Sidharth Ganeriwala, Founder and CEO, Aura Integrated and Sachin Talwar, Director, Wow Events recently organised a session as part of the ‘Sid & Sac series’ for events industry leaders. During the session, they discussed the impact of COVID-19 on the industry and innovative solutions used to cope with these difficult times.
Speaking at the session, Daryl Sheldon, Director, Seventy-Seven Entertainment said, “Break-even profitability is one of the things that all of us have done, which is by cutting cost. All of us have done bonafide cost-cutting in the last 10 months, and as we all know, the maximum cost for most of us is people, which means that a huge workforce has been put out of work in our industry. As leaders of the industry, we should be thinking about what repercussions that will have in the medium term, if not the long term, and where we are as an industry.”
“All of us are working as a team and getting the projects done, so that at the end of the day, the client sticks to us. This is the time for you to help your client; they are not going anywhere. The client is very close to the management during this period,” added Sheldon.
Talwar said, “I am enjoying working with my clients and fellow event managers and I believe that it is basically the digital transformation of events. So, it’s not limited to any platform – for us, every event is a new event and every event has its own challenges and demands, whether it is environment, whether it’s the way events are conducted on virtual platforms and the entertainment quotient, which is not limited to green screen. We are exploring new ways of bringing entertainment on digital platforms and that is really exciting right now. The clients are paying for content and innovative entertainment. I believe anyone can replicate platform and technology, but not content and ideas. Right now, it is event managers who can think and come up with what can be more on demand.”
“There is something that we as individuals and as an industry may have to do. There is also the fact that some things are just not available now. If I want to get even a client-servicing person, I may not get it. Before COVID hit us, all of us were into business for more that 15-20 years. In the client’s mindspace, if our enterprises were valued at Rs 100 pre-COVID, the same valuation today may be zero. So, we as enterprises and businesses have become completely vulnerable. In the pre-COVID world, bringing in an event manager was the last thought that the brand manager had, but in the last 20 years, we were climbing up that ladder. All of a sudden, the brand guy doesn’t need us. The goods are selling, FMCG is rolling fast, everything is happening on its own pace. We have to learn how to cope and find a solution,” added Rajesh Varma, Founder, CRI Events Pvt. Ltd.
