PART II
Houston - we have a problem
Now if you have not been to the IIM-K campus, you will mistake it to be a resort. It is located atop a hill with snaking roads leading you up to the campus or guest houses - depending upon your destination. The clouds add an element of mystic that is often seen in hill stations while also producing enough rains to keep the surroundings clean and nourish the innumerable trees that adorn the landscape. The design and architecture of the campus is so stunning that it makes you forget academics and immediately infuses a vacation like feeling. But I am not documenting a travelogue here, so I will stop romancing it all.
Back to my lecture.
I was led to the main entrance of the campus where two things caught my attention. One, there was an large and impressive statue of Arjun. Although the extremely well sculpted body of Arjun makes him seem more like Bheem - but that is not the point. Arjun stands for focus (among other virtues), and which is what IIM-K would like its students to create while on the campus. A nice message.
The second was that a PGP student had come to receive me. He was in business formals! I was told that the entire audience follows the protocol of business formals for these kind of corporate guest lectures. And here I was in a T-shirt and jeans. "Even Poonam Pandey would have dressed up for this occasion" - I kicked myself. "Houston - we have a problem - of underdressing."
The build up
After a quick lunch, where we spoke more and (consequently) ate less, I was led to the meeting room. The venue was initially supposed to be classroom, but was unavailable for the lecture. I had for sometime visualized a classroom and saw myself talking to the audience. I had to make the adjustment (of actually delivering the speech in a regular hall). Now, any speaker worth his salt, would agree that walking into a room full of attendees, and getting started even without an introduction - is kind of not ideal. Actually, it is more than that - you feel like you forgot the script - and you might screw it right at the beginning. And I had to speak for an hour.
And thus spake the fake professor....
Die hard fans of my first blog would appreciate the para heading. Pun intended.
I started off apologizing to my audience for my wardrobe misadventure. Wanted to sound sincere. Did some context setting and pushed ahead - stopping to ask if I was going too fast. Seemed to be in control.
There were questions asked, and hopefully answered. At 3:00 pm on a Saturday afternoon - post lunch, you do expect see a few long faces, a few catching a nap in between. So nothing alarming. I was trying hard to keep them engaged.
By the time the lecture ended, I realized that I had spoken for about 85 minutes. And then came the introduction, followed by a request to talk about what kind of skills should management graduates focus on picking - for a career in analytics.
Now my team members would probably know this very well. There are these phases where I can go on a gyan overdrive. I was by then well and firmly in 'the zone' and punished my audience with another 20 minutes of wisdom. I have a feeling that the last bit may have driven a few on the verge of mental disintegration.
But I was done. After about 1 hour and 45 minutes it was over. And nobody died (me included). One post on the facebook and lots of encouragement in return.
Will cherish this - for this was my first time.
Houston - we have a problem
Now if you have not been to the IIM-K campus, you will mistake it to be a resort. It is located atop a hill with snaking roads leading you up to the campus or guest houses - depending upon your destination. The clouds add an element of mystic that is often seen in hill stations while also producing enough rains to keep the surroundings clean and nourish the innumerable trees that adorn the landscape. The design and architecture of the campus is so stunning that it makes you forget academics and immediately infuses a vacation like feeling. But I am not documenting a travelogue here, so I will stop romancing it all.
Back to my lecture.
I was led to the main entrance of the campus where two things caught my attention. One, there was an large and impressive statue of Arjun. Although the extremely well sculpted body of Arjun makes him seem more like Bheem - but that is not the point. Arjun stands for focus (among other virtues), and which is what IIM-K would like its students to create while on the campus. A nice message.
The second was that a PGP student had come to receive me. He was in business formals! I was told that the entire audience follows the protocol of business formals for these kind of corporate guest lectures. And here I was in a T-shirt and jeans. "Even Poonam Pandey would have dressed up for this occasion" - I kicked myself. "Houston - we have a problem - of underdressing."
The build up
After a quick lunch, where we spoke more and (consequently) ate less, I was led to the meeting room. The venue was initially supposed to be classroom, but was unavailable for the lecture. I had for sometime visualized a classroom and saw myself talking to the audience. I had to make the adjustment (of actually delivering the speech in a regular hall). Now, any speaker worth his salt, would agree that walking into a room full of attendees, and getting started even without an introduction - is kind of not ideal. Actually, it is more than that - you feel like you forgot the script - and you might screw it right at the beginning. And I had to speak for an hour.
And thus spake the fake professor....
Die hard fans of my first blog would appreciate the para heading. Pun intended.
I started off apologizing to my audience for my wardrobe misadventure. Wanted to sound sincere. Did some context setting and pushed ahead - stopping to ask if I was going too fast. Seemed to be in control.
There were questions asked, and hopefully answered. At 3:00 pm on a Saturday afternoon - post lunch, you do expect see a few long faces, a few catching a nap in between. So nothing alarming. I was trying hard to keep them engaged.
By the time the lecture ended, I realized that I had spoken for about 85 minutes. And then came the introduction, followed by a request to talk about what kind of skills should management graduates focus on picking - for a career in analytics.
Now my team members would probably know this very well. There are these phases where I can go on a gyan overdrive. I was by then well and firmly in 'the zone' and punished my audience with another 20 minutes of wisdom. I have a feeling that the last bit may have driven a few on the verge of mental disintegration.
But I was done. After about 1 hour and 45 minutes it was over. And nobody died (me included). One post on the facebook and lots of encouragement in return.
Will cherish this - for this was my first time.
Good one. Share your ppts Prof!! As this is my subject of interest as well :)
ReplyDeleteNice Posts.. reminded of our Days in IIM...
ReplyDeleteKeep writing Snehanshu.. Goodluck..
The analogy about Poonam Pandey was too good.. But actually there is a lot of marketing skills also that we can learn from her; from a non entity she rose to stardom and is now having a team of 15 professionals managing her PR.
ReplyDeleteThere are two things which I would love to see from you:
1. How was the feeling of the transition from being a student to the lecturer at your Alma mater?
2. Why should one opt for analytics when the job profile of MBA grads have analytics as its integral part (named under different heads like - planning, forecasting etc.)
Waiting to see posts from you. :)
Paresh - hope we have talked it out. Cheers!
Delete