“Event Management is like any other job where it is one’s passion that drives him or her to create. One can become a production manager and script a new concept later on”, said Swaroop Banerjee, the Chief Operating Officer of Zee Live.
Speaking on why, how, and where does event management take us, Banerjee, a known face in the world of event management, said, “Event management is extremely different for different people. There is a cooperative event management, special event management, award ceremonies, product launches etc. If you go through event management as a career, you can find many aspects.”
Stressing on the importance of the domain, he said, “An event management agency is more important as against an advertising agency and communication agency put together.” He gave the example of watching television where one switches the channel if advertising comes. “While driving, one can turn off the radio when the advertising is on. Furthermore, when one passes a billboard, one doesn’t look back, instead, drive away. But when you are at an event or concert or enter a festival like The Bollywood Project or Arth or Supermoon and the gate gets closed for hours; then you have to watch what the event manager is showing you and consume the brands that the manager wants”, he said.
Banerjee joined the Zee family with 17 years of experience that began with the IIFA awards at the special projects international wing of Wizcraft Entertainment, leading to his foray in business live entertainment. He conceptualized and created over 15 business models with live original content and Intellectual Properties (IPs) at the core of companies at MTV Asia, Star World & Movies, Viacom18 INS, and Laqshya Media Group. He has worked with international talents for arena size entertainment events in Amsterdam, Australia, Dubai, and Singapore. He worked on three International Academy Film Awards in different countries.
According to him, the event manager has immense power. He or she is the master of that ceremony and can control what the audience can see. He added that recall is highest among the audience for events when compared to advertising. People tend to remember events for longer times compared to 30-second-long advertisements.
He also said, “Event management allows you to put together your passion into creating something. What I create I can hold you with it as long as I want to.”
He spoke about his projects and experiences he had while the projects were going like Bollywood Music Project, where people didn’t go back home even after there was harsh rain; instead, they loved to stand and attend the Arijit Singh concert.
Banerjee emphasized that event management is required to fulfil clients’ needs, and an event manager needs to fill this need-gap of the client. Above all, it is the emotion and passion that ultimately brings success to any event manager.
On the impact of Covid-19 on event management companies, he said, “In March, the Arth festival finished in Kolkata and Delhi when Covid-19 hit people in India. Covid-19 didn’t hit them. During this crisis, you must have a mind of your own. Also, I spoke to people of different countries and places from where I came to know that festivals in every place are postponed like the Olympics is postponed. This all stopped for the security and safety of the guests.”
During this period, he upskilled himself and put over seven events, 120 artists, online within six weeks, and four properties online. “We are organizing now Supermoon house party online. We are doing something with Zee International in America, UK, Canada, and in Middle-East. We are bringing 24 artists like Varun Thakur, Sahil Khattar, Atul Khatri, and many more”, said Banerjee.
For students, he advised to up-skill as the stage is going online. He encouraged students by saying that he, as an event manager, had to take midterm solutions and adapt to the current situation, just like the students are doing. Banerjee added that he trains batches of interns and instils creativity in them even if they are in the production team. He said that it is the need of the hour to train people to come up with creative ideas to survive in the event industry.
The author, Aparna Giri is associated with Adamas University Media School.
