition it would attempt to create a dedicated website and plan the next formal meet. Such initiatives need to be taken up by this working group till the time the community becomes user driven and sustainable and active.

We invite volenteers forf the work group.

Please feel free to pour in your thoughts either by replying to this mail or preferably by posting on the blog http://www.vgsomalumnimeet.blogspot.com/

I quote a line from Prof Iyer's mail "As a wise academic at a Workshop said recently, "After
all is said and done; so much is said, and so litle done". We are determined to prove this wrong !
Thanks and Regards