Mega-events. The word has its own meaning to me now. I participated in one when I was in my A-Levels. So, when the recruitment process started in IBA for societies, in my freshmen year. I made sure that I would get in. The lines were long, and the Student Center Society Office was first introduced to me. Little did I know that these very same cubicles would become my home for two years to come.
How I was first introduced to Mega Events
When I officially became a part of the coveted Management Team, I was overwhelmed. I went from interacting with people with only whom I had the same classes with to interacting with people from every batch, and every program.
I knew IBA was a large place, with a diverse crowd, but I was never exposed to that diversity. Until now.
Everything was coming full circle too. The event that I attended two years ago for three days was now unfolding in front of me. The management team members two years ago who were running around campus in their ill-fitted suits and naivete. Were now the ones in the third years giving me orders, becoming my friends. I kind of felt like a proud mom because of their progress.
What it felt like
Working every day for an event that was supposed to take place three months from then, gave me a sense of purpose. It gave me a reason as to why I came to IBA. As to why I wanted to stay back after my classes. Those events, that I now realize I took for granted, gave me a sense of ownership. It gave me some friends I can call a family and helped me reconnect with some old ones I had once forgotten.
Looking back at all the events that I have been a part of whether it was as a management team member or as a panel member for a society. I don’t have regrets per se. They were all important learning experiences for me. They helped me understand what kind of a person I was in a crisis management situation (a good one at that), and they helped me understand people. How to work with them, how to interact with people in your team, how to interact with people not in your team.
What the mega-events gave me
It gave me the confidence to pick up the phone, call the marketing manager for some hotshot brand, and pitch him my event. Then go to his office, sell him the event, and impress him. I couldn’t do that three years ago. And if it wasn’t for these mega-events, I still wouldn’t be able to do that.
Most importantly, mega-events have taught me ownership and the feeling of how something which is yours is also someone else’s collectively. Sitting in the breakouts, in a suit that you’ve worn for the past three days, when your feet are sore, and your muscles ache when you try to drink water. You don’t care. Because you achieved something incredible. You pulled off an event. You pulled off your event.
This will be my legacy, as it has been for those before me, and for those who will be there after me.
2 thoughts on “Mega-Events – The Culture We Took for Granted”
Is Events happening this year in December -January or Not? (Because I’m eagerly waiting for them)